AND ANGLING SONGS. 91 



farther up. Climb from its torrent termination to the head of 

 the Pass, to that point in the course of the Garry where the dis- 

 tribution of the rock becomes consorted equally with stretches of 

 alluvial deposit, in fact, with spawning-ground ; and in the pools 

 favoured by such a combination you will find that not only are 

 salmon to be met with, but that they are to be met with in a 

 position which prompts and enables them to come readily towards 

 the offered lure of the angler. 



All who have had experience of our best salmon-rivers must 

 have noted, that where the bed of the river is naked rock, or 

 where the above combination does not hold good, sport either 

 fails altogether, or is of a very inferior description. These ob- 

 servations bear upon the condition of Tummel as an angling 

 stream, and upon the very deceptive appearance which the rocky 

 part of its course presents. To the celebrated falls in this water 

 I gave in 1854 particular attention. They are neither so high 

 nor so abrupt as to prove, strictly speaking, an insurmountable 

 barrier to the progress of salmon. Active fish occasionally work 

 their way up them. I say ' work their way ; ' for it is chiefly by 

 a continued process of exertion rather than by any one concen- 

 trated effort, such as a leap or spring, that they are enabled to 

 overcome the opposition, which at the spot I refer to is given by 

 the confined and furious discharge. Such fish, however, are not 

 those which it is -most desirable to direct into that splendid range 

 of breeding-ground which lies higher up. It is to the progress of 

 . salmon and grilses, when in an advanced condition, that these falls 

 present a formidable obstacle. As to the difficulty which fish when 

 in this state have in overcoming a very slight measure of resistance, 

 I can speak from personal observation. At a cauld-dyke built 

 across the Tweed in Kelso, it is no unusual thing to see in the 

 course of half an hour, during the height of the spawning season, 

 a score offish thrown back, in their attempts to establish them- 

 selves higher up, by the force of water, which passes over a 



