CH. I. FISHING AT ALTN AGALCANA CH. 7 



to this spot to decide the question with the soles 

 of his shoes filled with earth from the interior of 

 Boss-shire, the wily old fellow by this means saving 

 himself all scruples of conscience when he swore 

 most positively that he stood on Eoss-shire ground. 

 Standing on Eoss-shire ground in this manner, he 

 pointed out a boundary most convenient to his 

 employer, the Eoss-shire laird. So ran the tale 

 as it was told me ; and unde derivatur the name 

 of Altnagalcanach, which it still holds. 



Close to the door of the inn is a fine loch, in 

 which are great numbers of small trout and char, 

 and also plenty of the large lake-trout, or Salmo 

 ferox. We fished for an hour or two, and caught 

 a good dish of trout and one char ; a very unusual 

 occurrence, as the char rarely rises to the fly, ex- 

 cepting in one or two favoured localities. Indeed 

 I have caught hundreds of trout with the fly in 

 lochs swarming with char without ever catching 

 one of the latter. Though not much accustomed 

 to travellers, the good wife of the inn put us up 

 comfortably enough. We had clean beds, and 

 good tea, eggs, and cream, which, with the excel- 

 lent trout that we had taken, made us quite com- 

 fortable. The only thing wanting was hay (corn 

 they had in plenty) ; but I soon remedied that 

 want by shackling the horse's fore-legs with a 



