220 FISHING GOSSIP. 



polluted by mining and manufacturing impurities. 

 Mills are not, to say, numerous ; the weirs must be 

 within the compass of salmon muscle to overcome as 

 the fish ascend to the entrance of Bala Lake. The 

 scenery throughout its whole length makes agreeable 

 companionship to the wanderings of the angler, and 

 fair accommodation is provided for him at moderate 

 distances along its banks. To these natural and 

 social advantages, the accidental one of running 

 through the properties of some of the largest and 

 wealthiest proprietors of the island Grosvenors, 

 Wynns, Vaughans, cum multis aliis might be added. 

 But in my observations as a " bird of passage," I have 

 not found that these " magnates " have taken much 

 interest in the prosperity of the salmon-fishery, in 

 return for the beauty and celebrity which the stream 

 confers on their wide domains. As an ill omen 

 for the existence of such a disposition, it may 

 be stated, en passant, that the unsavoury dens of 

 the fishing colony which devastates the lower Dee 

 almost abut on the principal entrance to the princely 

 mansion of Eaton Hall ! 



Of the number of salmon that now enter the 

 Dee from the sea it would be difficult to form a con- 

 jecture near the truth. "With the exception of the 

 rental of what is called the " cage " on the causeway 

 at the old bridge of Chester, there are no trustworthy 

 statistics upon which to found an accurate opinion. 



