Aberdeenshire.

BERDEEN is much improved since I first knew it, and there are few streets anywhere finer than Union Streetwhich, in its whole extent, is of white granite— and is really imposing. The city used to swarm with ragged children; but, I am happy to say, that the Ragged Schools, under the care and inspection of Sheriff Watson, have had a wonderful effect, and now you see scarcely one-in fact none—but all are attending schools of some kind during the day. This is a move in the right direction. There is a good statue of the Duke of Gordon, the 'Cock of the North,' as he was called, in the market place, and also two Russian guns, from the Crimea, which were lately presented to the town by Lord Panmure.1

1 A most comical incident occurred with these shortly after they were placed here. A London sharper, observing a Highland clown gazing round them, quietly observed, that he was exposing them there for sale, and that he would take thirty shillings for the pair,-they to be

I shall begin with the first river in this county that I fished in, viz. :

The Don.

The Don has its source about five miles above Corgarff. Its tributaries are the Bucket, Esset, and Ury, fed by burns Colpie, Kellock, Shevock, and Gady. It is nearly a quarter of a century since I first cast a fly on its streams. At that time the usual way of getting from London to its banks was per steamer, or by smack; and many happy and pleasant days have I spent in the voyage. It is fished much in the same way as Tweed; but, seven or eight miles from Aberdeen, you have a large volume of water, and the banks are not so shelving as the Tweed from Melrose to Peebles. Generally your flies are of a large kind; and nearly all the salmon flies here, as well as on the Spey, are made of the heron hackle. This, no doubt, makes the fly lively in the water, and, generally, of a large kind, the

removed in the morning. The money was actually paid; but when he came at the matin bell, with his horse and cart to take them away, the laughter and his dismay, may be well conceived, for it cannot be described.

pools being much deeper and darker; the Don for most part coming through a great deal of muir lands, and a good many peat moss burns running into it in its course to the sea, which it falls into a little to the north of the city of Aberdeen. The rivers here are all more or less protected, both for salmon and for trout. This, in a measure, arises from large tracts of land belonging to one proprietor, and on both sides of the river, and not, as on the Tweed, which is divided into so many small properties. You cannot cast a fly for your amusement, at small fry in Don, without being instantly challenged by some gilly or gamekeeper; and the question of Trout versus the Public has never yet been tried here. From recent decisions of the Court of Session, it can only be a trespass, after all, on uncultivated lands. But such is the present observance, that before you can go for a single afternoon's sport, even for trout, you have to go through all the serfdom and formality of begging leave to fish. The present Lord Forbes of Castle Forbes, refused this small favour to three gentlemen, who politely asked his permission by letter to fish, where there are plenty of trout and nothing to destroy. While on the preservation of fish, I will observe,

that I can easily understand preserving trout, which remain stationary in streams and pools, but to preserve salmon, unless to be fished for the same day, is ridiculous, since they are constantly moving upward, and, in fact, seldom lie long in one place, and are always deteriorating in fresh water; so the sooner they are fished out for food, the better. I have no hesitation in saying, the Don is as good a river for large trout as any in Scotland;-indeed, for its length, I am inclined to think it is now the best. I never desired, nor do I care, neither is it generally to be wished, that a river should contain so many trout, as no skill is required for their capture. At every throw of the line were a trout to be taken, it would soon be quite sickening. What delight can that sportsman have who gets all his deer driven up to his tent in the hills, and he goes out and shoots them down in his morning gown and slippers—a regular battue—what delight can there be in being put into a preserve to shoot game, if, at every step you trod on a pheasant or a hare, and they could not get out of your way, and had no chance for their life? This is a kind of sport which the true lover of it does not covet or desire. Fair play to all, the

pursued and hunted, is the custom and the rule in every field where gentlemen meet. A certain amount of labour is desirable in the rising and the finding of game. The excitement of the sport is thus kept up; and it greatly adds to the pleasure, when you do something in this way, that others fail in doing; and we know no true sportsman would shoot a hare in its lair, or even sitting. In like manner, I only desire a fair stocked river of fish, with fair fishing therefor. I have little wish to be the mere killer of many, but rather, as the saying is, to have pleasure, not in the prize, but in the pain. We hear of some who kill 56 lbs. in a day. They have a greater desire to make themselves beasts of burden than I have; and what is the use of loading an ass under such circumstances. No man, except of great strength, can fish in a May day comfortably with more on his back than twenty-five pounds weight; and, as I always bag my own game, I seldom wish (indeed, it seldom happens) to have more than the half of this weight on any ordinary day I go forth. Many, many pleasant days has it been my privilege to enjoy myself by the water-side near Fintray. What were my feelings when I came down from pent up and