LEAVES FROM A GAME BOOK. 189 



keep them, while if a poacher or shepherd has but 

 one in his possession, whether for sale or for food, he 

 is promptly fined five pounds. 



The total annual waste of salmon life caused by the 

 gafi" is something very large. For instance, on the Dee 

 in the spring of 1891, fully two thousand clean fish 

 were taken by the rods up to the end of April, and it 

 may be accepted that an equal number of kelts were 

 brought to bank, and if even only half of these were 

 killed in the gaffing, it would be far too large a yearly 

 tribute to cold steel. Personally, I do not think it is 

 nearly every other fish that survives the barbarous 

 operation, for I remember, when I was fishing the 

 Crathes water, the anglers on some of the reaches above 

 made a practice of gaffing every kelt they landed, which 

 filled the pools I was casting with dead and dying fish, 

 the most of which I took out to satisfy myself as to 

 the cause of death. 



My game book tells me I took in the season of 

 1884, by the end of April, three hundred and thirty -five 

 fish out of the Kineskie and Crathes water, of which but 



