HEARING OF FISHES. 151 



vations inducing this caution, I may as well men- 

 tion to you. One fine day passing by a noted 

 hole in this river, called " the well," or " steep 

 bank pool," where the bank is precipitous, and 

 then had an altitude of about eleven feet above 

 the surface of the river, while the water in the 

 hole might be about the same depth, I laid myself 

 flat down on my stomach at right angles with the 

 stream, my eyes only being extended over the 

 edge of the bank, in order to watch the salmon. 

 There were in the hole six or eight, varying from 

 eight to twenty pounds. They floated and swam 

 quietly about, sometimes far out, and sometimes 

 close under the bank where I lay. After a while, 

 when any came near it, and in order to see the 

 effect it would produce, Ikicked with the toe of 

 my heavy shoe upon the ground ; and simulta- 

 neously those fish suddenly darted off, evidently 

 alarmed or disturbed. After a while they would 

 return, and I repeated the experiment with a 

 similar result, three or four times. Now, this 

 can hardly be supposed to have arisen from a 

 sense of hearing, in the ordinary acceptation of the 

 words, little or no sound being emitted by a blow 

 of such a nature upon a soft clayey soil as it was. 

 It was concussion, or vibration, and nothing else, 

 beyond doubt : and therefore, when beside a 

 river, my advice is, glide along as quietly as 

 possible ; and also, that you may the less attract 



