TROUT-SPEAKING. 83 



Be3'ond this stream the forest gradnally be- 

 came more open and the trees larger, many of 

 them bemg splendid silver beeches of unnsnal 

 size ; others grand pines hoary with age, and 

 festooned with long tresses of silver-grey 

 beard-moss, which, I believe, like ivy and 

 other parasites, kills as it beautifies. 



The day we crossed Xakerala happened 

 to be a holiday, and all the folk of the country- 

 side were out enjoying themselves. Hence 

 it happened that as we came down into the 

 lower land we met frequent groups of blue- 

 coated peasants carrying long poles armed 

 with tiny tridents for the spearing of trout. 

 Every male in the villages we passed through 

 seemed to be bent on fishing, and the trout 

 of the neighbouring burns must have had a 

 rough time of it before nightfall. In the 

 villages we found the idle dames of these 

 anglers, clad m many-coloured garments, and 

 hanging al^out in groups somewhere on the 

 G 2 



