THE SALMON. 



prima materia; so gently she covered it over with 

 sand, and then left it to the great luminaries for 

 vivification and the seminals, because having a pro- 

 lific virtue and life quality innated in them. Life 

 inevitably shines forth after certain days, accidents 

 omitted; because the lustre of life is a thing so 

 sacred, that the Lubeck of conspiracy strikes to blot 

 it out. Thus much, therefore, as relates to the pro- 

 geny of salmon, I, being an eye-witness, do boldly 

 testify and as boldly divulge, if seeing be a good 

 basis for any man's belief." * 



* Another accurate observer has the following remarks, also 

 derived from his personal experience : " When the gib fish 

 (the male) has found a stream that he likes, he makes a hole, 

 as a swine works in the ground with his nose, his mouth being 

 nailed close with the gib in its socket. When he has made this 

 hole, a yard and a half or more long, and near a yard broad, 

 he goes down to his mate under a root or stone, and in what 

 manner he makes his addresses to her I cannot tell, but I have 

 often seen the gib fish rush at his mate as if going to bite her, 

 jostling her sometimes on one side, then on the other, chasing 

 her from place to place, as we see a cock pigeon does the hen 

 to her nest, till they come to the marriage bed he has been pre- 

 paring for her. Here they lie at the lower end, close by the 

 side of each other and pressing their bellies hard to the bottom, 

 wriggle on the top of the bed, squeezing out the spawn from 

 both of them with emotions and signs of pleasure. All the 

 roes that are smit or touched by the milt, which is of a viscous 

 quality, sink among the little stones and gravel ; and those that 

 are not touched by it are carried down the stream, and are 

 delicious food for the many trouts that are watching the oppor- 

 tunity. Then the female leaves her mate, chasing away the 

 small fish, while the male is working at the head of the bed, 



