a steep ascent, as all the male passengers dismounted from our vehicle in order to ease the horses. West Loch Tarbert, with its numerous islands, appeared to-day to the greatest advantage, while rabbits were disporting themselves about the rocks by hundreds. Such a rabbit country it would be difficult to surpass.

We reached Tarbert about 12 o'clock, and whiled away a couple of hours in wandering about and in the important occupation of the discussion of luncheon. At about 2 p.m. we stepped on board the Iona steamer, and depositing a friend, who accompanied us at Tigh-naBruaich, we proceeded to Kion, and from thence walked on three miles to Sandbank, of which place and vicinity we gave an account some years ago in the Sporting Review. After a fortnight's sojourn, we went over to visit our friend at Tigh-na-Bruaich, the situation of whose temporary residence was picturesque in the extreme. The sea view from the front consisted of the Kyles of Bute, which island lies immediately opposite at the distance of about a mile. The Isle of Arran appears in the distance, while at the back of the house flows a beautiful and very rocky burn, containing numbers of trout, but being too much wooded for fly-fishing. The view from the back window reminded us strongly of that from the refreshment room at the Swiss Cottage in the London Colosseum, only on a larger scale, with fine wooded and heather-clad mountains in the background.

Strolling out one day we suddenly came upon a very picturesque scene close beside another burn, much enhanced by a group consisting of a travelling tinker and his wife, together with (of course) a swarm of bare-headed and bare-footed children. The man was busy at his calling, with which he combined another means of subsistence, by buying up ducks, eggs, &c., at the farmhouses, and realizing a profit by selling them at Rothesay and other places. These people sleep under a rude tent, and live out of doors for many months in the year; and we were informed that they earn a good deal of money. Not far distant from this rude encampment we came on an extensive bed of watercress, of which being particularly fond we gathered sufficient for a simple feast.

We walked over about a mile from Tigh-na-Bruaich to a place called Kames, consisting of several houses and a few shops, but chiefly celebrated for is extensive powder works, the property of Messrs. Curtis and Harvey, and which also have been subject to numerous explosions, one of which we heard at Rothesay, and of which we gave an account in our Excursion to the Isle of Bute." In a field at Kames stands a very large Druid stone, while others are also to be seen below the village. After a short séjour at Tigh-na-Bruaich, we again returned to Sandbank, accompanied by our friend; and we both exulted in the piscatory resources of the Holy Loch, especially as regards its supply of fine plaice and flounders, the former frequently attaining the weight of five pounds and upwards.

On Saturday, the 11th of January last, we were visited by a high spring tide; and at about noon a man was walking beside the Holy Loch, at a short distance from our present abode, accompanied by a retriever, when suddenly the dog got upon a scent which, following up, he stood and barked, when, on his master going up to the spot, he discovered the body of a man just within tide mark. The body, which

K

was in an advanced stage of decomposition, was decently habited, the face wholly unrecognisable, the legs and stockings much gnawed, and the flesh hanging on the fingers. In the pockets was a purse and about twenty-five shillings. The corpse had evidently been washed by the spring tide, as it was not there on the previous day. The discovery of this body and the clothing being advertised, an Irishman came forward a few days afterwards, stating that he had been acquainted with the man, who was a fellow-countryman of his, and was last seen a month previous standing on Greenock Quay. The mutilation of the body is supposed to have been caused by shell-fish. On the 14th there was a still higher spring-tide, said to be the highest for the last twelve years, which, for a considerable distance along the shore, inundated the high road, flooded many houses, and nearly covered the pier. At night there was much lightning, and the following day was the wildest we ever remember-high gales, with tremendous hailstorms, accompanied by long continued thunder and lightning; the hills snow-capped in the meantime, and presenting a wintry contrast to the scenes we had visited during our (( Summer Excursion."

NO FALSE ALARM.

DESIGNED AND ENGRAVED BY J. WESTLEY.

"Give us in any part of the world-in the eastern counties of our own country, in France, or amid the hills of Scotland, where the tarns lie like oases among the hills-some far-off solitary pool or marshy lake, clear water only in the centre, reeds and rushes thickly bristling round

there might we not hope to see flappers plentiful as frogs: duck, teal, widgeon who knows?-wild geese and swans, from our crouching station; and there might we not again, amidst the ducking, and diving, and gobbling, and bustle of a first arrival, do execution as of yore ?"

So wrote Craven, in his RECREATIONS; although he admits that wildfowl shooting "reads like anything but sport. There is certainly no accounting for taste, especially the taste that takes its pleasure in the mud on the Hampshire coast, or navigates the bay of Tees in a yacht which resembles nothing so much as a pig-trough. Some men would imagine crawling on all-fours, through a wilderness of sludge, only fit for a Norfolk Islander; some think it capital fun, and follow it on the oozes,' as the scavengers' continents are called.”

If the shades of Hawker and Carleton should happen to cross each other in Elysium they would scarcely promise to agree.

"

CHAPTER I.

NEW YEAR'S EVE, 1866.-THE FALL AND ITS RESULTS.

Make not a friend of a melancholy soul; he'll be sure to aggravate thy adversity' He goes always heavy loaded, and thou must bear half. He's never in a good humour, and may easily get into a bad one, and fall out with thee."-FULLER.

The sincerest benisons to you, brother anglers; may your blessings be as many as the flowers of the mead, and your joys as light as the insects of the air!

This greeting may be somewhat tardy compared to that which ever distinguishes the sympathies of our craft at the opening of a new year. But how various are the ways in which men, whether anglers or others, enter the annual divisions that mark their lives, most, however, with a determination to set aside, if they cannot obliterate, the sorrows and trials of the past. All is life, animation, and excelsior for the prospect before, and merrymakings generally usher in the infant year. The method which I took to pass from Father 1866 to Baby 1867 was unique of its kind.

I had kept up a correspondence with the proprietors and the keepers of some fine waters in Dorset during the last two years, and had received many intimations of the prime condition of the river, but, from various opposing circumstances, was only able to avail myself of one occasion, and that one, after travelling 130 miles, through the caprices of the weather turned out a dismal disappointment. But a fresh intimation of favourable prospects arrivivg, my notion of inaugurating the advent of the new year, in the company of a friend who had long wished to witness the slaughter amongst pike averaging 121b. by adroit and scientific means was thus frustrated.

My spare time of the previous day was devoted to procuring the spinning flights of Francis Francis and Cholmondeley Pennell, not forgetting my own special mode. With nearly every pocket supplied with tackle, prepared lines, &c., and my portly person still more extended than usual, I arrived at home. Cold breathed the sighs of the expiring year, while its successor seemed beckoning the angler to his favourite waters. It may be recollected that on this-New Year's-eve-one of the heaviest falls of snow took place which has visited the earth within the same shortness of time for very many years, and that this fall was preceded by a slight frost. I had the choice of entering my house by an ascent to the hall, or by a descent of some nine stone steps, through a snug sitting-room generally occupied by my family. I chose the latter, as I heard voices under me, and the greetings of seasonable affections were on my lips. The milkman-not" a young man from the country"—had been there before me. He had spilt his mixture of aqua pura upon the topmost landing. The water therein had left a treacherous glazing of ice, and there not being a sufficient quantity of chalk to prevent the slipperiness of the congealed element, I trod on this,