26 THE VEND ACE. [CHAP. i. 



London Tavern, it must be kept in mind, are generally a mix- 

 ture of the fry of many different fishes, and the fish known 

 as whitebait at Black wall, may not be the fish known as 

 whitebait at Queensferry ! so much for this tavern celebrity. 

 I may mention that this fish cannot be taken so far up 

 the river Thames as formerly. Whitebait are now usually 

 caught between Gravesend and Woolwich, and are in their 

 best season between April and September. It is not un- 

 usual for sea fish to ascend our rivers : the eel, as I have 

 already narrated, spawns in the sea, and the young of that 

 fish ascend to the fresh water, in which they live till they are 

 seized with the migratory instinct. 



Besides whitebait there are other mysterious fish especi- 

 ally in Scotland which are well worthy of being alluded to. 

 The salmon itself as will be by and by shown is one of 

 these, and certainly not the least interesting among them. 

 An idea prevails in Scotland that the vendace of Lochmaben 

 and the powan of Lochlomond are really herrings forced into 

 fresh water, and slightly altered by the circumstances of a new 

 dwelling-place, change of food, and other causes. One learned 

 person lately ascribed the presence of sea fish in fresh water 

 to the great wave which had at one time passed over the 

 country. But no doubt the real cause is that these peculiar 

 fish were brought to those lakes ages ago by monks or other 

 persons who were adepts in the piscicultural art. 



A brief summary of the chief points in the habits of these 

 mysterious fish may interest the reader. The " vendiss," as 

 it is locally called, occurs nowhere but in the waters at Loch- 

 maben, in Dumfriesshire ; and it is thought by the general 

 run of the country people to be, like the powan of Lochlomond, 

 a fresh-water herring. The history of this fish is quite 

 unknown, but it is thought to have been introduced into the 

 Castle Loch of Lochmaben in the early monkish times, when 

 it was essential, for the proper observance of church fasts, to 



