214 WHAT I HAVE SEEN WHILE FISHING 



salmon perseveringly travel to their spawning 

 beds. 



The conformation of the glen may be generally 

 described as a succession of long bends, the angles 

 of which consist of mountain spurs that so closely 

 approximate at certain points as to make the 

 beholder think he has attained his goal, and that 

 the little opening before him has no ulterior, 

 beyond, at most, a small mountain corrie. 



His astonishment increases as he enters another, 

 and still another, bend, in generals so like, but in 

 particulars so dissimilar from, the preceding ones. 

 Thus the scene shifts, from beginning to end. The 

 hills, rising almost perpendicularly from the bed 

 of the river, give the whole glen its individuality 

 of character, and help it to form a little world by 

 itself. 



It is of the salmon pools in the dale, in the pass, 

 and in the three miles of river beyond, that I have 

 undertaken to write, but I find it impossible to 

 concentrate all my thoughts on the fishing. 



I hear the kirk bell next door, and here come 

 the kirk goers. How many times I have hidden 

 behind the curtain and watched them until the last 

 in the slow procession had passed and was safely 

 within the doors ! Then I have gone boldly out for 

 a long walk up the glen. After proceeding about a 

 mile you may see me jump the low wall that divides 

 the road from the river, where I shall peep down, 

 straight down, some forty feet, and quite forget the 



