GOLF AT COLONSAY 89 



competition of the innumerable steam-trawlers from 

 distant ports which have well-nigh exterminated the 

 turbot and other flat fish which used to abound on 

 the sandy banks to eastward in the Sounds which 

 divide Colonsay from Jura and Mull. These inter- 

 lopers have succeeded in ruining the bottom fishing, 

 and you may now toss a long time in your little 

 boat without a bite, where legend tells of great 

 catches of splendid flat fish as an everyday experi- 

 ence. Still abundance of sport may be had with 

 the rod and white fly among the saithe and lythe 

 that cruise round the rocks and haunt the tideways, 

 where it is a joy to paddle along over a translucent 

 ultramarine sea broken by eiders, puffins, guillemots, 

 and cormorants, with here and there the black 

 dog-like head of a seal suddenly emerging close at 

 hand, and turning its large liquid eyes upon you 

 more in curiosity than fear. Sometimes seal have 

 been even known to swallow the fish as it struggles 

 on your hook a few yards astern of the boat. 



After reaching Port Mor a sharp turn to the left 

 takes us to Beinn nan Caorach, a bold peak which in 

 spite of its height of only some 412 feet, looks im- 

 posing, as it rises straight from the water level. Size 

 after all is a matter of comparison, and on an island 

 where the highest peak only rises to an elevation of 

 some 800 feet or thereabouts, he looks quite a respect- 

 able mountain, his grandeur enhanced by the pair of 

 falcons which are nearly always to be seen soaring 

 round his summit in sweeping and majestic circles. 



Another hundred yards brings us to the links, where 

 our keepers are reposing at the north-east corner of a 

 broad expanse of lovely springy turf, broken to west- 



