NATURAL HISTORY OF THE SALMON. 8 5 



away for ever. None returned ; and only three of 

 them were ever heard of — in each case under circum- 

 stances of the most distressing character. One of them 

 was caught at the mouth of the Tyne, 70 miles to the 

 south ; another at Yarmouth, 300 miles to the south ; 

 and the third at Eyemouth, 10 miles to the north, the 

 last individual being found in the stomach of a cod, 

 with nothing remaining of him but his vertebrate column 

 and the silver wire. These simple but certain facts 

 convey a painful and pathetic idea of the remoteness 

 and the perils of the salmon's marine wanderings. Com- 

 passion and indignation mingle at the idea of a fish of 

 high family, gentle manners, and fastidious taste, leaving 

 for ever the sweet-flowing Whitadder to compete with 

 base-born bloaters at Yarmouth, or find an inglorious 

 grave in the maw of a vulgar Scottish cod — 



"Ah ! little did thy miiinie think, 

 That day she cradled thee, 

 What lands thou shouldest travel round, 

 Or what death thou shouldst dee ! " 



From such facts we draw only one " practical im- 

 provement," — that the fact of such great multitudes 

 perishing when beyond our help in the wide and wicked 

 sea, is, though not exactly an eiK-ouragement, an addi- 

 tional reason why we should take the better care of 

 them during the periods when they are our wards and 

 guests. 



It would be dishonest to omit to mention, merely 

 because we cannot pretend to explain, another mystery 

 as to the movements of the salmon, which no experi- 



