OUR RIVER HARVESTS. 271 



There are, it is true, some rivers where the water is 

 quite as nauseous as that of the Thames, which are yet 

 ascended by the salmon. But in these cases the 

 extent of foul water is comparatively small, and the fish 

 is enabled to pass through it at a single run, whereas 

 the length of polluted water in the Thames is so great 

 that the salmon would be forced to endure a day or two 

 of foul water before it could gain the comparatively 

 sweet waters of the upper river. 



Eecent improvements in the drainage may, how- 

 ever, have a beneficial effect upon the Thames ; and if 

 the waters can be rendered sweet enough for the salmon 

 to live in, and kept clear of nets and weirs, we may 

 look forward with some hope of success to the reappear- 

 ance of this noble fish in our noble river. 



Now let us glance at the means by which it is hoped 

 to restore the salmon and other fish to the waters 

 whence they have been extirpated. 



The early life of all fish is most precarious, and 

 from the time that the eggs are first deposited in the 

 river to the time when the little creature is sufficiently 

 strong of fin to take care of itself, a host of enemies 

 surround it, and its chance of life is scarcely more 

 promising than that of a tender little lamb among a 

 flock of wolves. "What with creatures that eat the 

 spawn, creatures that devour the fry, and infernal 

 engines that destroy the growing fish, not one-hundredth 

 part attain even to their white smolt robes, and not a 

 thousandth part reach maturity. 



