230 THE SALMON. 



that the killing is for profit only. It is as if a warrener 

 should come among his rabbits with hundreds of beaters 

 and terriers, instead of quietly placing his traps at the 

 mouths of the burrows. Nay, that is but a feeble simi- 

 litude ; for there are hundreds of holes in the warren, 

 and but one passage in the river. Although salmon- 

 netting is not performed for sport, it really amounts, 

 when examined and described, to a very costly, unneces- 

 sary, and unamusing fish-hunt. 



For an instance, follow the process of catching, or 

 failing to catch, a Tweed salmon. Descend a few 

 minutes into the German Ocean, somewhere about Holy 

 Island, and accompany a short way an individual of the 

 species Salmo solar, on his return, after months spent in 

 the deep hiding-places where neither human eye nor 

 human knowledge has ever yet been able to follow him. 

 And who can regard him without interest ! He is on 

 his first return to his native place, far up in "bonnie 

 Teviotdale," or among " the dowie dens of Yarrow ;" 

 and (which is more important to the present subject of 

 discourse) he is on his marriage-jaunt. But he is in 

 haste. Onward he goes bump on the first of thirty 

 standing-nets which festoon the beach of Goswick. By 

 extraordinary good luck, he gets past the traps and out 

 among the waiting seals and porpoises. After a sharp 

 run, this fortunate and coveted fish escapes into the 

 mouth of the river, and whiz ! goes a " net-and- coble" 

 before his nose, ere he has enjoyed two minutes of the 

 fresh water. During his first hour's possession of his 

 new element, or three miles' progress, the same attempt 

 has been repeated somewhere about a score of times. A 



