SALMON-FISHERY OF SCOTLAND. 35 



chatka, must do so too : All, having the same instincts, and 

 acting under the same laws common to the race, must take 

 the same course must, necessarily, perform the same migra- 

 tion to those icy regions, which, let it be observed, are equally 

 centrical to the whole of them, the whole being produced 

 within the same northern latitudes. What a magnificent 

 scene, then, does this migration of all these tribes of birds and 

 fishes exhibit, performing their grand annual evolutions to 

 distant parts, through the trackless regions of the air and of 

 the deep, with the regularity of clock-work, in obedience to 

 laws eternal and immutable ! 



The progress of the salmon shoals from the north cannot be 

 traced, like those of herrings, by the birds by which they are 

 accompanied ; yet there are circumstances, even in their 

 course, which tend to confirm the hypothesis we have been 

 stating. When the shoals first approach our coasts, they often 

 swim so near the surface, probably to get hold of the fresh 

 water from the land, which floats uppermost, and leads them 

 to the shore, that the ripple they make in the water is seen at 

 a considerable distance. A fisherman of Orkney has informed 

 us that he has frequently observed them always coming from 

 the north, some taking the west side of those islands, as if 

 proceeding to the coast of Caithness and the Moray Frith, 

 while others keep the sea-side, as if steering their course for 

 the southern rivers. When one of these shoals approaches 

 the rivers Bighouse or Thurso on the north coast, the fishers 

 at those rivers are always ready, with nets of 200 fathoms in 

 length, to row round them, by which means they sometimes 

 take the fish of various tribes ; but it often happens that, when 

 the shoal gets within a certain distance of the land, the head- 

 most fish makes a leap out of the water, which is a signal to 

 the shoal to stand off and alter their course, which the whole 

 immediately do, leaving only the tribes belonging to the rivers 

 in those parts behind. After this the shoal continues its course 

 along the coast, within a short distance of the land, till it 

 meets with another river in its way, when those belonging to 

 it enter, just as the herring tribes separate from the main body, 

 and enter their respective lochs as they reach tl\em, while the 



