44 SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 



long net is not used in the generality of such places 

 as fish commonly spawn in. 



To these sweeping modes of destruction we must 

 add the great havoc committed by the eels and 

 trout, which devour the spawn ; and when we 

 consider the peculiar powers and habits of the eel, 

 a fish most abundant in the Tweed, we must at 

 once see that a ruinous devastation is occasioned 

 by these creatures, which bore through the gravel. 



Strongly, however, as all these causes operate, 

 there is one more destructive than all of them put 

 together ; namely, the effect of the furious spates 

 which are continually taking place in the Tweed, 

 and which put the channel in motion, and often 

 sweep away the spawning beds altogether. 



Before the hills were so well drained as at 

 present, this was not so much the case ; as the 

 mosses gave out the water gradually, and the river 

 continued full for a long time, to the great solace 

 of the rod fisher. But now every hill is scored with 

 little rills which fall into the burns, which suddenly 

 become rapid torrents and swell the main river, 

 which dashes down to the ocean with tremendous 

 violence. Amidst the great din, you may hear the 

 rattling of the channel stones, as they are borne 

 downwards. Banks are torn away ; new deeps are 

 hollowed out, and old ones filled up ; so that great 

 changes continually take place in the bed of the 

 river either for the better or the worse. 



When we contemplate these things, we must 

 at once acknowledge the vast importance of Mr. 

 Shaw's experiments ; for if ponds were constructed 

 up the Tweed at the general expense, after the 



