CH. X.] “GREAT SPOTTED LING.” 139 
fish, no slight weight at last, and as I was mostly 
wading, and had no net, I lost a great number. 
Under favourable circumstances, and fishing the 
whole day, I have no doubt but that I could have 
easily doubled, if not trebled, the score. 
The following saying, which is current amongst 
the fishermen on the western coast of Scotland is, 
from its originality and grand suggestiveness, not 
without its merits, and, I think, worthy of pre- 
servation: “Seven Sprats go to feed a Herring; 
seven Herrings go to feed a Salmon; seven Salmon 
go to feed a Seal; seven Seals go to feed a Whale; 
seven Whales go to feed a Kennan-craw ; and se- 
ven Kennan-craws go to feed THk GREAT SPOTTED 
Line, which lives on the other side of the whole 
world.” 
An old gillie in service at our shooting-quarters 
used to say that the only fish he could eat were 
Dog-fish and Salmon, “with may be a Sea-Trout,” 
declaring that all the rest made his “skin swell.” 
How this swelling developed itself, whether in 
head, body, arms, or legs, I never could exactly 
make out, for he seemed to be rather afraid of 
being “chaffed” on the point, if he entered more 
fully into particulars. However, he was evidently 
quite in earnest, and seemed thoroughly impress- 
