214 SALMON ASCENDING A *' FALL." 



the upper segment of a water-mill wheel at rest. 

 Very few fish succeeded at the first spring, for if 

 it was not made straight into the current, with 

 head splitting it like a wedge, they were whirled 

 by the force of the descending water back into 

 the frothy pool beneath. If they sprang obliquely 

 into the torrent, and the majority did so repeatedly, 

 they presented shoulder and side to the furiously 

 gushing-down stream, and the presentation of so 

 large a resisting surface brought a larger volume 

 of rushing water into play upon the fish, and they 

 were rolled back as a boat would be if in ascend- 

 ing a rapid its broadside were presented to it in- 

 stead of its prow. Neither salmon nor grilse 

 appeared much daunted by the repeated rough 

 rollings-over they experienced, for they were to 

 be seen again, after a very few minutes' pause, 

 reiterating their efforts and continuing to do so 

 until they succeeded in making what I shall call, 

 " the straight snout-foremost leap." Then, and it 

 was a pretty sight to see them do it, they worked 

 themselves upwards through the torrent, their 

 bodies moving shortly, rapidly, and tremulously 

 to and fro as they did so, their backs ajieiir cVeau, 

 and their dorsal fins quivering above it. Some 

 bounded perpendicularly from the water at the 

 base of the rock, some from four to twelve feet 



