258 ANGLING LITERATURE 



Strange was it to behold this gladsome crowd . 

 Our late so solitary dwelling fill j 

 And strange to hear their greetings mingling loud 

 Where all before was undisturb'd and still." 



The professor describes, in after years, the killing of 

 trout in Awe Loch, in Scotland, in the following stirring 

 language : 



" Lie on your oars, for we know the water. The bottom 

 of this shallow bay for 'tis nowhere ten feet, in places 

 sludgy, and in places firm almost as green- sward; for we 

 have waded it of yore many a time up to our chin till we 

 had to take to our fins there ! Mr. Yellowlees was in 

 right earnest, and we have him as fast as an otter. There 

 he goes, snoring and snuving along, as deep as he can 

 steady, boys, steady and seems disposed to pay a visit to 

 Babbit Island. There is a mystery in this we do not very 

 clearly comprehend the uniformity of our friend's conduct 

 becomes puzzling he is an unaccountable character. 

 He surely cannot be an eel ; yet, for a trout, he manifests 

 an unnatural love of mud on a fine day. Eow shoreward 

 Proctor, do as we bid you she draws but little water 

 run her up bang on that green brae then hand us the 

 crutch, for we must finish this affair on terra firma. Loch 

 Awe is certainly a beautiful piece of water. The islands 

 are disposed so picturesquely we want no assistance but 

 the crutch here we are, with elbow-room and on stable 

 footing ; and we shall wind up, retiring from the water's 

 edge as people do from a levee, with their faces towards the 



