38 SALMON FISHING 



not its rise, was their opportunity. As each spate 

 came, the ascending fish easily swam over the low 

 dyke, to mass themselves together in the pool im- 

 mediately below the impassable fall. As the flood 

 subsided, and the volume of water rapidly diminished, 

 the whole body of fish began to drop back to the 

 sea tail first, as is their usual mode of descent ; 

 then, meeting the dyke, with its top wall above 

 water, they coasted along it until they arrived at 

 cunningly prepared openings at either end. These 

 traps were less than a yard in width, deepened for 

 the purpose, and fitted with rough nets, into which 

 many of the descending fish dropped." That seemed 

 to leave but little room for questioning. Apparently 

 it showed that salmon ran into the stream when a 

 flood came, and dropped back to the sea when the 

 flood was falling. If this were so, and the rule were 

 general, the discovery would be important. In 

 framing the fishery laws, Parliament, as Mr. Grimble 

 says, never contemplated that salmon should incur 

 the danger of the estuary nets more than once a 

 year. Therefore, if Mr. Grimble's theory were 

 acceptable, there would be a strong case for amend- 

 ment of the laws by considerably curtailing the 

 privileges of the net fishers. If salmon run up and 

 down the rivers with every flood, Parliament acted 

 under a serious misapprehension in deciding what 

 scope could be safely given to the nets, and inadvert- 

 ently arranged for a gradual diminishing of the 

 stock of fish. The question was, Could Mr. Grimble's 

 theory be accepted ? There was a good deal to be 



