enap, v1.] SALMON-SPEARING BY TORCHLIGHT. 57 
rapid succession, looking like pieces of silver as they dashed up 
the falls with rapid leaps. The fish appear to bend their head 
to their tail, and then to fling themselves forward and upwards, 
much as a bit of whalebone whose two ends are pinched together 
springs forward on being released. I have often watched them 
leaping, and this has always seemed the way in which they ac- 
complish their extraordinary task. Both salmon and sea-trout, 
soon after they enter the fresh water, from the sea, make won- 
derful leaps into the air, shooting perpendicularly upwards, to 
the height of some feet, with a quivering motion, which is often 
quite audible. This is most likely to get rid of a kind of para- 
sitical insect which adheres to them when they first leave the sea. 
The fishermen call this creature the sea-louse: it appears to 
cause a great deal of irritation to the fish. It is a sure sign tha: 
the salmon is in good condition, and fresh from the sea, when 
these insects are found adhering to him. 
Though the natural history of the salmon is daily being searched 
into, and curious facts connected with it are constantly ascertained, 
I fancy that there is much still to be learnt on the subject, as some 
of the statements advanced seem so much at variance with my own 
frequent though unscientific observations, that I cannot give in to 
all that is asserted. But as I have not opportunities of proving 
many points, I will leave the whole subject in the abler hands of 
those who have already written on it, and whose accounts, though 
they may err here and there, are probably in the main correct. 
As long as the salmon are in the river water they seem to lose 
condition, and become Jean and dark coloured. By the time that 
they have ascended to within a dozen miles or so of the source of 
the river they are scarcely fit to eat. Nevertheless vast numbers 
are killed by poachers and shepherds in the autumn, even after 
the legal season is over. I once fell in with a band of Highlanders, 
who were employed busily in the amusing but illegal pursuit of 
spearing salmon by torchlight. And a most exciting and inte- 
resting proceeding it was. The night was calm and dark. The 
steep and broken rocks were illuminated in the most brilliant 
manner by fifteen or sixteen torches, which were carried by as 
many active Highlanders, and glanced merrily on the water, 
throwing the most fantastic light and shade on all around as they 
moved about. Sometimes one of them would remain motionless 
