GOLF AT COLONSAY 95 



day's sport is not at an end. We stroll back along 

 the road about a mile, and then walk down across 

 the field to a point near which our boat is waiting 

 for us in an inlet of West Loch Fada. Our rods and 

 tackle are all ready, and we are soon drifting along 

 with the breeze, tempting the trout with a Heckham 

 Peckham and a Zulu. The fish are on the move 

 this evening, and with the assistance of a small 

 phantom minnow trailed in the wake of the boat, as 

 we row up against the wind to take up our position 

 for our second drift, we manage to secure ten beautiful 

 trout of an average weight of about three-quarters of 

 a pound ; the largest of which would perhaps turn 

 the scale at a pound and a half. It is getting dark 

 before we leave off, or we might secure a few more 

 snipe and possibly a duck or two by walking home 

 along the edge of the lake, but we have done enough, 

 and we stroll home through the gathering dusk, 

 watching the flighting ducks, and listening to the 

 musical cries of the curlews and plover, well satisfied 

 with our day's amusement. 



It is needless to dwell now upon the merits of golf 

 as a game. All must admit that there must be some 

 superlative excellence in a sport which first com- 

 mended itself to the pawky intellect of Scotland, and 

 then, after planting a few parasitic growths in remote 

 corners of England, at last took permanent root in 

 every part of Great Britain ; and in less than a 

 decade invaded and overran two hemispheres, plant- 

 ing its victorious red and white flags in every latitude 

 from the Equator to the Pole. It can be played at all 

 seasons of the year, although extremes of tempera- 

 ture are undesirable ; and it is a somewhat doubtful 



