SALMON. 193 



in that they have been hatched into activity; but with what 

 further result as yet remains uncertain. 



We feel no surprise in being informed that the Salmon 

 frequents the rivers of Kamtschatka; but it is also said to be 

 common, and even in abundance in the Caspian Sea; if it be 

 indeed the same species with our own. It is in season there 

 in May, and in Mr. Frazer's Travels we are told that it is 

 rarely caught east of E.esht in that sea, but it is well known 

 on the west and north-west shores. 



The value set on the Salmon in this country, whether fresh 

 or in salt, has always been considerable, although Polydore 

 Virgil does not name it among our articles of trade; but we 

 find it so from several incidents, and the strictness of the laws 

 concerning it at an early date. Thus, in the fourteenth century, 

 and perhaps long before, we are told in the life of the famous 

 Thomas a Kempis, as written by his friend Franciscus Tolensis, 

 that the love of that pious writer for the Book of Psalms was 

 compared by his brother monks to their love for Salmon; for, 

 adds the biographer, it is an exceedingly delicious fish; and 

 that in some places it was scarce and bore a high price was 

 a subject of complaint in the fiftieth year of Edward the Third, 

 appears from a petition then presented to the Crown, in which 

 it was prayed that whereas the Salmon and other fish in the 

 Thames were taken and destroyed by engines placed to catch 

 the fry; which fry was then used for feeding pigs, a law might 

 be passed to take up all the trunks (tous les trynks) between 

 London and the sea, and forbid them for time to come; also 

 that no Salmon be taken between Gravesend and Henley 

 Bridge in winter; that is to say, between the Feast of the 

 Finding of the Cross and the Epiphany; and that the river 

 guardians suffer no net but of large mesh. The petition (which 

 is in French) concludes thus — "awaiting which, most redoubtable 

 Lord, if it shall please Your Highness thus to make order for 

 the next three years, all your people repairing to London or 

 bordering the river, shall buy as good a Salmon for two shillings 

 as they now get for ten." (No.es and Queries, 1855.) 



But it appears there was an omission in the recommendations 



of this petition, or the crime may not have begun to operate 



at this time ; for we are informed in Moule's "Heraldry of 



Fish," that in remote times an ofiEering of fish had been, and 



VOL. IV. 2 C 



