220 FISHING GOSSIP. 
polluted by mining and manufacturing impurities. 
Mills are not, to say, numerous; the weirs must be 
within the compass of salmon muscle to overcome as 
the fish ascend to the entrance of Bala Lake. The 
scenery throughout its whole length makes agreeable 
companionship to the wanderings of the angler, and 
fair accommodation is provided for him at moderate 
distances along its banks. To these natural and 
social advantages, the accidental one of running 
through the properties of some of the largest and 
wealthiest proprietors of the island — Grosvenors, 
Wynns, Vaughans, cwm multis alvis—might be added. 
But in my observations as a “ bird of passage,” I have 
not found that these “magnates” have taken much 
interest in the prosperity of the salmon-fishery, in 
return for the beauty and celebrity which the stream 
confers on their wide domains. As an ill omen 
for the existence of such a disposition, it may 
be stated, en passant, that the unsavoury dens of 
the fishing colony which devastates the lower Dee 
almost abut on the principal entrance to the princely 
mansion of Eaton Hall! 
Of the number of salmon that now enter the 
Dee from the sea it would be difficult to form a con- 
jecture near the truth. With the exception of the 
rental of what is called the “cage” on the causeway 
at the old bridge of Chester, there are no trustworthy 
statistics upon which to found an accurate opinion. 
