CHAP. VI.J SALMON-FISHING. 55 



times a silent otter suddenly shows himself on the ford, having 

 slipped quietly and unobserved through the deeper parts of the 

 stream till he is obliged to wade, not having water enough to 

 cover him. His appearance is the signal of a general outcry, 

 and if he returns to the deep water where the net is, the fisher- 

 men occasionally manage to entangle him, and dragging him to 

 shore, soon dispatch him. lie is one of their worst enemies. 

 More often, however, he slips noiselessly to the side of the river, 

 and half ensconced behind some broken bank, remains quiet and 

 concealed till the danger is past, and then glides away unper- 

 ceived. There is no animal more difficult to get the advantage 

 of than the otter, as long as he is on ground that he knows. 

 The fish which escape the nets, and those which go up during 

 floods and on Sundays, on which day they are allowed to have a 

 free passage, seldom stop until they get to the deep quiet pools 

 amongst the rocks some four or five miles up the water, where 

 they rest till fresh water and opportunity enable them to con- 

 tinue their upward progress. Neither sea-trout nor salmon ever 

 seem happy excepting when making their way up a stream. It 

 is wonderful, too, against what difficulties, in the shape of falls 

 and rapids, they will ascend a river. In the Findhorti, owing to 

 the impetuosity of the stream, the frequent and sudden floods it 

 is subject to, and the immense quantity of shingle and gravel, 

 which is always shifting its place, and changing the course of 

 the lower part of the water, there are no cruives made use of. 

 They would probably be destroyed as fast as they were built. 

 In the Spey, however, and many other rivers, large cruives are 

 built, which quite prevent the ascent of the fish, excepting on 

 Sundays and on floods. To describe a cruive minutely would 

 be tedious. It is, however, merely a kind of dim built across 

 the river, with openings here and there, allowing the water to 

 pass through in a strong stream, and through which the fish 

 ascend and get into a kind of wooden cage, out of which they 

 cannot find their way again, the entrance being made after the 

 fashion of a wire mouse-trap, affording an easier ingress than 

 egress. Much do the anglers on the upper part of the Spey pray 

 for a furious flood, or speat, as it is called, which may break 

 down these barriers, and enable the salmon to ascend to the 

 higher pools before the fishermen can repair the damage done. 



