SALMON. 6ll 



annually, giving j&f. 131. i^., or, omitting the last year, 

 5 y- 74^*3 as tne S ross income of the fishery. 



On the other hand, the bailiff is put to certain expenses in 

 nets and other necessaries for fishing. In one year (1317) no 

 charge is incurred, but as the roll for 1318 is lost, it is probable 

 that the outgoings were heavy in that year. In another year 



(1320) the roll is so dilapidated that it is impossible to collect 

 the cost of tackle. But the average of the six years, reckoning 

 the year in which no expense is incurred as one of the six, is 

 nearly j^i 13^., or, if we were to take a double charge for 

 1318, in consideration of the fact that no cost at all is in- 

 curred in 1317, the average represented would be about 

 ^i 19*. 9^. It should be observed, however, that in one year 



(1321) the charges incurred are ^3 6s. 6d.^ including the ex- 

 ceptional purchase of a new boat at ^i. The cost in 1313 is 

 l 14*. 3*/. ; in 1315, J^i 9*. 7^.; in 1316, \ os. ^d. 



The profit then of such a piscary, the expense of labour 

 being incurred for a short time of the year only, that is, while 

 the fish were mounting the river, was very considerable ; that 

 is, omitting labour, ^3 annually, or more than 180 per cent, 

 on the outlay. Such a rate of profit explains at once how 

 valuable private fisheries were, and why that clause was in- 

 troduced into the Great Charter which makes kiddles in the 

 Thames, the Medway, and the rest of England illegal. 



The Westshene accounts, which give information as to the 

 salmon fishery on the Thames, supply some details as to the 

 charges incurred in catching the fish. Unfortunately these ex- 

 penses are generally given in the aggregate, but on two occa- 

 sions the particulars are recited. Thus under the year 1320, 

 when unluckily the account is very much dilapidated, we read 

 that 20 fathoms of c harnet' were purchased at 3^. the fathom, 

 180 fathoms of c shotnet' at \\d. the fathom, and 9 c bast- 

 cords' or ropes, equal to 220 fathoms, at 4^. the cord. If 

 these nets were, (as they could hardly have been,) of exactly 

 the same value by weight as rope or cord, the fathom of 

 harnet weighed about i Ibs. the fathom, that of shotnet about 



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