ENGLISH RIVERS. 143 



a second-rate Scotch river — say the Don — 

 abounds in salmon ; and there I had a very 

 good day's fishing. I took six fish, which 

 gave me great sport ; they were grilses, under 

 6 lbs; but I lost a salmon, which I think was 

 above 10 lbs. This river, I conceive, must be, 

 generally, excellent; it is not covered with 

 saw-mills, like most of the Norwegian rivers ; 

 its colour is good, and it is not so clear as the 

 rivers of the south of Norway. 



Phys. — Do you think the saw-mills hurt 

 the fishing? 



Hal. — I do not doubt it. The immense 

 quantity of sawdust which floats in the water, 

 and which forms almost hills along the banks, 

 must be poisonous to the fish, by sometimes 

 choking their gills, and interfering with their 

 respiration. I have never fished for salmon 

 in Germany. The Elbe and the Weser, when 

 I have seen them, were too foul for fly fish- 

 ing; and in the Rhine, in Switzerland, and 

 its tributary streams, I have never seen a 

 salmon rise. I once hooked a fish, under the 

 fall at SchafFausen, which in my youthful 

 ardour I thought was a salmon, but it turned 



