SALMON OF THE EWE. 183 



seen elsewhere : for instance, some caught in 

 the Alness, in Rosshire, which we saw in pass- 

 ing round the south coast of Ross. These 

 appear to me thicker and brighter fish, and 

 one that I measured was 30 inches long, and 

 1 7 in circumference. 



HAL. I think I have seen broader fish 

 than even those of this river ; but the salmon 

 which you happen to remember for com- 

 parison, belonged to a small stream, which, 

 I think, in general, are thinner and longer 

 than those in great rivers : and what I men- 

 tioned on a former occasion with respect to 

 trout holds good likewise with regard to sal- 

 mon ; each river has a distinct kind. It is 

 scarcely possible to doubt, that the varieties 

 of the salmon, which haunt the sea, come 

 to the same rivers to breed in which they 

 were born, or where they have spawned 

 before. And this could hardly happen unless 

 they confined their migrations to a certain 

 space in the sea, the boundaries of which may 

 be regarded as the shore and probably deep 

 water, which may be considered as effectual 

 a limit almost as land ; for fish do not willingly 



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