VIEW, ftc. 



SECTION I 



PRESENT STATE OF THE SALMON-FISHERY. 



" LOOK BEFORE YE LOUP. 



Scotch adage. 



IT is a fact admitting ot no dispute, that salmon, which were 

 formerly so plentiful in the rivers both of England and Scot- 

 land, have, for a considerable time past, become comparatively 

 scarce. In England, indeed, the fishery has fallen off to an 

 enormous extent ; in Scotland it has long been fast declining, 

 though, happily, it has not yet reached the same state of de- 

 pression as in the sister country. This seems to be in the 

 natural course of things. In all unimproved and partially 

 civilised countries, such as the western coast of North America, 

 the rivers are full of salmon ; while, in the rivers on the eastern 

 coast of that continent, where, in former times, the fish were 

 equally abundant, they have now become scarcer, and will, 

 doubtless, continue to diminish in numbers in proportion to 

 the increase of population and the improvement of the arts of 

 life. And the reason of this is plain ; for all animals which 

 nature has brought within the reach of man, and fitted to 

 minister either to his comfort or subsistence, must necessarily 

 become less numerous the more they are destroyed ; especially 

 when, as in the case of salmon, the rate of multiplication or 

 increase depends, in a great degree, upon causes over which we 



