THE LATE SALMO SALAB, ESQ. 27 



puppy fed as we were fed ? No ! Fortes 

 creantur fortibus. Large animals and large 

 fishes produce large offspring, and when I left 

 the sea and again ascended my native Tweed in 

 July, I weighed nearly seven pounds.* But I 

 anticipate. 



" Although the world of waters was all 

 before us where to choose, we never of our 

 own accord wandered far away from the land. 

 Coasting along we hugged the shore, and 

 thereby not only secured a greater abundance 

 of food, but escaped many dangers to which 

 those who were driven by accident or fear away 

 into the unknown depths of remoter waters 

 were exposed. True, danger even in the humble 

 path we had chosen for ourselves met us in 



* A suggestion offers itself here, which I put forward 

 with great diffidence. Instead of putting back the under- 

 sized fish, the necessity for which is now so strougly advo- 

 cated, suppose the angler were occasionally to return those 

 monsters of the deep whose capture and dimensions we 

 occasionally find recorded in the Field and other papers 

 devoted to sporting matters. Would not the probable 

 result be an increase in the size of the fish 1 After all, 

 small fry are pleasant eating, and exist in such numbers that 

 the effect of rod-fishing upon them is absolutely inappreci- 

 able. 



