64 DAYS AND NIGHTS OF SALMON FISHING. 



river at present amounts to, after having encountered 

 the sweeping perils I have mentioned. 



Proprietors should call meetings for this purpose ; 

 and Parrs, hitherto so called, should be protected by- 

 law. Let all who have an interest in the river consider 

 the wisdom of mutual accommodation. The proprietors 

 of the lower part of the river are dependent on the 

 upper ones for the protection of the spawning fish and 

 the fry ; and they on their part depend upon the lower 

 ones for the strict adherence to the weekly close 

 time. 



I think this method of artificial impregnation would 

 prove somewhat more successful than the method said 

 to be adopted by the Chinese, which, for the better 

 enlightening of barbaric nations, I will transmit to 

 posterity, from the authority of " The English Chron- 

 icle" of the 25th July, 1839 :— 



"The Chinese have taken a fancy to hatch fish 

 under fowls. For this purpose they collect from rivers 

 and ponds the gelatinous matter which contains the 

 eggs of fish, put it into vessels, and sell it to the 

 proprietors of ponds. When the hatching season 

 arrives, a fowl's egg is emptied of its usual contents, 

 and this gelatinous matter is put in. The entrance is 

 hermetically sealed, and the egg is then put under a 

 hen. After some days it is opened, and placed in a 

 vessel of water heated by the sun ; it is kept in the 

 rays until the little fish become strong enough to bear 

 the external temperature." 



Not to derogate from the ingenuity of the celestial 

 nation, I have no doubt but that fowls may be dispensed 



