chap, vii.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 135 



hind pine awav and die. Tis observed, that he 

 may live thus one year from the sea ; but he then 

 grows insipid, and tasteless, and loses both his blood 

 and strength, and pines and dies the second year. 

 And ' tis noted, that those little Salmons called 

 Skeggers, which abound in many rivers relating to 

 the sea, are bred by such sick Salmons, that might 

 not go to the sea, and that though they abound, yet 

 thev never thrive to any considerable bigness. 



But if the old Salmon gets to the sea, then that 

 gristle which shews him to be kipper, wears away, 

 or is cast off, as the eagle is said to cast his bill, 

 and he recovers his strength, and comes next sum- 

 mer to the same river, if it be possible, to enjoy the 

 former pleasures that there possessed him : for, as 

 one has wittily observed, he has, like some persons 

 of honour and riches, which have both their winter 

 and summer-houses, the fresh rivers for summer, 

 and the salt-water for winter, to spend his life in ; 

 which is not, as Sir Francis Bacon hath observed in 

 his History of Life and Death, above ten years. And 

 it is to be observed, that though the Salmon does 

 grow big in the sea, yet he grows not fat but in fresh 

 rivers ; and it is observed, that the farther they get 

 from the sea, they be both the fatter and better. 



Next I shall tell you, that though they make very 

 hard shift to get out of the fresh rivers into the sea, 

 yet they will make harder shift to get out of the 

 salt into the fresh rivers, to spawn, or possess the 

 pleasures that they have formerly found in them : to 

 which end, they will force themselves through flood- 



