through which a stream, now feeble and fordable, found its way to
the ocean. The whole was illuminated by the beams of the low and
setting sun, who showed his ruddy front, like a warrior prepared
for defence, over a huge battlemented and turreted wall of
crimson and black clouds, which appeared like an immense Gothic
fortress, into which the lord of day was descending. His setting
rays glimmered bright upon the wet surface of the sands, and the
numberless pools of water by which it was covered, where the
inequality of the ground had occasioned their being left by the
tide.

The scene was animated by the exertions of a number of horsemen,
who were actually employed in hunting salmon. Aye, Alan, lift up
your hands and eyes as you will, I can give their mode of fishing
no name so appropriate; for they chased the fish at full gallop,
and struck them with their barbed spears, as you see hunters
spearing boars in the old tapestry. The salmon, to be sure, take
the thing more quietly than the boars; but they are so swift in
their own element, that to pursue and strike them is the task of
a good horseman, with a quick eye, a determined hand, and full
command both of his horse and weapon. The shouts of the fellows
as they galloped up and down in the animating exercise--their
loud bursts of laughter when any of their number caught a fall--
and still louder acclamations when any of the party made a
capital stroke with his lance--gave so much animation to the
whole scene, that I caught the enthusiasm of the sport, and
ventured forward a considerable space on the sands. The feats of
one horseman, in particular, called forth so repeatedly the
clamorous applause of his companions, that the very banks rang
again with their shouts. He was a tall man, well mounted on a