DISTILLATION. 277 



They rarely are taken of a smaller weight than a pound, 

 and sometimes have been killed, and particularly with 

 a worm, or on a night-line, of a size little inferior to that 

 of a moderate salmon. 



The fishing party determined that Antony's account 

 of the otters being very numerous about those lakes 

 was perfectly correct. Their paths between the waters 

 were much beaten, and the spraints of the animal 

 fresh and frequent. 



There is a lake still farther up the mountains, and some 

 hundred feet above the level of these loughs, which 

 produces trout not more remarkable for size than for 

 their peculiarity in never rising at a fly, or taking a bait ; 

 and yet they are frequently observed by the herdsmen 

 who frequent the valley where the lake is situated, 

 rising over the water, or, to use their own phrase, 

 *' tumbling about like dogs." From the known attach- 

 ment of the lower classes of this country to indulge 

 in '* the wild and wonderful," their size or existence 

 might be doubtful, were it not that they run like eels 

 in the latter part of a harvest, and at that season are 

 taken, after a flood, in the pools of the little river, 

 which communicates directly with the lake. These 

 trout have been found to weigh upwards of twelve 

 pounds, and are said to be in shape and colour like large 

 gillaroos, and of superior flavour when brought to table. 



The otter-killer declares that he fished this lake 

 repeatedly, and while he exhausted all his piscatory 

 skill, he never could induce a trout to rise. He recol- 

 lects, however, hearing " when a boy," that there was 

 formerly an old man who resided contiguous to the lake, 

 who caught trout most plentifully near the centre of the 

 water, by floating lines across it, their ends being attached 



