FEBRUARY 63 



delightful title of 'fuddling chub/ The very term 

 has a fascination in it, and I commend the plan to 

 the attention of south- country conservators as well 

 worthy of a trial at the present season. The recipe is 

 as follows : Boil 1 J Ib. of rice until rather soft (not so 

 soft as for the table), let it cool, then add 1J Ib. of 

 flour, one ounce of Cocculus Indicus, and crumble up 

 with the whole a threepenny loaf of stale bread. Mix 

 all together with the hands, and throw into the haunts 

 of chub in pieces about the size of a pea. The chub 

 eat it, presently float on the top incapably drunk, and 

 may be ladled out. It is said that trout do not take it, 

 but the experiment should be carried out cautiously at 

 first. 



XVI 



The real tooth of winter (1898) has come upon us with 

 the lengthening days ; the warmth of Yule tide 

 has passed away, and a terrible north wind HigMand 

 drives down our Highland strath. The sky, 

 yesterday so blue, is uniformly grey, and the snow- 

 flakes fly thickly. Far up on the bosom of Beinn 

 Uarie one can discern, in the clearer intervals, the 

 great corrie, where the drifts seethe and whirl; last 

 week you might have basked there in the sun, looking 

 forth upon the wide firth ; to-day it would be death to 

 venture within that awful chamber of snow. 



On the smooth holm beside the river stands a sub- 

 stantial farmhouse, where dwells one of those great 

 sheep-farmers who have had to bear so much abuse for 

 displacing the crofters. A young woman comes out, 



