OUR RIVER HARVESTS. 269 



It is true that the fish when foul acquire a peculiarly 

 unpleasant taste, the flesh loses all its firmness, becomes 

 loose and flabby, and gives forth a very unpleasant 

 odour. A Scotch peasant will have nothing to do with 

 the foul fish, as far as eating it goes ; but the French 

 have an idea that it is a great dainty, and accordingly 

 pay high prices for the worthless article. The natural 

 consequence is that many tons weight of foul salmon 

 are illegally captured and sent to France, where they 

 appear on the tables of the bons vivants, and are lauded 

 to the skies by the guests, their chief value consisting 

 in the fact that they are brought all the way over the 

 sea, and cost much money. 



It is true that a penalty is attached to the act 

 of killing foul or unseasonable fish, and now that an 

 Act on the subject has passed through Parliament, the 

 fish may stand a better chance of attaining their full 

 growth. But it is useless to affix a small or even a 

 moderate penalty to the transgression of this law, as its 

 infraction is so profitable that the offender will com- 

 pound for a dozen detections, provided that he succeeds 

 once in capturing and selling the illegal booty. If a 

 man can make between three and four hundred pounds 

 by one capture, he cares little for a few fines of a pound 

 or two each. 



Mutual jealousies of neighbouring proprietors cause 

 the destruction of young salmon in vast quantities, each 

 owner being anxious to secure the fish while he has the 

 chance of doing so, and being unwilling to allow his 



