

CHAP. VIL] THE FOURTH DA Y. 123 



then grows insipid and tasteless, and loses both his blood and 

 strength, and pines and dies the second year. And 'tis noted, 

 that those little Salmons called Skeggers, which abound in many 

 rivers relating to the sea, are bred by such sick Salmons that 

 might not go to the sea, and that though they abound, yet they 

 never thrive to any considerable bigness. 3 



But if the old Salmon gets to the sea, then that gristle which 

 shows him to be kipper, wears away, or is cast off, as the 

 eagle is said to cast his bill, and he recovers his strength, and 

 comes next summer to the same river, if it be possible, to enjoy 

 the former pleasures that there possest him ; * for, as one has 

 wittily observed, he has, like some persons of honour and riches 

 which have both their winter and summer houses, the fresh rivers 

 for summer, and the salt water for winter, to spend his life in ; 

 which is not, as Sir Francis Bacon hath observed in his " History 

 of Life and Death," above ten years. And it is to be observed, 

 that though the Salmon does grow big in the sea, yet he grows 

 not fat but in fresh rivers ; and it is observed, that the farther 

 they get from the sea, they be both the fatter and better. 



Next, I shall tell you, that though they make very hard shift 

 to get out of the fresh rivers into the sea, yet they will make 

 harder shift to get out of the salt into the fresh rivers, to spawn, 

 or possess the pleasures that they have formerly found in them : 

 to which end, they will force themselves through floodgates, or 

 over weirs, or hedges, or stops in the water, even to a height 

 beyond common belief. Gesner speaks of such places as are 



VARIATION. 



8 The observations on Salmon-fishing, as printed in the first edition, vary considerably 

 from those subsequently published. They commence thus : "The Salmon is ever bred 

 in the fresh rivers, and in most rivers about the month of August, and never grows big 

 but in the sea ; and there to an incredible bigness in a very short time ; to which place 

 they covet to swim, by the instinct of nature about a set time : but if they be stopped by 

 mills, floodgates, or weirs, or be by accident lost in the fresh water, when the others go, 

 which is usually by flocks or shoals, then they thrive not. 



"And the old Salmon, both the Melter and Spnwner, strive also to get into the sea 

 before winter : but being stopped that course, or lost, grow sick in fresh waters, and by 

 degrees unseasonable and kipper, thai is, to have a bony gristle to grow, not unlike a 

 hawk's beak, on one of his chaps, which hinders him from feeding, and then he pines 

 and dies. 



" But if he goes to sea, then that gristle," &c., as in text. 



* The migration of the Salmon r<nd divers other sorts of fishes is analogous to that of 

 Birds : and Mr Ray confirms Walton's assertion, by saying, that " Salmon will yearly 

 ascend up a river four or five hundred miles, only to cast their spawn, and secure it hi 

 banks of sand till the young be hatched and excluded ; and then return to sea again." 

 Wisdom of God manifested in the Works of the Creation, p. 130. It may not be 

 improper here to take notice, that in this, and several other parts of the book, the facts 

 related by the author do most remarkably coincide with latter discoveries of the most 

 diligent and sagacious naturalists. H. 



