160 A RIVER OF NORWAY 



But it is in the outer fjords that the chief 

 mischief is done. The hundreds of little islands, 

 which guard the entrances to the main fjords, 

 create a number of small channels, through some 

 of which fish must pass, and wherein (to their 

 own and our undoing) they often linger in the 

 early days of June ; and these channels are beset 

 with nets. The net-owners, as is the way of 

 their kind, are quite reckless of the future ; their 

 object is to kill all they can for an immediate 

 market; some even maintain, as a cloak for 

 their rapacity, that salmon spawn in the sea, and 

 that it is quite unnecessary to allow any to 

 ascend the rivers. If it were not for the fresh- 

 water anglers, chiefly English, by whom, or on 

 whose behalf, netting and trapping in the rivers 

 have been put a stop to, the race of salmon 

 would be in serious danger of extermination. 

 In many rivers hatcheries have been established, 

 and even if their influence is exaggerated, it can 

 scarcely but be beneficial in some degree to 

 net-owners and sportsmen alike. But it is hard 

 that the whole burden of protecting the race, 

 and providing for the future, should fall on 

 the riparian owners and their tenants. 



There is a weekly close-time for nets, varying 



