232 ANGLING 



Peace be to tliy blue waters, 



As with gentle song they flow ; 

 Light be the breath of the whispering winds 



When on thy shores they blow. 

 May the blue sun's dancing rays 



On thy rippling wavelets gleam, 

 And gladsome be thy pilgrimage, 



Thou brightly flowing stream ! 

 Eoll on in beauty till ye gain 

 The white waves of the restless main." 



If the tourist direct his steps from Berwick towards 

 the Scottish capital, there are few intervening rivers 

 that are worthy of his time and attention. What 

 rivulets there are in this direction are small, and the 

 trouting in them both inferior and uncertain. And the 

 same remarks may be applied to the running streams 

 between Edinburgh and Glasgow. They have all only a 

 local repute, and we need not notice them further. 



There is, however, another great batch of fine waters, 

 which lie in the south-western portion of Scotland. 

 These can be approached either by Glasgow or from 

 Carlisle. Should the rod-fisher set out on this tour 

 from the last city, he must make his way to the river 

 Annan, which flows by the town of the same name, and 

 which is a tolerably good river, though not, in our 

 humble opinion, of a first-rate character. To fish its 

 higher streams, the station of Wamphray, on the 

 Caledonian Railway, is the most convenient. The 

 stream can then be fished down to the town of Annan, 

 where the tourist will find a ready conveyance to take 

 him forward to the river Nith, at Dumfries, an excellent 

 fishing locality. It contains both salmon and trout, 

 and has a range of waters full one hundred miles in 

 extent. It is navigable for small vessels below the 

 town of Dumfries. The vale through which it flows is 

 called Nithsdale, and possesses rural scenery of great 

 beauty and magnificence. The highest waters of the 

 stream lie above the town of Sanquhar, which is a good 

 and central situation for the rod-fisher, as he has here 

 the command of several waters that are connected with, 

 and tributary to, the main river. The Grawick Water, 



