THE TWEED 305 



And poachers meant for salmon slaughter, 



Either to ' sun ' or ' burn ' the water ; 



The Icisterer stoorl with legs a-straddle 



Across this queensh sort of saddle, 



And when a luckless fish was seen 



He speared it through thr- space between." 



Here Mr. Liddell once had a day of twenty fish, averaging 

 18 lb. In 1873 the late Mr. Malcolm of Poltalloch got seventy- 

 three in a week. Nowadays that would be a fair take for the 

 whole season, for in 1898 tJae catch was but fifty fish, followed in 

 1899 by a total of seventy. George Wright, the well-known 

 fisherman at Makerston, and who has been there nearly forty-five 

 years, attributes the falling off entirely to disease ; and doubtless 

 he is right to a great extent, while probably its greater virulence 

 in the Tweed, as compared with its destructiveness in other rivers, 

 is due entirely to the extra horrid and poisonous nature of the 

 pollutions poured in from the manufactories on the banks. 



Next comes the far-famed Floors Water, belonging to the Duke 

 of Roxburghe, with its numerous pools spread over more than 

 four miles of both banks. From the top one of The Slates to 

 the lowest of Maxwheel — from which the late Duke once took in 

 a day six salmon and twenty grilse — one cast is nearly as good as 

 another, and while there is always ample room for three rods, in 

 suitable water and windy weather there is plenty of space for 

 four. It was on this water that Mr. Arthur Pryor, in November 

 1886, took with a Wilkinson the heaviest fish ever killed by the 

 rod on Tweedside. Unluckily, it was not weighed on the bank, 

 but was carted up to Floors Castle along with fourteen other victims 

 of Mr. Pryor's Forrest rod of eighteen and a half feet. It was then 

 weighed in the presence of the Duke and the Duchess, Lord Hard- 

 wicke, Lord Kensington, and Lord Lovat, and declared to l)e just 

 over 60 lb. The next morning at ten o'clock the shepherd, bringing 

 in mutton, re-weighed it and made it but 57! lb. There can, how- 

 ever, be no doubt it was 60 lb.' when first caught and first weighed. 



In the mile and three-quarters of the Floors upper beat there 

 are nine good pools, the best being Blackstone, Shot, Slap, and 

 New Stream. In the mtle of the lower water there are seven 

 others, of which the Coach Wynd, Garden Wall, and Putt are the 

 most noted. Below this comes the Ednam House section of a 

 mile and a half, while each of these three anglings has the right 

 on both banks. From where the Floors estate ends on both banks, 

 It still continues down on the south one for upwards of four miles 

 to Carham Burn, the march between England and Scotland. 

 Part of this is the well-known Sprouston water, with its thirty-five 

 pools of which Prouston Dub has the reputation of being the 

 finest cast on the Tweed; but like the other famous Dub of 

 Birgham, a strong breeze on it is necessary. 



Nearly opposite Kelso— famous for Forrest and his rods— and a 



1 For loss of weight, sec chapter on " The Tay," p. 278. 

 20 



