THE LATE SALMO SALAR, ESQ. 13 



the escape. Then the changes in the mighty 

 river herself were subjects of perpetual interest. 

 Sometimes stealing along in a quiet, deep chan- 

 nel but a few yards wide, worn through the 

 rock, or between it and the green bank opposite, 

 the spectator would wonder whence the broad 

 expanse of shingle or barren sand had its 

 origin. Little would he wonder, if, after a 

 week's rain, he sought the same spot, when 

 Tweed was coming down in her might, and 

 every tributary stream, transformed for the 

 nonce into a river, swelled the mighty flood. 

 Then, timber trees, sawn wood, dead animals, 

 farming implements, even haystacks, would 

 come floating down, and the very channel of 

 the river would be diverted sometimes never to 

 return to its ancient course. Sad was the havoc 

 occasioned to the embryo spawn ; torn from its 

 bed, it would be carried down the stream, to be 

 devoured by the trout or the eel, or to perish 

 amid the waste of waters.* We felt on these 

 occasions pretty safe. Our principal enemies 



* This most serious cause of destruction might be greatly 

 lessened by the removal of the spawn from beds exposed to 

 the force of the flood to selected spots unaffected by it, and 

 equally adapted for hatching. 



