34 FIELD-NOTES FOR THE YEAR. CH. XXII. 



wading mid-leg deep in the tide, keeping even pace 

 with the water as it flows in to fill the basin. His 

 occupation was for some time a mystery to me, till 

 approaching him, I saw that he had a singular 

 kind of creel slung to his neck, and a long clumsy- 

 looking kind of trident in his hand. Walking 

 slowly backwards, but still keeping in two-foot 

 water, with poised weapon and steady eye he 

 watches for the flounders which come in with every 

 tide. When he sees one, down goes his spear ; and 

 the unlucky fish is hoisted into the air, and then 

 deposited in the creel. 



I waited until, having either filled his basket, or 

 being driven to land by the increased depth of the 

 tide, the old man quitted the water. He either had 

 not noticed me or did not choose to do so before he 

 landed. When I accosted him by asking him what 

 luck he had had, I got at first rather a grunt than 

 an answer, as he seemed in no very communicative 

 mood ; but having refreshed himself by a spoonful 

 of snuff, which he crammed into his nose with a 

 little wooden kind of ladle, he told me that he 

 " had na got muckle vennison the morn," adding 

 that he "did na ken what had driven the beasts out 

 of the bay of late ;" venison, or, as he pronounced 

 it, " ven-ni-son," meaning in this country any eat- 

 able creature, fish, flesh, or fowl. The old fellow 



