G. noOPER — THE SALMON. 21 



poisonous," biit I fancy that he lias had little practical experience 

 with kelts. Before the Act protecting them was passed, one could 

 not make a more acceptable present to a gillie or labourer than a 

 good kelt, and despite the Act they are still eaten stealthily by 

 the fishermen, and anyone who can get hold of one. For myself, 

 unless a water-bailitf is in sight, I never return a really good kelt 

 to the water; I just slip him " cannily " into the bushes, and a 

 gillie or shepherd comes and takes him home, when opportunity 

 otfers, and feasts with his family right royally upon him. 

 Hundreds, indeed, are sold at a high price, even in London. The 

 flesh, 1 admit, is soft and light-coloured, instead of being firm and 

 red, and the flavour is very inferior to that of a clean fish, but it 

 is not bad eating, and it is just as wholesome as a clean fish. To 

 talk about it as " almost poisonous" is simply nonsense. 



There are many statements published about the salmon which 

 must be taken cum grano, indeed, with a very big pinch of salt. 

 It is stated m many books that from the time of his entering the 

 fresh water he never eats. It is odd, if this be the fact, that there is 

 no more killing bait for a salmon than a gudgeon, a parr, or a great 

 dollop of earthworms. In the volume of the Badminton Library, 

 to which I have alluded, the pace at which the salmon swims is 

 given as wonderfully rapid. Mr. Pennell puts it at 1500 feet a 

 minute ; and although this high rate of speed is not attributed to 

 him on all occasions, it is no doubt implied that his ascent of the 

 river is at some such rate. Now, the fact is that the pace at which 

 the salmon travels up the river, the water being in swimming 

 order, is just one mile an hour, neither more nor less. The same 

 author tells us that the fish will jump to a height of 10 or 12 feet 

 out of the water, a fact which must have been drawn from 

 imagination, not observation. I venture to say that no salmon 

 that ever swam jumped out of the water more than, perhaps, four 

 feet. The ascent of the rapid, almost perpendicular, streams which 

 the fish surmounts is effected by the immense power of the tail. 

 Give him but "black" water to swim in, and the fish will 

 sui'mount an obstacle of any reasonable height ; but this is effected 

 by swimming, not jumping. 



[Mr. Rooper gave two animated accounts of his capture of a 

 salmon, one being the record of a fish caught in a river, the other 

 that of one caught in a lake. They will be found iu his book 

 ' Thames and Tweed.'— Ed.] 



