138 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [PART 1. 



Skeggers, which abound in many rivers relating to the sea, are 

 bred by such sick Salmons that might not go to the sea, and 

 that though they abound, yet they never thrive to any consid- 

 erable bigness. 



But if the old Salmon gets to the sea, then that gristle which 

 shows him to be kipper wears away, or is cast off, as the eagle 

 is said to cast his bill, and he recovers his strength, and comes 

 next summer to the same river, if it be possible, to enjoy the 

 former pleasures that there possessed him : for, as one has wit- 

 tily observed, he has, like some persons of honor and riches, 

 which have both their winter and summer houses, the fresh 

 rivers for summer, and the salt water for winter, to spend his 

 life in; which is not, as Sir Francis Bacon hath observed in 

 his "History of Life and Death," above ten years. And 

 it is to be observed, that though the Salmon does grow big 

 in the sea, yet he grows not fat but in fresh rivers ; and it is 

 observed, that the farther they get from the sea, they be both 

 the fatter and better. 



Next I shall tell you, that though they make very hard shift 

 to get out of the fresh rivers into the sea, yet they will make 

 harder shift to get out of the salt into the fresh rivers, to spawn, 

 or possess the pleasures that they have formerly found in them : 

 to which end, they will force themselves through flood-gates, 

 or over weirs, or hedges, or stops in the water, even to a height 

 beyond common belief. Gesner speaks of such places as are 

 known to be above eight feet high above water. And our 

 Camden mentions in his Britannia the like wonder to be in 

 Pembrokeshire, where the river Tivy falls into the sea ; and 

 that the fall is so downright, and so high, that the people stand 

 and wonder at the strength and sleight by which they see the 

 Salmon use to get out of the sea into the said river : and the 

 manner and height of the place is so notable, that it is known 

 far by the name of the Salmon-Leap. Concerning which take 

 this also out of Michael Drayton, my honest old friend, as he 

 tells it you in his ' ' Polyolbion. ' ' 



