136 SALMON AND TROUT. 
wonderful to those who have watched the process, we may well 
hesitate to accept all the ‘tall stories’ on the subject which have 
been put on record, with more or less show of authority. No 
doubt the depth of water from which the spring is taken mate- 
rially influences its height ; but I should hesitate to assert that 
I had myself seen a perpendicular leap exceeding ten or twelve 
feet—and I have seen some thousands. Frequently the fish 
are actually killed by the exhaustive violence of their exertions 
or injuries caused by falling back on the rock. 
Salmon ladders or stairs by which the fish are enabled to 
i 
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MODEL OF FIRST SALMON LADDER APPROVED BY THE HOME OFFICE. 
surmount high weirs and other obstructions have proved of in. 
finite value to the fisheries, and will, it is to be hoped, come 
into yet more general and extensive use. This subject, for 
reasons of space omitted here, is referred to in the earlier 
editions. 
Many rivers are still absolutely blocked to the ascent of 
salmon by impossible obstacles ; but where no such impediment 
exists the instinct of the fish is to go on ascending by degrees 
