132 



THE SALMON. 



the author of the British Naturalist informs us accidents of this 

 kind very frequently occur ; and indeed it is said they were so fre- 

 quent there that the Frazer's of Lovat, who were the lords of the 

 manor, were in the habit of entertaining their guests with a boiled 

 salmon, who as one of the wonders of the place, voluntarily offered 

 himself as a sacrifice, by jumping into a kettle of boiling water 

 placed for that express purpose on a flat rock on the south side of 

 the fall ; and although the company might sometimes have been 

 kept waiting for their dinner, it does not appear that they were 

 often disappointed of it altogether. A noted salmon leap in the 

 Tivy in Pembrokeshire, is also noticed by Camden in his Brittania, 

 and celebrated by the pen of honest Michael Drayton, in the 

 following lines : 



" And when the salmon seeks a fresher stream to find, 

 Which hither from the sea comes yearly by his kind ; 

 As he towards season grows, and stems the watery tract 

 When Tivy falling down, makes an high cataract, 

 Forc'd by the rising rocks that there her course oppose, 

 As though within her bounds they meant her to inclose ; 

 Here, when the labouring fish does at the foot arrive, 

 And finds that by his strength he does but vainly strive ; 

 His tail in his mouth, and bending like a bow 

 That's to full compass, drawn himself along doth throw, 

 Then, springing at his height, as doth a little wand, 

 That bended end to end, and started from man's hand, 

 Far off itself doth cast ; so does the salmon vault, 

 And if at first he fail, his second summersault 

 He instantly essays : and from his nimble ring, 

 Still jerking never leaves until himself he fling 

 Above the opposing stream." 



Although salmon advance so great a distance up the fresh water, 

 yet they frequently make pauses or stages, in their route, either to 

 rest tor a season from their fatigues, or else waiting for a rise in 

 the waters, so as to enable them to pass over falls and obstacles of 

 that kind ; or from an instinctive fear of venturing within the more 

 narrow limits of the stream, till the whole body of water by the 

 autumnal springs, shall be elevated to a sufficient bulk to afford 

 them some degree of security. In this way as fresh arrivals are 

 still taking place, if the fish were allowed to remain undisturbed 

 there would soon be an immense assemblage ; but this is rarely 



