SALMON 381 



in the arms of the city of Glasgow^ helping to keep alive, as it 

 does, the myth of the recovery by Ceann-tighearn (Kentigern) 

 of a ring thrown into the Clyde. Notwithstanding this story, 

 according to the Revue Celtiqne, the salmon seems to answer 

 to the Irish salmon of knowledge (Eo fesa) — Eo fiosa — see after 

 this. This fish also appears in the coat of arms of our Lords of 

 the Isles, "Loug, lamh-dhearg us bradan " ship (or galley), scarlet 

 hand and salmon. When an angler speaks of a "fish," he means 

 a salmon ; even a grilse is not honoured with that title. In the 

 river Shin, Sutherland, the salmon is said to be much larger 

 and coarser than any other in Scotland. Apparently the river Ewe 

 in Ross-shire produced the record salmon of 1902. It weighed fifty 

 lbs., and was caught with an artificial fly. One reason for anglers 

 calUng salmon alone '^fish," was the belief that it was unlucky 

 to say "salmon," it was even in preference called the beast or 

 the Spey codlin. The salmon was not always held everywhere 

 in the highest estimation, such, for instance, as originated a certain 

 Act of the legislature in 1424, where death was the penalty for a 

 third conviction for killing one out of season. A Kintail bard, J. 

 Macrae, or Iain MacMhurchaidh, says : — 



" Gheibh sinn bradan agus ban-iasg. We'll get salmon and white-fish, 

 'S glas-iasg ma's e 's fhearr a And grey-fish, if that is so preferred, 

 thaitneas. " 



"The salmon of knowledge," eo-fiosach, is an expression 

 derived from an Irish fairy tale, where this fish is said to have 

 swallowed certain nuts, which caused people eating of such salmon 

 to be inspired ; it was also averred that these nuts were the cause 

 of the red spots on the salmon. The size of ordinary salmon is 

 well known, but in the Yellow Book of Lecan, in the voyage of 

 Mael Duin, we read of salmon, each of which was bigger than 

 a bull-calf. Bu mho na cobhthaigh-firionn gach eicne dhiubh. 

 {Revue Celtique, Tome IX.) The word "eo" for salmon was also 

 applied to a hero, probably on account of the salmon being pre- 

 eminent among fish ; while in the second supplement by Whitley 

 Stokes to the Rennes Diunsenchus it is rendered "tree," Eo Rosa 

 or Rossa, the tree of Ross — a yew. At Ballyshannon, Ireland, 

 there is a famous salmon leap called "Eas Aodha ruadh," red 

 Hugh's cataract or waterfall, now corrupted into " Assaroe." It 

 is generally spoken and written of by the Irish as "7 he Cataract." 

 In County Kildare there is another called " Leixlip." In Iceland, 

 be it here noted, lex selo is the salmon river, lex or lax being the 

 Scandinavian word for salmon, and enters largely into Scottish 

 and Irish place-names. Salmon is often spoken and sung of as 

 the " venison of rivers." Numerous, as is well known, are the 

 modes in vogue for catching this fish. The oldest mode is thought 

 to have been that in use in the Western Highlands and Islands 

 called "An Garadh " or The Dyke, but which came to an encj 



