172 JUNE 



who should say ' It is true, my friends, that there 

 is a pound trout inside me ; it is quite extraordinary 

 how valuable articles get mislaid. There are also 

 half-a-dozen poor little salmon fry, not to mention a 

 misguided grandchild of my own; but, then, you 

 see, that 's what comes of my having such a con- 

 foundedly wide mouth. I am rather forgetful some- 

 times, and leave it open, and then these things get into 

 it.' But there is no disguise upon the countenance 

 of a ferox. It is seamed with hatred in every line 

 of it; the huge underhung mouth is an engine of 

 insatiable gluttony; and the deep-set eyes have 

 exchanged the expression of mild misanthropy you 

 see in those of a young trout for a look of malignant 

 cunning. * Ah ! ' you may hear him mutter between 

 your knees as you extricate your tackle from his 

 well-armed jaws, 'wouldn't I like to bite your leg 

 off, you big brute ! Wouldn't I like to have you in 

 a cool ten fathoms of water. I'd tear you into 

 bloody ribbons before I 'd done with you.' 



The largest lake trout to the capture of which I 

 can personally testify (though I was not the captor) 

 was one of twenty-two pounds taken in Loch Arkaig. 

 Larger ones have been recorded, but not very many 

 of them. To attain such dimensions, or anything 



