SALMON. 21 



in consequence of cataracts, cannot have access to the sea. 

 They are small in size, and inferior in flavour. The year 

 1820 furnished 21,817." 



A large landed proprietor in Scotland, whose name I do 

 not know that I am at liberty to mention, wrote as follows: — 

 " In answer to your inquiry about the Salmon fry I have 

 put into my newly-formed pond, I must tell you, the water 

 was first let in about the latter end of 1830, and some 

 months afterwards, in April 1831, I put in a dozen or two 

 of small Salmon fry, three or four inches long, taken out of 

 a river here, thinking it would be curious to see whether 

 they would grow without the possibility of their getting 

 to the sea or salt water. As the pond, between three 

 and four acres in extent, had been newly stocked with Trout, 

 I did not allow any fishing till the summer of 1833, when 

 we caught with the fly several of these Salmon, from two to 

 three pounds' weight, perfectly well shaped, and filled up, 

 of the best Salmon colour outside, the flesh well-flavoured 

 and well-coloured, though a little paler than that of new- 

 run fish." 



It remains to describe the different modes by which the 

 Salmon are taken ; and these are as various, and the fisheries 

 are as numerous and as extensive, as the value and quantity 

 of the fish would lead us to expect. The rights of the 

 proprietors, which have arisen in various ways, some by 

 royal grants, others by possession or occupation of the soil, 

 are generally farmed or hired at a rent depending on the 

 extent or value of the local stations. The first attack made 

 upon the fish is in the summer months, when the Salmon 

 rove along the coast in quest of the mouths of the dilFerent 

 rivers, in which they annually cast their spawn. " On these 

 expeditions, the fish generally swim pretty close to the shore, 

 that they may not miss their port ; and the fishermen, who 



