APPENDIX. 305 



into the water at the top and shoot up the river : but the great 

 majority probably five-sixths of the number, fail, and after the 

 most gallant struggle are tumbled back into the pool. 



At some of the salmon-leaps in Scotland, men are accustomed 

 to catch the fish in a large landing-net, with a long handle, as 

 they fall back after missing the leap. In Kilmarnock they tell a 

 story of the eccentric, and somewhat savage Lord Lovat, who 

 was beheaded on Tower-hill, which is characteristic of that noble- 

 man's peculiar disposition. He was wont to have a fire kindled 

 in a cleft of the rock close to a salmon-leap in a stream of that 

 neighbourhood. When it was approaching his dinner hour, he 

 would direct a pot of water to be placed on the fire to boil, in 

 the expectation that an unfortunate fish, after missing his leap, 

 might tumble over the edge of the rock into the boiling water, 

 and thus commit self-salmocide. The tradition is, that his lord- 

 ship often succeeded in this quaint but cruel experiment. 



After the great effort of surmounting a considerable fall, the 

 successful fish rest during several hours in the first gentle current 

 they meet, before proceeding farther on their journey. Some 

 naturalists have estimated the first day's voyage of a salmon, 

 after entering the fresh water, at fifteen or twenty miles ; but it 

 is evident that the distance cannot be calculated accurately, and 

 must vary according to the nature of the stream. If the river is 

 rapid and obstructed by falls, the fish's stages must be short ; and 

 vice versa. 



It appears to be necessary for the salmon to remain from two 

 to three months in the rivers for the due development of the 

 generative system, before pairing and the deposition of the spawn 

 can be effected. In the meantime the quality of the animal's 

 flesh deteriorates the skin, which is a correct index of the con- 

 dition of the fish, changes from a silvery white to a tinge of reddish 

 brown, and then to a dirty black brown. The firmness of the 

 muscles softens ; the curd between their layers disappears, and 



X 



