SUNNING 219 



the gentleman and laughed himsel, joost as bad as 

 me ; but the gentleman never laughed a bit. Aweel, 

 we turned to gang hame again, and a' the way doon 

 the walk the gentleman he keepit looking at Maida, 

 and when he got to Abbotsford, he ordered his 

 carriage and gied awa." 



' Well, that was better sport than we are likely 

 to have to-day, Tom, for the cluds are beginning to 

 rise, and the wind is getting up ; more's the pity, 

 for it was the finest morning I ever saw, and now 

 we are late, and have lost twae hours. But here 

 comes the maister and the strange gentleman with 

 him, he that does not know a fish from a cow, and 

 who was broke by ane of thae whitlings." 



The little party being now entirely assembled, 

 agreed that, as the day was beginning to alter, it 

 was a pity to disturb the water till they saw clearly 

 how it would turn out ; so the fishermen remained 

 with the boats and leisters at Craigover boat-hole ; 

 and, in the meantime, I, Harry Otter, thought I 

 could not do better than explain the operation of 

 sunning to my friend, Mr. Tintern, as there was now 

 some chance of gaining his attention ; so we sat 

 down, and I commenced as follows : 



Sunning, as I have told you, is a mode of taking 

 salmon with a spear by sun light ; and vast numbers 

 are captured in this manner, particularly in the upper 

 part of the Tweed, where fish are more easily seen 

 than in the lower, from the comparative shallowness 

 of the water in which they lie. 



This sport does not begin till the river is quite low 

 and clean, and useless for the fly. To succeed per- 



