THE UPPER RAPIDS. 141 



generalship on the part of Paddy Mooshlan, 

 as it succeeded in diverting an attack, which 

 he would have found some difficulty in re- 

 pelling directly. Hector and his nets were 

 a standing subject of grievance ; and every 

 failure and every bad day, and pretty nearly 

 every unlucky gleam of sunshine, or unpro- 

 pitious shower of rain, were ascribed to that 

 cause. The case was this — the salmon laws 

 are so framed as to protect the whole river, 

 and a portion of the estuary into which it 

 falls, for a certain distance from its mouth. 

 In the days in which these laws were passed, 

 such protection as this was quite sufficient ; 

 but the ingenuitv of man had found out a 

 method by which the object of the law could 

 be effectually defeated, and the fish com- 

 pletely intercepted, before they arrived 

 within the protected limits. 



The principal difficulty to be overcome 

 lay in the great expense of the nets, the 

 depth of the sea requiring a corresponding 

 depth of net, while the space to be blocked 

 up was considerable. These difficulties had, 

 however, been overcome by a Scotch com- 

 pany, who paid an enormous rent for a spot 

 of barren sand beyond the prescribed limits, 



