All that is necessary to be known of the natural 

 qualities of the Salmon, is contained in a few 

 words of Linneus : " Habitat in Oceano Kuropee, 

 Parit in Fluviis ;" and it seems to have been 

 fully understood of old, that all the Salmon which 

 frequented our friths and estuaries came there for 

 the purpose of ascending the rivers to the spawn- 

 ing grounds ; and the object of the law seems to 

 have been, to allow the fish a free and uninterrupt- 

 ed course from the sea to the highest parts of 

 the river ; although in the course of years, many 

 individuals, by one means or other, by prescrip- 

 tion or by charter, had acquired a sort of right to 

 damdykes, yairs, and otherwise illegal methods 

 of fishing. With this view too, the regulations 

 which regard the close time were enacted ; by 

 which the period was attempted to be precisely 

 defined, in which the spawning took place, and 

 during which it was unlawful to take fish in any 

 manner. 



It is pretty generally known, that the upper and 

 lower heritors on the river Tay have been frequently 

 engaged in law-suits about the fishings, each party 

 endeavouring, under the sanction of the law, to 

 appropriate as many fish to themselves as they 

 could. For, since the great facility with which the 

 fish can be sent to London has existed, the value of 

 the Salmon Fisheries has greatly increased. What 

 was formerly regarded as a pleasant object of sport, 

 and as an agreeable appendage to a country seat, has 



