mound, with its boxes or traps, which were generally 

 of close spars, or wattled work, must, of course, have to- 

 tally interrupted the navigation of the river. And it must 

 also have prevented the transit of the fish, and been ut- 

 terly inconsistent with the propagation of the species 5 as 

 well as destructive to the brood, not of the Salmon only, 

 but of all kinds of fish frequenting the river. 



Cruives were adapted for fishing in any river not of 

 too great magnitude for such an erection,- whether the 

 station was above or below the influence of the tide, 

 There was, however, another species of engine, termed a 

 yair> which in many respects resembled the cruive, but 

 was used only within the influence of the tide. Its na- 

 ture and formation is not precisely known ; but, like the 

 cruive, it appears to have been possessed of most injuri-p 

 ous qualities; destroying the brood, and preventing the 

 transit of the spawning fish. One important part of this 

 apparatus, consisted of mounds of wood, stone, wattled 

 work, or other materials, forming, as in the cruive, 

 a very extensive inclosure. And it may, perhaps, convey 

 some idea of its nature, to notice, that, in statutes re- 

 garding yairs, jnill-dams are mentioned ; and, as of the 

 same class, that, in some charters, yairs are denominated 

 faking- stanks. 



These cruives and yairs, attracted, at an early period, 

 the anxious attention of the Scots Legislature. There 

 is a statute extant, so early as the time of Alexander II, 



croe or cruive was given. And, with some plausibility cer<- 

 tainly, considering the structure of such machinery, even at 

 the present clay, etymologists have described the word croe 

 to be the same with crib. 



