by far the best way is to get a good sized cowhorn prepared, and having bunged up the larger end, and made a small hole at the other, large enough to admit your forefinger, fit a cork and attach it to the end, with a bit of string; having previously perforated the horn with holes, the size that a good oaten straw might enter (the one now before me, made I believe, fifty years ago, for the Eden, has the testamental number of seventy and seven in it); through other two holes put a piece of cord, in length so as to hang it round your neck, the whole will be complete and useful for your purposes. To those who fish much,—and I have known some who do so nearly the whole year, as you shall hear,—the May fly comes as a new thing, in its way, and as it lasts only a fortnight or three weeks, I like to keep to it while I have it, and, therefore, recommend it as a capital relief to those who fish much during the early months with other baits. I remember being in the Highlands on a fishing excursion, and living in the same inn with a gentleman, a very great enthusiast in Ichthyology and the sport; when sitting over our toddy,—after a capital day's work in sea-trouts, along with my friend Mill, who accompanied me,-that a long confab on the subject was most absurdly brought to an end by the following turn in the conversation :— Piscator. It appears then, sir, that you spend a great deal of your time in fishing? Gent. Yes I do, friend, from eight to nine months in the year. Pis. Of one who is so devoted to the sport, may I be permitted to ask, how you spend the other three or four months? Gent. Ha', Sir, I hie me home and betake myself to my books, etc. Mill. But, could you not fill up the other three or four months with your favourite sport also? Gent. (Excited), Ha', my dear friend, tell me, ha' tell, where I could do so? Mill. At the Bullers o' Buchan, for skate. Before I pass on to the Tweed and Don, I must notice the Ettrick, but I never fished it above Selkirk,--for who would do so, unless assured of fine conditioned water, when he has all the fine casts of the Tweed in the neighbourhood, which will be noticed in due time. There are good trout in this river, however; but I am afraid that the mills are destroying them below the town, for with sorrow did I see there, the other day, the commencement of a tannerie quite close to the mill-lead, and there are no tanks used. Selkirk Stands on the south side of the Ettrick, on the face of a hill, 'The Birse,' and the Sutors of Selkirk are well known. It is famous, inasmuch as they can show the colours which they brought off from the fatal battle of Flodden Field in 1513, and which I have seen. Its men, 'The Flowers of the Forest,' being, it is said, the only body who kept the field and were in battle array next morning after the ever to be lamented event. It is now a thriving place, the mills of Roberts, Brown, and Waddle, giving employment to many hands. The lap-stone has thus given place to the shuttle. I may mention an instance of generosity here. In the time of scarcity of water, Lord Napier allows the millowners to draw freely on the Loch of St Mary ; this is regulated by means of a sluice near the loch; no doubt, in 1859, so dry a season, the fish would get a fright, as many feet of water from the surface was drawn off to turn the wheels. There is a little good fishing water below the bridge, near its confluence with the Tweed, also above the bridge at Selkirk, and, when the water is big, you will see, in defiance of all law, and in open day light, poachers picking off the sea-trout and salmon in great numbers, as they run up the dam-dike or cauld, to spawn. In close time I have seen two or three taken in as many minutes while I passed by, the villanous rascals having no thought but how to kill 'twa at a blow,' if they could. It is a fine pastoral walk from this place to St Mary's Loch; the. distance, about sixteen miles, you can rest and be thankful at Tibby Shiels (now Mrs Richardson), and you will, no doubt, find yourself comfortable there, and feel yourselves, like old Isaak and his friends, in clean beds with sheets smelling sweet of lavender. You can then return to the Tweed via Traquair to Inverleithen or Peebles. To those who would desire a solitary walk for contemplation, or opportunity for a long quiet gossip by themselves, which, in the midst of this busy world, is not often found, when they wish to return to Edinburgh, let them take such a horse as Bishop Jewel presented to Richard Hooker, viz., a good walking stick, and go forth by the road now made by Inverleithen kirk up the Leithen Water between hills, until they get near Middleton Muir. The distance is nearly seventeen miles. I once took this road and thought it would never have an end. 'Gif way to heaven be sic a road, I'll sit me down and weary.' Old song. At Roxburgh, the remains of the castle are only seen. Here it was that James II. of Scotland was killed in 1460, by the bursting of a cannon, made probably from the trunk of a tree, and hooped all round with iron. Belso. Kelso is situated on the Tweed, in the very heart of fishing ground, near its confluence with the Teviot, a capital trouting river. It has a very fine ruin of a monastery, and a beautiful bridge over the Tweed. The Duke of Roxburghe's seat, Floors, is to the westward of the town, which is not a manufacturing place like Hawick or Galashiels, being situated in a purely agricultural district. The proper flies for both |