230 ANGLING REMINISCENCES. 



and that during the autumnal and hibernal months 

 they are visited, although lying at a great distance 

 from the sea, by salmon and other fish, not singly or 

 at infrequent intervals, but in large and continued 

 masses. 



Otter. You say truly, Jack. I have seen no less 

 than forty or fifty gallant fins abstracted by a party 

 of black-fishers from one pool, and that the very 

 one into which the neighbouring sheep-farmers were 

 accustomed to drive their flocks during the washing- 

 month ! 



Wandle. It is, however, to be confessed, Mr. 

 Otter, that the purifying operations performed upon 

 the wool of sheep do in some measure affect the 

 salubrity of those waters wherein they are carried 

 on. 



Otter. This I do not deny. The impregnating 

 of a burn or pool with the corrupt smearing 

 materials attached, among other filth, to the fleece, 

 before clipping, cannot fail for the moment to 

 sicken and alarm the delicate inhabitants of the 

 stream. No serious result, however, takes place ; 

 as far, at any rate, as my experience goes, I 

 do not remember to have stumbled upon a 

 single fish, small or great, in which the vital 

 spark had been rendered extinct, owing to the 

 cause above alleged. 



