STORMONTFIELD EXPERIMENT. 115 



of the fish in the rivers which empty themselves 

 into the St Lawrence, as the agriculturist has, as 

 yet, scarcely broken ground on its banks. When 

 the redskin possessed the country, although he 

 caught fish at all seasons when he could get them, 

 and by every method known to himself, he sought 

 them only to satisfy the cravings of nature; but 

 when the whiteskin made his appearance on these 

 waters, all the methods known to civilised man 

 were called into requisition to capture the fish as a 

 marketable article; and as there was no law to 

 tell him how or when he was to take salmon, the 

 destruction must have been great. The saw-mills 

 arose, also, with their insurmountable dam-dykes, 

 and prevented the ascent of the geese that were 

 willing to lay more golden eggs ; and in less time 

 than a quarter of a century, these rivers that were 

 swarming with fish had fallen so low that Govern- 

 ment was at last aroused for their protection, since 

 which time salmon have commenced again to 

 multiply hence it is clear that, without protective 

 laws, the genus salmo would soon be extirpated 

 in any populous country. No rivers have suffered 

 for want of protection more than the English 

 rivers, but there is little doubt that not a few of 

 them, if the late Act of Parliament be sufficiently 



