l6o LAKES AND RIVERS, 



well as those which arrest the fry on their way to the 

 sea. Should the business of weirs and dams be settled, 

 then river conservators should be appointed to guard 

 the spawning fish (usually called kepper fish) from 

 being killed while they are in this sickly state. These 

 conservators ought also to be empowered totally to 

 prevent the wicked destruction occasioned by putting 

 lime into burns, as they kill millions of spawn, as 

 well as every living creature in the water within its 

 extended reach. Fishermen may grudge to see the 

 fair angler fill his creel with a few scores of the fry 

 which would perhaps return to them as salmon in a 

 short time ; but when it is considered that a pair of 

 salmon will breed more of this fry than all the fair 

 anglers can catch from the head to the foot of the 

 river in a season, I think it is cruel to debar such from 

 enjoying this diversion. Fish are not like game, which 

 are fed by the farmer; their food costs nobody anything, 

 and ought only to be preserved so far as they may be 

 for the public good ; therefore, I have always felt dis- 

 gusted at what is called preserved rivers. In these, 

 because they run through the land of some freeholder, 

 the fish are usually claimed as his own; the disposition 

 which dictated claims of this kind is the same which 

 would, if it could, sell the use of the sun and the 

 rain ; where the angler is debarred the most delight- 

 ful of all recreations, which ought to be his birthright, 

 particularly of the sedentary and studious ; it is the 

 healthiest and most innocent. of all diversions, it un- 

 bends the mind and enables such and the pale artist 

 to return to his avocations or studies with renovated 

 energy, to labour for his own and the public good. 



