150 THE SALMON RIVERS OF SCOTLAND 



far as I have heard. One may naturally expect that a reasonable 

 proportion of them should swell the records, and I certainly think 

 the records have materially risen. The rod results of one water, for 

 instance, have increased some 56 per cent. ; but one or two bad 

 seasons, climatically, have supervened, and in 1908 the small class of 

 spring fish were very deficient in all rivers where they usually most 

 abound, e.g. Dee, Brora, Helmsdale, Thurso. The grilse of the 

 summer previous were also conspicuous by their absence, and they 

 made the small springers of 1908. The results of 1909, so far as I 

 have learned, point to a quite definite improvement ; 400 fish were 

 got in spring in one fishing. 



Apart from those considerations, however, is the possibility that 

 the fish which are present in the river, be they numerous or few, are 

 not so prone to take as they used to be. I am inclined to think 

 this supposition has more truth in it than many suppose, and that 

 the cause requires most serious consideration. I call it a supposition 

 because I personally have not obtained any direct evidence as to the 

 effect of distillery effluents, which are sufficiently diluted in the great 

 volume of the lower Spey to make the actual poisoning of fish 

 improbable, but which, nevertheless, seems to influence the life of 

 the salmon. I am aware, however, that the opinion is very gener- 

 ally held in the district that the distillery pollution is not nearly so 

 serious as it used to be, but that when a discharge of pollution from 

 any distillery takes place, angling is useless for some little time. 



The favourable water of the Spey has therefore, I am inclined to 

 think, been in a sense its undoing, since, in the last thirty years, the 

 number of distilleries has greatly increased. Mr. George Muirhead, 

 the Duke of Richmond and Gordon's Commissioner, in giving 

 evidence before Lord Elgin's Salmon Fisheries Commission, sub- 

 mitted an exhaustive return as to the increase of distilleries. From 

 this it appears that 



In 1850 there were 11 distilleries mashing 2,270 bushels per week. 

 I860 9 , 2,280 



3,450 

 7,150 

 12,400 

 50,800 



1870 10 



1880 ,,13 



1890 14 



1900 27 



The peculiarly poisonous waste product is " pot ale " or " burnt 

 ale," which is the residue of the first distillation in the process of 

 whisky making. This first distillation produces what is called " low 

 wine," the bye-product being of an extremely complicated nature 



