158 THE SALMON 



punish with no undue severity. A salmon was a 

 salmon in those days ; and the object was to get 

 them quocunque modo. Scrope says, ' A salmon is 

 a fish of passage, and if you do not get him to-day he 

 will be gone to-morrow. You may as well think of 

 preserving herrings or mackerels as these delicious 

 creatures, and there would be no objection to you 

 taking 3,378 salmon at one haul if fortune would so 

 favour you.' 



The ' leister ' or ' waster ' is figured in his pages, and 

 was a formidable weapon resembling a trident, but 

 with five prongs instead of three, with only one barb 

 to each prong, as two would tear the fish too much 

 in extricating them. This weapon was fastened to a 

 pole usually about sixteen feet long, and was used 

 for ' canting ' the boat up stream as well as for 

 striking the fish. It was not grasped firmly, but sent 

 loosely through the hands, its own weight in falling 

 being more effective than a strong thrust. The stroke 

 was aimed at the shoulders of the fish, from a vertical 

 position, and the grip was then shortened and the 

 fish lifted head foremost. The boat in use for the 

 purpose was larger and steadier than a rod-fishing 

 boat, and in the centre, near the side, was a pole fixed 

 vertically, with a basket on the top to contain the com- 

 bustibles, rags steeped in pitch and fragments of tar 



