78 LIFE AND HISTORY OF A SALMON. 



with the choicest kinds of fish, whose ova can be trans- 

 ported from foreign waters ; and that grateful additions 

 shall be made to the limited fare of the great body of 

 the people. In those anticipated days, when fish shall 

 be reared by millions, how many a keen angler, who 

 now only gets " glorious nibbles/' shall experience the 

 frequent joy of slaying a plump five-and-twenty pound 

 salmon fresh from the sea, with the sea-louse yet cling- 

 ing to his silvery sides ! And how shall his heart beat 

 against his ribs as the noble fish springs yard high into 

 the air, and then dashes madly down the stream, while 

 the reel birrs as the line whisks through his almost 

 blistered fingers ! If in the plenitude of their pisca- 

 torial skill some of our readers have only " dragged an 

 incautious minnow from the brook," they will be amazed 

 to be told that the first capture of a bouncing salmon 

 is an era in the angler's life, and lets him know what 

 stuff he is made of. Why, we have seen a fellow six 

 feet high trembling all the length of him, when first 

 called upon to deal with all the cunning dodges, the 

 hard tugs, the wild springs of a well-hooked heavy 

 salmon. The bodily labour of a prolonged contest with 

 a powerful fish is far from inconsiderable. To follow 

 him for a couple of hours, perhaps, along the wild 

 banks of a roaring river, sometimes running, often wad- 

 ing, and it may be stumbling over the smooth stones, 

 is exercise calling into vigorous play the muscles of the 

 back, arms, and legs, and affording such excitement to 

 the mind, moreover, that we do not wonder at the 

 enthusiastic declaration of Mr Younger, the well-known 

 angling shoemaker of St Boswell's : " It beats Grecian 

 games, as well as English horse-racing and hound- 

 coursing, all to nonsense : for of all earthly recreations, 

 that of a start for a day along a fine trouting stream, 

 by grassy bank and alder copse, with the excitement 

 of having something to pursue as an object of exercise, 

 has a perfect charm in it, giving a refreshing relish to 

 the existence of the recluse of art, or the son of craft, 



