148 THE SALMON 



oral traditions so unreliable, that but for the kind 

 assistance of Mr. Ffennell I could only have given a 

 few sporadic instances. In small rivers the fish are 

 usually smaller than in large, but in the Broom above 

 referred to, narrow, rocky, and short as it is, there 

 are an unusually large number of heavy fish. The 

 records have been most accurately kept from 1867 to 

 1897, during which period of thirty years 1,061 

 salmon were taken with the rod, and nearly every 

 year the heaviest fish was considerably over 20 lb., 

 while on four occasions the record for the year was 

 over 30 lb. The heaviest fish recorded was taken in 

 1884 and weighed 33 lb., but a much larger fish was 

 hooked and lost by Sir John Fowler in the Lynn pool 

 before referred to. It was seen several times during 

 the struggle sufficiently plainly, and by a sufficiently 

 accurate observer, to make it certain that it was much 

 larger than the record fish of the river ; and its fate 

 may be conjectured from the fact that, after the 

 spawning time in that same year, a fish was picked 

 up which had been killed by an otter, which then, 

 after the ' otter's piece ' had been eaten and the 

 season's waste had done its work, weighed no less 

 than 36 lb. On the Add, of which I can speak from 

 personal knowledge, a river similar in size and length, 

 but of a much more sluggish character, I can only 



