OX THE SITU. 71 



a sloop at anchor ; whilst not far off, but on the southern bank, 

 rises a granite mountain of no mean height. As we journeyed 

 along the river banks, it was easy to see that the tide had fallen 

 considerably, leaving exposed that debatable ground, the space 

 between high-water mark and low-water mark a space generally 

 understood to belong to no one, not even to the crown, but to 

 the nation, to all. To a certain extent, it does, no doubt ; but 

 were it not for the navigation of a tidal river, and the necessity 

 there is for suffering no interference with, or permanent obstruc- 

 tion of a space over which a vessel may have to pass on her way 

 to her destined port, I am inclined to believe that this space 

 would long since have been taken full possession of by the land 

 proprietors. We have all heard of the love of gold ; but to me 

 the love of land seems the stronger of the two. On this neutral 

 space, which is strictly neither dry land nor river, nor sea, at 

 times belonging to each, and about a mile below the bridge, we 

 overtook a party preparing "to fish the river," with an apparatus 

 so effective, so killing, so instructive, that had all the anglers in 

 Britain headed by my venerable senior ;* by the good and 

 worthy archdeacon ;f he also of chemical memory, J together with 

 poor Sir Charles fished this river for centuries, they could not 

 have arrived at equally important results. 

 The instruments I speak of were 



1st. A coble, or boat ; 2nd. A very powerful widely-extended 

 net, sufficient to command the river ; 3rd. A couple of oars. 

 The boats of Celtic men seldom have two oars ; one having been 

 broken a considerable time ago, and forgotten to be repaired; 

 and I have known a party try to do without oars altogether. On 

 the Wye, the race prefer the coracle, as they did in Cesar's time. 

 4th. Two men and a boy. I looked with delight at the whole 

 party, and saw that I was about to witness that which I never 

 hoped for a good salmon and trout tidal river fished a dis- 

 tance of some miles, from an obstructing wear or dam to the 

 Solway, or Great Sea Bay, in which the Nith, Eden, and some 

 other rivers terminate, with a closely meshed net an illegal net, 

 as I had thought yet used in open day by the tenant of the 



* Izaak. f Paley. J Woolaston. 



