96 THE SALMON, 



(it was told by Burt 130 years ago, and is older even 

 than his time, though applicable also to times long sub- 

 sequent) of a Highland laird of the last century going 

 to a London hotel with his gilly, and, from motives of 

 frugality, ordering a beef-steak for himself, and " salmon 

 for the laddie." On reckoning with his host, he dis- 

 covered he had to pay a shilling for his own dinner, 

 and a guinea for " the laddie's." The state of matters 

 roughly illustrated by this anecdote, arose chiefly from 

 the manner in which the slowness of conveyance affected 

 a very perishable commodity ; but also from the ex- 

 pedient (packing in ice) necessary for keeping the fish 

 in condition even for a few hours, having been a com- 

 paratively recent discovery. There was, indeed, as we 

 have seen, a considerable export of pickled salmon 

 from Scotland to several foreign countries. Francks 

 says of the Brora, in Sutherland, " They barrel-up for 

 France and other parts annually as much salmon as 

 amounts to £300 sterling a year." This trade, how- 

 ever, seems almost to have ceased, probably from 

 the fish becoming dearer and scarcer, even before the 

 system of packing the fresh fish in ice opened up a new 

 kind of market. It is necessary, too, in making such 

 comparisons between old and recent periods, to take into 

 consideration two other facts telling in opposite directions. 

 Even after the resort to ice-packing, the slowness and 

 dearness of carriage long continued almost to shut out 

 from the chief markets the more distant or inaccessible 

 of the fisheries, and so to keep up a local cheapness, and 

 delay the equalization of prices. Thus thirty, or even 

 twenty-five years ago, the number of boxes of one cwt. 



