We were told by John Stewart, that the expatriated inhabitants of Rum used to catch trout by a simple device of ancient standing, which preceded the introduction of nets into the island, and which, it is possible, may in other localities have not only preceded the use of the net, but may have also suggested it: it had at least the appearance of being a first beginning of invention in this direction. The islanders gathered large quantities of heath, and then tying it loosely into bundles, and stripping it of its softer leafage, they laid the bundles across the stream on a little mound held down by stones, with the tops of the heath turned upwards to the current. The water rose against the mound for a foot or eighteen inches, and then murmured over and through, occasioning an expansion among the hard elastic sprays. Next a party of the islanders came down the stream, beating the banks and pools, and sending a still thickening shoal of trout before them, that, on reaching the miniature dam formed by the bundles, darted forward for shelter, as if to a hollow bank, and stuck among the slim hard branches, as they would in the meshes of a net. The stones were then hastily thrown off,--the bundles pitched ashore,--the better fish, to the amount not unfrequently of several scores, secured,--and the young fry returned to the stream, to take care of themselves, and grow bigger. We fared richly this evening, after our hard day's labor, on tea and trout; and as the minister had to attend a meeting of the Presbytery of Skye on the following Wednesday, we sailed next morning for Glenelg, whence he purposed taking the steamer for Portree. Winds were light and baffling, and the currents, like capricious friends, neutralized at one time the assistance which they lent us at another. It was dark night ere we had passed Isle Ornsay, and morning broke as we cast anchor in the Bay of Glenelg. At ten o'clock the steamer heaved-to in the bay to land a few passengers, and the minister went on board, leaving me in charge of the Betsey, to follow him, when the tide set in, through the Kyles of Skye. CHAPTER IX. Kyles of Skye--A Gneiss District--Kyle Rhea--A Boiling Tide--A "Take" of Sillocks--The Betsey's "Paces"--In the Bay at Broadford--Rain--Island of Pabba--Description of the Island--Its Geological Structure--Astrea--Polypifers--_Gryphaea incurva_--Three groups of Fossils in the Lias of Skye--Abundance of the Petrifactions of Pabba--Scenery--Pabba a "piece of smooth, level England"--Fossil Shells of Pabba--Voyage resumed--Kyle Akin--Ruins of Castle Maoil--A "Thornback" Dinner--The Bunch of Deep Sea Tangle--The Caileach Stone--Kelp Furnaces--Escape of the Betsey from sinking.