THE TWEED CLOYENrORD. 139 



but I heeded them not. I had swum, the flooded Keiskemma on 

 horseback, crossed the Anatolo mountains, and lived for years ou 

 the Fisch Biver Bosch, and so laughed at the idea of being 

 stopped by the Whitadder. 



The Tweed runs through a wild country from Romano Bridge 

 and the Lyne to Peebles. With this track of the river I am 

 not much acquainted. At Peebles, the angler cannot fail of 

 sport, whilst lower down, at Clovenford, he is sure to meet with 

 salmon. It is not worth while fishing the Tweed, especially 

 at this point, with a rod of less than twenty or more feet 

 in length ; and if you put on a pair of grilse flies, see that the 

 running-line be clear, presenting no obstacles to the run of the 

 fish. I once hooked a seven-pound salmon in a stream near 

 Clovenford ; it ran out some forty feet of line in an instant. I 

 held on as well as I could ; deep pools formed by heaps of stones, 

 thrown in to protect the banks, flanked me on either side. I 

 moved round one of these with great difficulty, and reached a 

 gravelly and open bank. The salmon now ran directly across 

 the river, and brought the top end of the rod under the water. 

 I could do no more than hold on. At last he fatigued him- 

 self so much that I managed to get him safely landed on the 

 gravelly bank. When the angler reaches Kelso, he will find a 

 different mode of fishing for salmon practised. The river is all 

 taken, but the fisherman will hire a boat to you, and assist you 

 with rod, line, &c. ; the charge is moderate. What salmon or 

 sea trout you take, you may have at a reasonable charge. I 

 think nothing of this kind of fishing. Commend me to the 

 river bank, taking every chance. It is the exercise, the exertion, 

 the skill required, which constitutes the pleasure of angling; 

 now roaming by some steep mountain side, now through the 

 precipitous rocky gorge, or following the stream as it bursts 

 forth from its hilly barriers, winding through woodlands and 

 fields rich in grain. To follow the stream free and unrestrained 

 is my delight, little booting whether the basket be filled or not ; 

 there is always enough to amuse, to interest, to induce me to 

 travel onwards, never tired of the landscape, to me ever new, 

 ever changing. 



At Kelso, the angler, if a gourmand, may have salmon cooked 



