SALT-WATER LOCHS. 189 



THE HAND-LINE 



When a boy, I used to be much delighted with the 

 hand-line, and never failed to practise it as opportunity 

 offered. It is simply a piece of whalebone fastened cross- 

 wise to the line, and a hook at each end, tied upon strong 

 gut, with a heavy lead in the centre. This lead sinks the 

 line rapidly to the bottom, which it no sooner touches than 

 you feel it strike. You are thus enabled to keep moving 

 the hooks a yard or two up, and then sink them to the 

 ground again, which entices the fish. All the art of the 

 hand-line is to pull up the instant you feel a bite, and never 

 to slacken (unless to play a large one) till the fish is safe in 

 the boat. Keep changing your ground, and dropping your 

 anchor, unless the fish seem taking. Mussels are the best 

 bait ; and it is a good plan to throw a few into the water, 

 as well as the empty shells. 



Hand-line fishing may be followed at any time, but is 

 best at the flow of the tide. As the water retires, shift 

 your position further down the loch, and vice versa. Almost 

 every cottage on the banks can supply a hand-line, and 

 every inmate knows how to use it. 



THE WHITE FEATHER 



To some highly facetious authors, a pun upon the white 

 feather might prove a prize, so I shall make them a present 

 of it instead of my readers, and proceed to its dressing 



