INTRODUCTION. 9 



with fish in Scotland. Everything in this matter-of-fact age 

 brings its real marketable value, and by a simple rule of arith- 

 metic the number of fish which inhabit each river may almost be 

 ascertained, as the rent is, of course, proportioned exactly to the 

 number of salmon which can be caught. 



" The Spey is a fine wide stream too, with a great volume of 

 water, and, though subject like all Highland rivers to floods, is 

 not liable to such sudden and dangerous risings as its neighbour 

 the Findhorn." 



What would he think of the present system of netting, not 

 only at the mouths of the rivers (where the stake nets were set in 

 his day), but along the entire coast line ? The stake nets now in 

 use are of far superior construction to those then in vogue. The 

 present ones have frequently attached from the outer end, where 

 the trap is, a floating wall of netting, with another trap at its 

 extremity. The net which principally marks the improvement 

 in salmon catching is the bag net. This consists of a wall 90 

 yards long and 20 feet deep of 2 -inch mesh. 



The land end is usually attached to a rock. Where no rock 

 is available, a small anchor or other fastening. At the end of 

 the 90 yards the bag or trap is fixed, again another length of 

 wall 90 yards long with its trap; not unfrcquently this is 

 repeated a third time, reaching collectively 300 yards from the 

 coast. Sometimes only one trap is used, and this may be at the 

 end of three lengths of wall. As the whole apparatus floats, it 

 can be set in any depth of water, and an anchor or two is all 

 that is required to keep the sides of the trap extended. 



These nets are set usually about 200 or 300 yards apart, 

 but the distance varies, depending on the formation of the coast. 

 I have seen them within a stone's throw of each other. 



It may truly be said that the whole coast line for hundreds 

 of miles is studded with these nets, and how the unfortunate fish 

 reach the rivers is difficult to understand. If they succeed in 

 doing so, they are met with the seine ; boats with nets are kept 

 at the head of the pools ; a watchman is placed at the tail, where 



