width of the frith being there not less than two miles. 

 But now the produce was such as excited the astonishment 

 of the district, and occasioned the utmost alarm among 

 the proprietors in the upper parts of the river. 



This net had not, however, been long in operation be- 

 fore a material improvement was made in its construction. 

 The entrance to the inclosure of the net, as originally 

 used on the Solway, was shut by the action of the ebb- 

 tide. But it was observed at Seaside, that, for some time 

 after it had been thus shut, the fish continued to gambol 

 on the banks ; and that many might be caught, were the 

 net so constructed as still to admit them into the inclos- 

 ure. Instead, therefore, of the former entrance, which, 

 like a valve, opened and shut with the tide, the net was 

 now so constructed, as to leave the passage always open ; 

 but, with such a degree of intricacy in the chambers, or di- 

 divisions in the body of the net with which it communicated, 

 that the fish, after being led from one to another, found 

 themselves completely entangled, and could not again get 

 into the passage out. By this highly ingenious inven- 

 tion, which at once displayed and depended upon an in- 

 timate knowledge of the habits of the Salmon, the opera- 

 tion of the net was extended to the ebb, as well as the 

 flood-tide ; and its produce was, of course, much greater 

 than ever. 



Induced by their success at Seaside, Messrs. Little be- 

 came tacksmen of many other fisheries ; and, gradually, 

 the newly invented engine, now familiarly known as the 

 stake-net, came into general use in the Frith of Tay. 

 Upwards of seven thousand Salmon, a quantity equal to a 

 fourth or a fifth of the previous produce of the whole 

 river, was caught in one season by a single net at Sea- 

 side ; and at Birkhill, Balmerino, Minefield, and other 

 places, the success was corresponding. All of these sta- 



