40 ANGLING SKETCHES 



the newspapers ; more and more of our eager 

 fellow-creatures are attracted, more and more the 

 shooting tenants are preserving waters that used 

 to be open. The distance to Sutherland makes 

 that county almost beyond the range of a brief 

 holiday. Loch Leven is nearer, and at Loch Leven 

 the sceneryjs better than its reputation, while the 

 trout are excellent, though shy. But Loch Leven 

 is too much cockneyfied by angling competitions ;■ 

 moreover, its pleasures are expensive. Loch Awe 

 remains, a loch at once large, lovely, not too dis- 

 tant, and not destitute of sport. 



The reader of Mr. Colquhoun's delightful old 

 book, ' The Moor and the Loch,' must not expect 

 Loch Awe to be what it once was. The railway, 

 which has made the north side of the lake so ugly, 

 has brought, the district within easy reach of 

 Glasgow and of Edinburgh. Villas are built on 

 many a beautiful height ; here couples come for 

 their honeymoon, here whole argosies of boats are 

 anchored off the coasts, here do steam launches 

 ply. The hotels are extremely comfortable, the 

 boatmen are excellent boatmen, good fishers, and 



