CHAPTER SIX SALMON FISHING 



are no cruives made use of. They would probably be de- 

 stroyed as fast as they were built. In the Spey, however, 

 and many other rivers, large cruives are built, which quite 

 prevent the ascent of the fish, excepting on Sundays and 

 on floods. To describe a cruive minutely would be tedious. 

 It is, however, merely a kind of dam built across the river, 

 with openings here and there, allowing the water to pass 

 through in a strong stream, and through which the fish 

 ascend and get into a kind of wooden cage, out of which 

 they cannot find their way again, the entrance being made 

 after the fashion of a wire mouse-trap, affording an easier 

 ingress than egress. Much do the anglers on the upperpart 

 of the Spey pray for a furious flood, or speat, as it is called, 

 which may break down these barriers, and enable the sal- 

 mon to ascend to the higher pools before the fishermen can 

 repair the damage done. 



The right of fishing in many of the Scotch rivers is vest- 

 ed in a very singular manner; as, for instance, in the Find- 

 horn, where the proprietor of many miles of land along the 

 river banks has no right to throw a line in the water, but 

 is obliged to pay a rent for fishing on his own ground. In- 

 deed, this kind of alienation of the right of fishing from the 

 person who would seem to be the natural proprietor of it 

 is very common. I remember an anecdote told me by an 

 old Highlander as to the cause of the fishing in a particular 

 river in Sutherland being out of the hands of the proprietor 

 of the land on its banks. The story is as follows: — The 

 laird of the property higher up on the water was also the 

 possessor of a small island in the river. He was a deep, 

 long-headed fellow, and grudged his neighbour the profit 



