THE COOKERY OF THE SALMON 209 



and hot, dear to the gormandising of the Beef Steak 

 Club, are undeniably solid, but the devotees of the 

 salmon, like the Solan geese of the Bass and Ailsa, 

 have unlimited and well-founded faith in the facility 

 of digestion. They aver, and we have seen no reason 

 to doubt it, that the secret of sound slumbers after 

 a Gargantuan repast is the absorption of a super- 

 sufficiency of strong whisky toddy. 



Thanks to the habits of the salmon, some of our 

 rivers are opened so early that the Metropolitan 

 market is supplied for the best part of the year. 

 We believe fishing in the Ness begins in December ; 

 in the Severn in the previous month, and towards 

 April all the streams are in full swing. Scotch 

 servants and apprentices have no longer to complain 

 of being sated with a luxury they seldom taste. 

 Swift trains, with admirable arrangements for icing 

 and packing, have brought even the remote Brora 

 and the Laxford into speedy communication with 

 Leadenhall. Prices are regulated by the supply, and 

 to some extent by the rise or fall of the thermometer, 

 but in the beginning of the salmon season and of 

 the London season they are always high. For no 

 London dinner me?iu is deemed complete without 

 salmon in one shape or another, till at last the in- 

 evitable appearance is expected like that of turkey on 



P 



