THE LADDER 65 



It is fortunate that the inhabitants here have 

 no very highly developed taste for poaching. It 

 would be easy to take hundreds of fish out of 

 the ladder in a single night. In some countries, 

 which shall be nameless, it would require at 

 least four men to guard it, and they would have 

 to be heavily armed. I am thankful to say 

 that I have never had the slightest cause for 

 suspecting any unlawful proceedings on it here. 



The best account of salmon ladders in general 

 which I have found in any work on angling 

 is contained in " Fishing in American Waters," 

 by Genio C. Scott (New York, 1869), an inter- 

 esting and amusing book. After remarking on 

 the necessity of admitting salmon to the upper 

 and shallow portions of rivers, if the race is 

 to be preserved, the author proceeds to discuss 

 the conditions under which salmon can leap 

 up a fall. The main requisite is a sufficiently 

 deep pool below, in which to attain, by means 

 of a run, enough impetus and velocity. The 

 absence of this sometimes makes a mill-dam only 

 three or four feet in height impassable. The 

 provision of sufficient water to take off in for 

 each leap is really the main factor in the success 



of a ladder ; and it has been well carried out 



E 



