212 Natural History and Political Impropriation 



the August and September following, 5 lb. or 6 lb. in weight ; 

 and George Little, Esq., in his evidence, states this as his 

 opinion ; but he does not give any other reason for it than 

 this, that the grilse that ascend the rivers in June, weigh 

 l^lb. to 2 lb., and that those which come in September 

 weigh 5 lb. or 6 lb. But opposed to this supposition is the 

 evidence of Mr. Mackenzie, before referred to {Second Pari, 

 Rep., p. 21.), who states that he caught, in March, a grilse 

 kelt which weighed 3jlb. ; that he marked it with a brass 

 wire, and let it go; and that, in the March following, he 

 caught it again, a salmon of 7 lb. weight. Now, a fish 

 which weighed 3j lb. as a kelt, would weigh 5 lb. or 6 lb. 

 when in high condition the summer before ; and if this 

 were so, which, I believe, all persons who are acquainted 

 with salmon will admit, this fish would appear to have gained 

 only 1 lb. or 2 lb. in fifteen or eighteen months. Besides, if 

 salmon grow as fast as is stated and believed by many 

 persons, the breeds of different years would vary very 

 much in weight; whereas it is known to every body that we 

 Lave them of all sizes, from 5 lb. to ^0 lb. ; and it is very 

 contrary to analogy to suppose that a fish, which is two or 

 three years in arriving at the weight of as many ounces, 

 should, in two or three months, acquire as many pounds. 



There are, however, two or three things, about which all 

 persons agree in opinion. One of these is, that the breed of 

 salmon is decreasing every year, and that the great cause of 

 this decrease is the want of protection, and a consequent de- 

 struction, of the fish in the spawning season. The complaint 

 on this head is universal; from north to south, from the Shan- 

 non to the Tweed, the cry is. Protect the breeding fish, or we 

 shall very soon have none to protect : and yet, although the 

 destruction of the fish in the spawning season, and the de- 

 struction of the fry in the spring, are the chief reasons for this 

 alarming falling off, yet no one seems able to devise a remedy. 

 The fact is, no one seems inclined to make the necessary 

 sacrifices for so desirable an object ; and, without these sacri- 

 fices, it would be absurd to expect the fish to become plen- 

 tiful ; and, instead of furnishing an abundant supply of cheap 

 and wholesome food to all classes, which they certainly would 

 do if the fisheries were properly regulated, they will become 

 either wholly extinct, or so rare as to be only found at the 

 tables of the wealthy. James Gillies, in his evidence, states, 

 that his brother had, in one night, killed in the Tweed, four 

 hundred salmon at one landing-place, in close time ; and all the 

 reports are full of statements showing how unceasing and 

 universal is the persecution the salmon undergo, not only 

 when in season, but at all times, and most of all when every 



