290 REMINISCENCES OF A HUNTSMAN 



and resolute was the fish, that he would not let himself be lifted 

 to the light till the three-quarters of an hour had expired, soon 

 after which we gaffed him into the boat, where the purple 

 monster broke one or two of my hooks before, with the hammer 

 belonging to my rifle, I could give him the coup de grace. Had 

 I killed this fine specimen of the fish in earlier season, he would 

 not have been a fraction under twenty pounds ; the servants 

 weighed him in my absence, and said that in his present con- 

 dition he was but fourteen. Lord Malmsbury pi-onounced him 

 the largest fish that had been caught for ten years, and sent him 

 to be stuffed, as a perfect specimen of the great lake trout.^ In 

 the little time that I had to fish in these waters, it was evident 

 that the artificial pectoral fin minnow made of honi, was the 

 best of all baits,^ and with it I killed several of the salmo ferox, 

 as well as the sea and common trout, but none of them, save the 

 monster described, above four or five jiounds. 



Setting all sports aside, the lover of nature is well repaid for 

 his long and tedious journey in reaching these wilds — these lands 

 of rich lights and shadows ; for there is scarce a change in the 

 day, or in his position, that does not offer to his observation 

 some fresh beauty. Wild, wet and cold though the day was, 

 our drive after the monster stag of Corrie Vortght disclosed to 

 me much to admire. Having mounted our ponies, Lord Malms- 

 bury, Lord Edward Thynne, Mr. Dashwood and myself began 

 to ascend the foot of the hills on the side of Loch Lochy ; for 

 we had to make a long detour to approach the sacred precincts 

 of the king of the waste, who had chosen this extraordinary 

 corrie as the place of his resort ; and new to the locality as I 

 was, my eyes were as often turned to look at the opening pro- 

 spects behind and around me, as they were to mind the dangerous 

 nature of the path. Beyond us and to the left, towering above 



^ Far larger trout have been killed of late years in Loch Arkeg. I 

 lauded one of 174 lbs., and my brother-in-law, Mr. Johnston Stewart of 

 Physgill, one of 23 lbs.— Ed. 



2 This does not coincide with my experience. The most successful bait 

 I have found to be a burn trout of about four ounces in weight.— Ed. 



