AGAINST THE STREAM 



to see an unsuccessful swimmer swirled back to the 

 foot of the ladder. Like a spent horse, he could no 

 more ; but one fancied that he was setting his 

 teeth, so to speak, for the next rush. There was a 

 great crowd that day, for we were able to count 

 fifty-one leaps in one minute, which was hard 

 counting. 



As we watched the wonderful sight, we knew, of 

 course, that these salmon, which had grown big and 

 strong in the sea, were obeying an inborn impulse 

 to ascend the rivers till they found suitable places 

 for spawning. They were going back to the place 

 or to the kind of place where they had been hatched 

 from the egg several years before. We knew that 

 the struggle against the strength of the stream 

 was due to urgent impulses in the salmon's body 

 and that the temperature of the water and the 

 amount of oxygen in the water were important 

 outside conditions. 



But as we watched, we could not help feeling that 

 these fishes are much more than engines or automatic 

 machines. They are living creatures with a past 

 history that lives within them ; they have memories 

 and anticipations, feelings and desires, an inner 

 life like our own in a far-off way. So, at least, it 

 seemed and seems to us. 



183 



