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salmon fishery, belonging to the Duke of Nor- 

 thumberland ; and this being carefully fostered, 

 the whole extent of the Coquet, about forty 

 miles, is unencumbered by any obstacle to the 

 free passage of the salmon. The lessee of the 

 fishery keeps watchers upon the whole line of 

 the stream, to check the practice of poaching 

 during the close season ; which practice is, 

 notwithstanding, still carried on to a great 

 extent. Whole bands of men will come down 

 from the hilly districts of the country, with 

 horses and carts, and during the darkness of 

 the night kill thousands of fish, both in sections 

 of the river itself, as well as in the small 

 bournes and creeks, which flow into it, and 

 which are sometimes actually choked up with 

 the number of fish which press into them for 

 the purpose of depositing their spawn. It 

 would greatly astonish a metropolitan angler, 

 who has never travelled fifty miles from his 

 home, to witness one of those evening maraud- 

 ing parties of salmon-poachers ; to see the river 

 illuminated with innumerable torch-lights ; to 

 hear the bold and resolute language which falls 

 from the lips of those daring violators of the 

 law; and to perceive the skill and adroitness 

 they exercise in killing and bearing away their 

 booty. A scene of this kind is never forgotten. 



