THE LADDER 63 



must have gone up. Where they all came from 

 was a mystery. Very few had been showing 

 in the pools below, and sport though good 

 occasionally had been intermittent. I cannot 

 avoid the conclusion that numbers of fish which 

 had come from the fjord in the previous six 

 weeks had dropped back to it again, until the 

 atmospheric change or whatever it was oc- 

 curred, which caused them to make for the 

 upper waters. The run continued without in- 

 termission until we left at the end of July, but 

 latterly was composed chiefly of grilse, which 

 were coming in from the fjord in great numbers 

 at the time. They were accompanied as usual 

 by a few salmon ; on the 22nd we killed two, 

 13 Ib. and 24 lb., with sea-lice. The fine 

 weather which had set in on July 16 lasted until 

 the end of the month. The river was daily 

 higher, and the temperature of the water rose 

 from 50 to 56. It looks as if the salmon when 

 they commenced running on the 16th knew the 

 conditions which were coming. 



When fish are running it is a never-ending 

 source of amusement to us to watch them. 

 You may stand by the side of one of the steps 

 with a crowd of salmon within a few feet of you, 



