44 THE SALMON RIVERS OF SCOTLAND 



son, Mr. T. Rutherfurd Clark, averaged from Loch Hope just 

 1000 lb. of sea trout each season to his own rod, his best day's take 

 being one of 57 lb. 



Salmon pass right through the loch to ascend the Strathmore 

 River at the head, and there when there is rain, two, three, and 

 four fish a day are sometimes got, while later on this upper water 

 is the chief spawning ground, though iish use both the loch and 

 the river below it.i There are few prettier fisheries in Scotland 

 than those attached to Hope Lodge if the sport could but be largely 

 improved, and with the immunity from bag-nets that the river 

 enjoys, I am quite certain that it only requires careful observation 

 to ensure that desirable end. 



With regard to the close time, Duncan Ross writes me as 

 follows : "I have never known a clean fish caught on the Hope 

 before the 12th of June. I am certain it is a late river. Until 

 1889 it closed on tlie loth of September, and I spoke to the late 

 Duke about it. J^ord Rutherfurd Clark got permission to fish 

 until the 15th of October in i88g, and certainly the river should 

 not be closed earlier. I am not sure if the Fishery Board comes 

 farther in the county than the Shin, so that the Duke can make 

 local laws as he pleases ; at any rate, the Fishery Board has nothing 

 to do with watching the river in this part of the county." 



Hitherto my travelling in these northern regions had been done 

 by posting from place to place at the usual rate of is. 3d. a mile, 

 plus threepence per mile more for the driver. Sometimes the 

 jehu was charged for in the hotel bill, sometimes he was not, and 

 before I became aware of this difference in custom, on several 

 occasions I paid the driver his mileage twice over, greatly to his 

 joy and much to my astonishment at his very profuse thanks ; 

 it is therefore just as well to ascertain before starting if his fee 

 has been included in the hire bill. 



On the day I wished to quit Tongue, the dogcarts had all gone 

 to the various hill lochs with the trout-fishers, so I had perforce 

 to make my first acquaintance with Her Majesty's mailcart, and 

 in it I started from Tongue for Erribol Ferry, en route to Durness, 

 a cheap and comfortable ride of some twenty-six miles for six 

 shillings, with a tip of half a crown to the well-mannered driver. 

 The same journey in a dogcart would have cost thirty-nine shillings, 

 so from this time forward I often tried the same method of pro- 

 gression, sometimes successfully, sometimes disastrously. A 

 crowded mailcart on a wet day is horrid, and whatever the weather, 

 it is still more horrid when it carries natives who have taken too 

 much whisky, and v/ho when started produce bottles of it from 

 their pockets and suck at them until they are incapable ! 



The Hope River is crossed by a ferry-boat working on a chain, 

 and that negotiated, a further drive of two miles brings the traveller 

 to Heulim Ferry on Loch Erribol, which here is some two miles 



1 Duncan Ross is my authority for saying that fish spawn in the locli, but 

 " I hae ma doubts." 



