IS si>KAKix<; SALMOX. 



mon are caught on favourable occasions; and the salmon- 

 fisheries in the Tay, and similar rivers, yield their pro- 

 prietors very large returns. 



Spearing salmon is now illegal, but it is a very excit- 

 ing sport, as the reader, if he is acquainted with Sir 

 Walter Scott's " Iledgauntlet," will willingly acknow- 

 ledge. Mr. St. John describes a scene of which he him- 

 self was an eye-witness. The night was calm and dark. 

 The steep and rugged rocks through which the river 

 m:id(5 its way were illuminated in the most brilliant 

 manner by fifteen or sixteen torches, carried by as many 

 athletic and active Highlanders, which threw strange 

 si lil'ting lights on the surface of the stream, and gave a 

 \v<-ird aspect to the whole procedure. Sometimes one of 

 the poachers for such they were would remain motion- 

 less for a few moments, in eager yet patient expecta- 

 tion that a fish started by his companions would swim 

 within reach of his spear, as he stood with it ready poised, 

 like one of Homer's heroes, and his excited countenance 

 lighted up by his torch as he bent over the water. Then 

 came loud shouts and a confused hurrying to and fro, as 

 a magnificent fish darted in among the group ; noisy 

 prills of laughter when some unlucky fellow, darting at 

 his prey in the deep water, missed his balance and fell 

 headlong into it. Every now and then a salmon would 

 U> triumphantly hoisted into the air, its shining body 

 quivering on an uplifted spear. The fish, as soon as 

 caught, was carried ashore, where it was quickly des- 

 patched by a veteran (islicr deputed to this office. 



The use of the leister, or spear, however, was prohi- 

 bited by an Act of Parliament passed in 1859. Mr. 



