256 THE ANGLER-NATURALIST. 



wards of 400 miles) per day a pace which, if it could be 

 maintained, would speedily carry the fish round the world. 

 Marvellous stories are related of Salmon-jumps, some al- 

 together incredible, others, to say the least of it, highly 

 improbable. No doubt the depth of the water from which 

 they take their spring materially influences its height; 

 but, as a general rule, the limit of the perpendicular leap 

 certainly does not exceed 12 or 14 feet; or, if they rise 

 higher than that, the effort is aimless, and they are dashed 

 down again by the current before they have recovered their 

 energy. Frequently they are killed by the exhaustive 

 violence of their exertions, and sometimes they alight upon 

 the rocks and are captured. This is the case at the falls 

 of Kilmorac, on the Beauly in Inverness-shire (forming 

 the head of one of the finest Salmon-runs in the North), 

 where the peasantry are accustomed to lay branches of 

 trees on the edge of the rocks, and thus intercept the 

 return of such fish as miss their leap ; and the same thing 

 is mentioned as taking place at the Cataract of the Liffey 

 in Ireland*. The extraordinary exertions of the Salmon 

 to surmount the falls at the former spot have been graphi- 

 cally described by Mr. Mudie in the ' British Naturalist/ 



This writer mentions that "amongst the wonders which 

 the Frasers of Lovat used to show their guests" was a 

 voluntarily-cooked Salmon. For this purpose a kettle of 

 boiling water was placed upon the flat rock on the south 

 side of the fall, close by the edge of the water, and the 

 * Hartwig, The Sea and its Living Wonders. 



