THE LATE SALMO SALAR, ESQ. 33 



I know not, many doubtless were lost, many- 

 devoured : for myself, I lingered sadly about 

 the spot, and should have in all probability 

 shared the latter fate, but that I was accosted 

 by a female of my own race, bright and beauti- 

 ful, but twice my size and age. She told me 

 she was seeking the spawning-beds above, and 

 I, as youth ever does, felt an instinctive love 

 and veneration for one so much older and 

 grander than myself. She told me of the 

 dangers she had escaped, almost by a miracle, 

 the year before ; how, after being twice all but 

 taken in the drag-nets, from which I had just 

 escaped, she had entered the river; how for 

 some miles as she ascended, when her back or 

 that of her larger companion was seen above 

 the surface of the shallow water, there had 

 been a cry of ' Fash ! Fash ! ' and then a net 

 had been hastily dragged across her path, whilst 

 another was stretched below to prevent her 

 return ; how men with loud shouts or splash- 

 ings of the water had driven the devoted fish 

 into the toils before them ; how at each pro- 

 jecting rock, forming still water where the 

 struggling fish might rest, a net was placed ; * 



* These nets are now prohibited by law. 



