A SCOTCH BREAKFAST. 81 



to watch their movements. On came the porpoises, all 

 five abreast; and as they approached, he distinctly saw 

 a whole shoal of herrings, their silvery coats twinkling 

 in the sunshine, as they dashed through the water 

 before their pursuers. The porpoises played their 

 parts with as much skill as so many trained shepherd- 

 dogs driving a flock to the fold. As they neared, they 

 formed into a crescent, so as to shut in as much 

 as possible the tiny crowd before them ; and at 

 length, when arrived immediately beneath the posi- 

 tion of my informant, the herrings being crowded 

 thickly together by the cliff in front, and the circling 

 enemy behind, the porpoises simultaneously plunged 

 into the jostling terrified mass; and the gentleman 

 assured me he could literally see numbers of the 

 twinkling crowd engulphed by the open jaws of the 

 porpoises a bourn from which, doubtless, none would 

 ever return. 



After a drive of some twenty-five miles we reached 

 a small wayside inn, where we put up our pony for a 

 bait of two or three hours; and, having discussed a 

 Scotch breakfast, consisting of fish cooked in three or 

 four different forms, oatcakes, bannocks, and marma- 

 lade, preceded by a " nip " of bitters as a provocative 

 of the appetite (very unnecessary, by-the-by, on the 

 present occasion, when the morning air and the long 

 drive had generated a sufficient degree of voracity), we 

 unpacked our fishing-tackle, and, there being a small 

 river near at hand, belonging to the same proprietor 

 as the water we were invited to fish, and which after a 

 speyet not unfrequently afforded very fair sport, we 

 proceeded to spend the remaining two hours of our 

 bait in trying its merit. The Chruim is but a small 

 stream, save when swollen by rain, the effects of which, 

 however, seldom last beyond a few hours. At this time 



