FISHING IN THE TAY. 17 



111 the Findhorn, owing to the impetuosity of the current, 

 its frequent and sudden floods, and its shifting beds of 

 gravel and shingle, no cruives, or weirs, are made use of : 

 they would be swept away as fast as built. But in the 

 Spey, and many other Scottish rivers, large cruives are 

 erected, which prevent the passage of the fish, except on 

 Sundays and in floods. A cruive is a dam, or embank- 

 ment, thrown across the river, with openings at intervals, 

 to permit the descent of the water in a strong stream. 

 Through those openings the fish pass into a kind of 

 wooden cage, and as the entrance is made after the 

 fashion of a wire mouse-trap, they are unable to find 

 their way out again. However convenient they may be 

 for the fishermen, the angler regards them with any other 

 feeling than that of satisfaction. 



Salmon-fishing, as everybody knows, is conducted in a 

 variety of modes : by the harpoon, by the line, by nets of 

 various sizes and shapes. In the Tay the fishermen 

 adopt the following procedure. The net being placed in 

 the boat, one party begins to row slowly up the stream, 

 while another party, carrying a rope attached to the net, 

 proceed along the bank in the same direction. On arriv- 

 ing at a certain point, the boat rows across the river, the 

 net is run out, and the crew pull down to the starting- 

 place, making a complete sweep of a considerable stretch 

 of water. The men on the bank in like manner turn 

 round, and make for the rendezvous, hauling on the 

 rope as they move along. In this way the passage of the 

 river is completely barred against the ascending fish, 

 which are enclosed in the meshes of the net as its two 

 ends are brought together, and in due time hauled ashore. 

 By this wholesale process, a considerable number of sal- 



