grand in the extreme. April, May, and June, are supposed to be the best
months for angling; but we see no reason why, if the weather be
favourable, these months should be singled out. The hotel accommodation
at Aberfoyle is excellent. In the early months you must engage a boat
beforehand: boatmen first-rate. Many a happy day we have spent on Loch
Ard--sometimes successful and sometimes much the reverse; but in any
case there is a witchery about the place that makes one enjoy himself in
spite of all cares. Mind and body recruit their jaded energies, and get
braced up to meet the stern realities of life.

In strong contradistinction, in this respect, to Loch Ard, is LOCH
LEVEN. In the latter, if the angler is not catching fish, there is
little of the beautiful to commend itself to the senses. The island on
which the castle stands is pretty, and as a historic ruin is well worthy
of a visit, but otherwise the scenery is very tame, and the surroundings
not entrancing. But since we have drifted into speaking of Loch Leven,
we may as well tell of the sport which is to be had there,--and this, as
is well known, is exceptionally good. The quality of the fish is
wonderful; and after reading the statistics of a year's fishing--last
season something like 18,000 fish, weighing as many pounds, were
killed--one is puzzled to know how it is kept up. The loch itself is a
great natural feeding-pond, miles and miles of it being of an almost
uniform depth, and a boat may drift almost anywhere, the angler feeling
at the same time certain that fish are in his immediate vicinity. Trout
of two and three pounds are quite common; and it is a rare occasion that
a day's average does not come up to the pound for each fish. They are
very fine eating, and cut red as a grilse. The company which rents the
loch pay L800 to L1000 for the fishing, and they in turn keep a fleet of
large boats--twenty we think--and let them out to anglers at the rate of
2s. 6d. an hour. Any number may fish from one boat. There are two
boatmen in each boat,--one of whom is paid by the company, the other by
the angler; and we are sorry to say that these men, with a few
exceptions, are very much spoiled. There is a class of anglers(?) who
frequent Loch Leven, whose whole aim seems to be, not sport so far as
their own personal efforts are concerned, but the killing of as many
fish as possible. If such a one has engaged a boat, he arms each boatman
with a rod, and, of course, fi