144 ANGLING SKETCHES 



the least Epicurean of sheep, and sheep do 

 not care for the lank and sour herbage by the 

 sides of the ' lanes,' as the half-stagnant, black, 

 deep, and weedy burns are called in this part 

 of the country. The scenery is not unattractive, 

 but tourists never wander to these wastes where 

 no inns are, and even the angler seldom visits 

 them. Indeed, the fishing is not to be called 

 good, and the ' lanes,' which ' seep,' as the 

 Scotch say, through marshes and beneath low 

 hillsides, are not such excellent company as the 

 garrulous and brawling brooks of the Border or 

 of the Highlands. As the lanes flow, however, 

 from far-away lochs, it happens that large trout 

 make their way into them — trout which, if hooked, 

 offer a gallant resistance before they can be 

 hauled over the weeds that usually line the 

 watercourses. 



Partly for the sake of trying this kind of 

 angling, partly from a temporary distaste for the 

 presence of men and women, partly for the purpose 

 of finishing a work styled 'A History of the 

 Unexplained,' I once spent a month in the soli- 



