THE SALMON FAMILY. 209 



and the rude population of the extreme north of Europe ; for 

 the geographical range of this prolific fish, so valuable to the 

 human race, extends from the North Pole downwards on all 

 sides of the globe (except in one or two instances where the 

 isothermal line bends unduly northward), to the forty -fifth 

 parallel, and in some cases, as in California and Japan, even 

 below it. 



Mr. Eichard Nettle, of Montreal, in his comprehensive 

 little work, " The Salmon-Fisheries of the St. Lawrence and 

 its Tributaries," says, in reference to the Salmon-fisheries of 

 the mother country : — 



" Man, the destroyer man, commenced a war of extermina- 

 tion, hunted them with nets of all descriptions, with spear, 

 with hook, with leister ; poisoned them with lime, spearing 

 them by torchlight, mangling and wounding as many as he 

 killed; and to crown all, denied them a right of way by 

 building dams, and thus destroyed their fisheries. 



"I have said that the fish are dogged and sullen. All 

 sportsmen know what I 'mean. Prevent them ftom reaching 

 their old haunts — their spawning-beds, and experience proves 

 that it is with difficulty they are enticed back. Good laws, 

 time, and a right of way may induce them to return 



"Before the year 1812, and even in 1815, almost every 

 river in the kingdom swarmed with fish ; witness in Scotland 

 the Tweed with its 150,000 Salmon at a rental of £20,000 

 per annum, the Tay, a similar river, the Deveron, the Find- 

 horn, the Don, the Spey, and numerous others. 



"In Ireland, the Shannon, the Bann, the Lee, the Foyle, 

 the Blackwater, the Lagan, the Moy, with its 70,000 fish in 

 one season. Numerous others also are to be found in the 

 Emerald Isle." 



Mr. Perley, in his "Eeport upon the Fisheries of New 

 Brunswick," Dr. Adamson, in his appendix to his "Salmon- 

 14 



