104 TISH AND FISHING IN SCOTLAND. 



"0 mandate glorious and divine, 

 The ragged followers of the nine, 

 Poor thoughtless devils." 



At Inverleitlien the angler, who is fond of bold and mountain 

 scenery, may cross the wild and desolate Minch Moor to 

 Selkirk, and from thence fish the lower waters of the Yarrow 

 andEttrick; or, keeping to the right and southerly, find his way 

 to the Gordon Arms, and from thence fish Yarrow, the Loch of 

 the Lows, St. Mary's Loch, Loch Skene, or wandering by 

 Tweedside make for Clovenford. He will here find in the 

 Tweed some excellent salmon streams, and large trout are to be 

 caught with minnow ; but the river is broad and the salmon 

 rod must be used. A deadly bait for the kelts or foul fish 

 running for the sea in May is a lob worm, threaded on the hook 

 and line, so far as merely to leave the point of the hook free ; 

 to this attach, by the middle, one or two small worms, and with 

 a rather heavy lead, sink the bait to the bottom of the stream. 



From Clovenford to Galashiels is a considerable distance ; the 

 banks of the Tweed are tame ; Abbotsford, it is true, lies on the 

 opposite bank, and this merits a passing look. It will some day 

 be called "Scott's folly;" it ruined poor Sir Walter. But of 

 this more anon. 



Opposite to Inverleithen is Traquair and " the Bush aboon 

 Traquair." As I looked for "the Bush," I saw a strange look- 

 ing figure ploughing in the fields, he wore a queue, with powdered 

 hair, and sky-blue swallow-tailed coat, &o. I said to my com- 

 panion, that man is a Frenchman and a Celt, and wears the 

 costume of Louis Quatorze ; he is a Celt, he never alters essen- 

 tially, and hating labour he never dresses like a labouring man. 

 But still the problem to be solved was, how he came here ? So 

 I got off the road, and asked a cottager to whom the grounds 

 belonged; to Lord Traquair, replied the honest Scotchwoman. 

 That is enough, I knew all the rest. So musing on the history 

 of the races of men, I prepared to climb Minch Moor. 



And so I did four times ; but I must reserve the history of 

 this for another chapter; and so descending the Tweed by 

 Abbotsford, I shall next conduct the angler to the Gala. 



At one time the waters about Inverleithen were infested by a 

 few furious drunken cat-o'-mountain roysterers, of whom old 



