THE SALMON 



to come across the fresh water, which was now 

 running freely into the sea, and they immediately 

 turned and rushed up the river. Presently a larger 

 shoal came tearing up, and in a few minutes the 

 fish were crowding into the narrow mouth of the 

 river in such quantities that many were pushed 

 out on to the shore among the stones. There 

 were so many fish that numbers had to get up the 

 river in quite shallow water, and it was astonishing to 

 see how they would^ rush up a steep run where the 

 water was only three inches deep. They appeared to 

 hold on to the rocks by their pectoral fins, and force 

 themselves up by a vigorous motion of the tail, 

 which, being more than half out of water, sent up 

 showers of spray. We spent several hours in watch- 

 ing the fish going up ; and the water accumulated in 

 the first loch was sufficient to keep the river in spate 

 for forty-eight hours, in which time all the fish went 

 up the river ; but many of them remained in the 

 pools between the sea and the first loch (a distance 

 of little more than a mile) ; and on looking down into 

 these pools from the rocks above, the bed of the 

 river seemed paved with fish, nearly all of which had 

 a white fungus spot on their head. For some reason 

 most of the fish remained for several weeks in the first 

 loch, instead of running further up as they usually do. 



