THE GRIMERSTA RIVER 191 



instincts of the salmon, for in this instance the run 

 was only a distance of one mile, and their already de- 

 creasing appetites might still have been in existence ; 

 but the destructive instinct seems to me to offer an 

 equally feasible explanation of the freedom with which 

 they took the lures. 



Mr. Naylor, with Messrs. Hansard and Probyn, had 

 taken the fishing on the Grimersta River, on the island 

 of Lewis, N.B. ; but, owing to drought, the salmon 

 could not run to the upper water and the lochs. The 

 river between these lochs and the sea was " vera sma'," 

 while in the sea at the mouth of the river an immense 

 number of salmon had collected; some of them, as 

 could be plainly seen, appeared to be developing some 

 disease on the head and body fungus-like white 

 patches began to show themselves while large numbers 

 were found dead at low-tide. It was seen that unless 

 rain came, the chances of the fish " running up " were 

 nil. 



It occurred to the party that in order to get the fish 

 to run and to save their lives (sic), that if the channel 

 of the river was deepened as it left Loch Langlabat, 

 the head loch of the river, and situated about nine 

 miles from the sea, and if a dam was made below the 

 first of the four smaller lochs, which was about 100 

 acres in extent, and within one mile of salt water, a 

 spate could be engineered which would bring the fish 

 up the first loch. 



Labourers were obtained, and every one setting to 

 work with a will, the upper channel was deepened and 



