A PLEA FOR TOURISTS. 37 
The harm done by rod-fishing in a well-stocked river 
is quite infinitesimal. 
It is a different matter when autumn begins to 
tint the leaves. Then fish enter the pools sedately, as 
becomes the “ gravity” of their position. They have 
been probably kept hanging about the mouth of the 
river, waiting for a fresh flow of water, until their 
sides have become tinged with gold instead of silver. 
If veterans, they advance cautiously, not caring to 
seek the surface in the glare of day. They select the 
big pools to rest in, and the near fords for spawning. 
To catch a fish that has “potted” (to use a technical 
phrase), the fisherman must exert his utmost skill, 
and we cannot blame the proprietor, who, at that 
season, preserves his pools undisturbed. But with 
fresh-run grilse it is quite different ; they are almost 
like birds of passage on their flight—if not shot in 
Kent to-day, they will be over the border to-morrow; 
and if it be so, as, with some experience of what is 
pre-eminently a grilse river, we believe it is, surely it 
is not pressing an unreasonable request upon owners 
and lessees of Highland rivers, to ask some little more 
freedom for strangers than they have now in the 
matter of fishing. It is not a small privilege to-be 
able to give legitimate pleasure to one’s neigh- 
bours ; and Highland gentlemen have a character to 
support for more than common hospitality. <A 
“ Highland welcome” has become proverbial through- 
