ON SALMON ANGLING. 123 



fisher on Dryburgh water here, and afterwards at 

 Craigo'er on Mertoun water, who removed to a farm 

 near Hamilton about fifteen years ago, once accom- 

 panied three or four gentlemen on a day's stroll to 

 the Clyde, where, with his old Tweed JwoJcs (exactly 

 such as I hav described) he saved the credit of the 

 party by personally killing the only five salmon seen 

 that day. But then I have never seen any man who 

 could excel Haliburton in laying a fly to the eye of 

 a salmon ; and yet his is the only instance I have 

 known of an angler becoming excellent who was not 

 bred to it from boyhood ;* for John had never once 

 thrown a rod at the time he took a lease of Dryburgh 

 water, being then a labouring man, a husband, and a 

 father. But then he was one of the few amongst the 

 sons of men who could calculate on the nature of 

 things as they are, without regard to fashion or 

 general opinion. While in Craigo'er, in the year 

 1816, I knew him, in five days of one spring week, 

 kill with y, with his own hand, ninety-nine salmon 

 (mostly foulfis h and kelts of course), and on one of 

 the days he caught twenty-four, many of them about 

 and above twenty pounds weight. But, except John 



* With due deference to John we may state that we know a number 

 of very good anglers who never caught either a trout or salmon in 

 boyhood. Perseverance and observation might, in our opinion, make 

 ten men out of twenty fair anglers. [Eon.] 



