CHAP. VI.J SALMON-FISHING. 55 
times a silent otter suddenly shows himself on the ford, having 
slipped quietly and unobserved through the deeper parts of the 
stream till he is obliged to wade, not having water enough to 
cover him. His appearance is the signal of a general outcry, 
and if he returns to the deep water where the net is, the fisher- 
men occasionally manage to entangle him, and dragging him to 
shore, soon dispatch him. He is one of their worst enemies. 
More often, however, he slips noiselessly to the side of the river, 
and half ensconced behind some broken bank, remains quiet and 
concealed till the danger is past, and then glides away unper- 
ceived. There is no animal more difficult to get the advantage 
of than the otter, as long as he is on ground that he knows. 
The fish which escape the nets, and those which go up during 
floods and on Sundays, on which day they are allowed to have a 
free passage, seldom stop until they get to the deep quiet pools 
amongst the rocks some four or five miles up the water, where 
they rest till fresh water and opportunity enable them to con- 
tinue their upward progress. Neither sea-trout nor salmon ever 
seem happy excepting when making their way up a stream. It 
is wonderful, too, against what difficulties, in the shape of falls 
and rapids, they will ascend a river. In the Findhorn, owing to 
the impetuosity of the stream, the frequent and sudden floods it 
is subject to, and the immense quantity of shingle and gravel, 
which is always shifting its place, and changing the course of 
the lower part of the water, there are no cruives made use of. 
They would probably be destroyed as fast as they were built. 
In the Spey, however, and many other rivers, large cruives are 
built, which quite prevent the ascent of the fish, excepting on 
Sundays and on floods. To describe a cruive minutely would 
be tedious. It is, however, merely a kind of dam built across 
the river, with openings here and there, allowing the water to 
pass through in a strong stream, and through which the fish 
ascend and get into a kind of wooden cage, out of which they 
cannot find their way again, the entrance being made after the 
fashion of a wire mouse-trap, affording an easier ingress than 
egress. Much do the anglers on the upper part of the Spey pray 
for a furious flood, or speat, as it is called, which may break 
down these barriers, and enable the salmon to ascend to the 
higher pools before the fishermen can repair the damage done. 
