PREFACE. 3 



gence, or incapacity, it is an evil of the most malignant de- 

 scription, which strikes equally at the interests of individuals 

 and the security of society. 



To the public the improvement of the Fishery must ever be 

 a subject of considerable interest ; since the quantity of lux- 

 urious food which may be derived from this source, under a 

 proper system, is incalculable. As the population of the 

 country becomes more dense, more land may be brought into 

 culture out of the millions of waste acres in the kingdom ; but 

 the number of the Salmon rivers cannot be increased, they 

 must remain FOE EVEE stationary. No species of property is, 

 therefore, likely to become of more value to individuals ; and 

 there is none more deserving of protection, with reference to 

 the public, though upon none has so little been hitherto be- 

 stowed. 



Much cannot be expected from a mere salmon-fisher, qui 

 devient barbouilleur de papier malgre lui, and whose hand an 

 OAK would suit much better than a pen. All he can pretend to 

 is experience of the fishery. He has killed salmon with stake- 

 nets and with coble-nets, with cruives, spears, and rods, in 

 the tide- way and out of the tide- way, and has paid deep atten- 

 tion to all their motions, having really a friendship for the 

 whole persecuted race ; and if the facts he states cannot be 

 controverted, or the inferences that result from them be denied, 

 he cares very little about the style in which they are expressed. 

 If salmon-fishers minded such bagatelles as style, grammar, or 

 othography, neither a late author, the salmon-fishing patriarch of 

 Dochnalurg, nor himself, would venture to put pen to paper. 

 All he asks is to be judged with candour and impartiality, if 

 such things there be ; for, to say truth, he has met with very 

 few of these exotics in his journey through life, the corner of 

 the country where his unlucky stars have placed him being of 

 too barren a soil for the generous plants to thrive in. Where 



