436 THE MOOR AND THE LOCH. 



I ever tasted were speared by my sons in the salt water of 

 Loch Long. 



Several years ago a Thames fisherman offered to take the 

 eel-fishing of Loch Lomond for a good rent from my late 

 brother. Though assured that he would make nothing of it, 

 the man of enterprise stood to his proposal, and at the time of 

 the yearly eel migration set his eel-pots in the Leven, the 

 effluent of the loch. He was so well repaid that he was 

 anxious to renew his lease, sending an enormous specimen as 

 a proof of his success to Eossdhu. From his experience of 

 the Thames, the eel-merchant knew well that the only road to 

 the sea for the migrating fish was by the river Leven, and 

 that he could secure them on their seaward voyage. 



In my early days the loch was full of flounders, some of 

 large size. They, too, leave the fresh for salt water at certain 

 times ; but since the pollution of the Leven by turkey-red 

 dyers, the flounders disappeared, refusing to return by such 

 an unsavoury route. Although char are to be found in most 

 of the western lochs, there are none in Loch Lomond. 



I mentioned before that when seithe grow old their nature 

 is completely changed. They gain a formidable case of teeth, 

 and are as fierce cannibals as any that infest those sea-lochs. 

 When the white cloud of gulls, &c., come screaming and 

 hovering over the herring-shoal, it is pretty certain that the 

 dreaded " stanlocks," or " black salmon," as they are called, 

 hang on the rear. Some of these monsters even attain the 

 great weight of sixty or seventy pounds. The herring-fishers, 

 by means of a hand-line of stout whip-cord and enormous 

 hooks baited with herring, catch them often of that size. 

 Unlike their silvery namesake, I make bold to say that a 

 " black salmon kipper " would have little temptation to detain 

 magistrates at breakfast when royalty arrives, to the prejudice 

 of the city keys. 



Good sport may sometimes be had with the smaller " stan- 

 locks " by baiting with a piece of pork or small herring and 



