OP THE SALMON. O 



<c That is to say, that all cruives and yairs that are 

 set of late upon sands and schoals far within the 

 water where they were not before, that they be un- 

 continued, taen down, and put away. And the re- 

 maining cruives that are sett and put up on the water 

 sands, to stand till the first day of October, nixt to 

 come, and uncontinued after the said first day, to be 

 destroyed and put away for ever. And for the exe- 

 cution of this Act, ordains every earl, lord, barron, 

 and gentleman landed, within his own bounds, to 

 cause remove, destroy, put down, and take away the 

 said cruives and yairs, in manner foresaid, under the 

 paine of one hundred pounds to be taken up of their 

 goods, that puts not this Act in due execution." 



Yet, notwithstanding all the former Acts for the 

 preservation of the salmon and salmon fry, we find 

 an Act of King James the Sixth, in the year 1581, 

 which, after ratifying all the previous Acts, with the 

 consent and advice of the three estates of Parliament, 

 ordains and appoints the following, as justices or 

 conservators over the rivers in Scotland : " Viz., 

 George, Earl of Caithness, for the bounds of Caithness 

 and Strathnaver* ; Alexander, Earl of Sutherland, 



* This Alexander, Earl of Sutherland, was the 16th earl 

 from a direct line of ancestors ; and during the lifetime of Earl 

 John, the 17th, Earl John, the 18th, Earl George, the 19th, Earl 

 John, the 20th, and Earl William, the 21st earl in a direct line, 

 the conservation of rivers was not neglected. William, the 22nd 

 earl, was the father of the late and respected duchess, Countess 

 of Sutherland ; and I have no hesitation in saying, that while 

 she lived, she took the greatest interest in the protection and 

 improvement of the salmon rivers in Sutherland ; and the pre- 

 sent duke, her successor, has done, arid is continuing to do, 

 exactly what the Government of Queen Mary requested of Earl 

 Alexander, in the year 1583. The present duke prohibits all 

 stake-nets, bag-nets, and ruinous fixtures, on all parts of his 

 extensive coasts and estuaries. But the benefit derived from that 

 B 3 



