CH. I. FISHING AT ALTNAGALCANACH. 7 



to this spot to decide the question with the soles 

 of his shoes filled with earth from the interior of 

 Ross-shire, the wily old fellow by this means saving 

 himself all scruples of conscience when he swore 

 most positively that he stood on Ross-shire ground. 

 Standing on Ross-shire ground in this manner, he 

 pointed out a boundary most convenient to his em- 

 ployer, the Ross-shire laird. So ran the tale as it 

 was told me ; and wide derivatur the name of Altna- 

 galcanach, which it still holds. 



Close to the door of the inn is a fine loch, in which 

 are great numbers of small trout and char, and also 

 plenty of the large lake-trout, or Sahno ferox. AVe 

 fished for an hour or two, and caught a good dish 

 of trout, and one char ; a very unusual occurrence, 

 as the char rarely rises to the fly, excepting in 

 one or two favoured localities. Indeed I have 

 caught hundreds of trout with the fly in lochs 

 swarming with char, without ever catching one of 

 the latter. Though not much accustomed to tra- 

 vellers, the good wife of the inn put us up comfort- 

 ably enough. We had clean beds, and good tea, 

 eggs, and cream, which, with the excellent trout 

 that we had taken, made us quite comfortable. The 

 only thing wanting was hay (corn they had in plenty) ; 

 but I soon remedied that want by shackling the 

 horse's fore legs with a couple of dog-straps, and 



