THE SALMON. 1 75 



motion the sooner he becomes exhausted. When 

 he begins to show his side, and exhibits other 

 unequivocal symptoms of exhaustion, a favourable 

 landing-place should be looked for ; and, when the 

 proper time arrives, which can only be learned by 

 the (sometimes dearly bought) lessons of experi- 

 ence, then is he to be drawn by degrees to the 

 bank or shore, and secured either by means of the 

 gaff, or a firm grasp above the tail. 



When feeding, salmon are usually found at the 

 foot of a strong stream terminating in an eddy or 

 whirlpool. " And first," says our father Walton, 

 " you shall observe that usually he stays not long 

 in a place, as trouts will, but, as I said, covets still 

 to go nearer the spring head; and that he does 

 not, as the trout and many other fish, lie near the 

 water side or bank, or roots of trees, but swims in 

 the deep and broad parts of the water, and usually 

 in the middle, and near the ground, and that there 

 you are to fish for him ; and that he is to be caught 

 as the trout is, with a worm, a minnow, which 

 some call a penk, or with a fly." 



Salmon are often killed in lochs, but they are 

 seldom then in good condition, being as " hard run 



up," as the Honourable Captain , E.N. (who, 



by the bye, forgot to return the trifling sum he did 

 us the honour to borrow at ,) though cer- 

 tainly possessed of less Marine Assurance. Yet 

 it is a fine and pleasant thing to kill a salmon in 

 a loch, as the angler seldom expects it, and is 

 probably only armed with common trout tackle, 

 so that he must quickly summon to his aid in that 



