90 ABEKDEENSHIRE. 



pursued and hunted, is the custom and the rule 

 in every field where gentlemen meet. A certain 

 amount of labour is desirable in the rising and 

 the finding of game. The excitement of the 

 sport is thus kept up ; and it greatly adds to the 

 pleasure, when you do something in this way, 

 that others fail in doing ; and we know no true 

 sportsman would shoot a hare in its lair, or even 

 sitting. In like manner, I only desire a fair 

 stocked river of fish, with fair fishing therefor. 

 I have little wish to be the mere killer of many, 

 but rather, as the saying is, to hare pleasure, not 

 in the prize, but in the pain. We hear of some 

 who kill 56 Ibs. in a day. They have a greater 

 desire to make themselves beasts of burden than 

 I have ; and what is the use of loading an ass 

 under such circumstances. No man, except of 

 great strength, can fish in a May day comfort- 

 ably with more on his back than twenty-five 

 pounds weight ; and, as I always bag my own 

 game, I seldom wish (indeed, it seldom happens) 

 to have more than the half of this weight on any 

 ordinary day I go forth. Many, many pleasant 

 days has it been my privilege to enjoy myself by 

 the water-side near Fintray. What were my 

 feelings when I came down from pent up and 



