148 THE SALMON. 



river at which salmon are caught in the greatest quan- 

 tities, and in the most marketable condition, are quite 

 different, and generally speaking far removed from those 

 in which, salmon are born, and for the most part reared ; 

 indeed, all but a fraction of the whole number of salmon 

 killed are kiUed in those districts where they are mere 

 passengers, and which are neither their birthplace nor 

 their residence ; 2d, That partly from the severity of 

 the fishing at the foot of the rivers, but partly also fi-om 

 the fact that the fish do not much aspire to the higher 

 reaches of the rivers till late in the year, comparatively 

 few fish reached the upper proprietors (and the farther 

 up the worse) until the season when it was illegal to 

 kill them ; and 2,d, That there thus being no local in- 

 terest in preserving the fish where they breed and are 

 bred, they (in the Tweed especially) were slaughtered 

 in inconceivable numbers during the seasons when they 

 should be spared, in spite of the costly and strenuous 

 efforts of the lower proprietors to provide a hired 

 guardianship — 



" And many a childing mother then, 

 And new-born infant died." 



The cry of the upper proprietors was, Let more fish up 

 to us at times when it is legal to kill them, either by 

 extending the open season as to rod-fishing, or by re- 

 ducing the time or amount of net-fishing, or by both 

 methods — and in the end it will be better for you as 

 well as for us. The reply of the lower proprietors was, 

 We are the rightful owners of the fish, because they are 

 passing over our ground at the season when nature 

 meant them for the food of man. And there the two 



