16 
Appendices to Ninth Annual Report 
that the wonder is, not that it yields so few salmon, but that it produces so 
many. It rises from a peat moss 1(540 feet above the sea, among the mountains 
which form the western boundary of Aberdeenshire. It has a course of about 
65 miles, and drains upwards of 500 square miles of country. The assessable 
rental of the Don was .£3361, Os. 8d. in 1876, and is now £3015, 10s., of which 
^2083 belongs to the lower fishings, including the coast, and £932, 10s. to the 
u]>per riv^er fishings. The fishery assessment this year is 16 per cent, of the 
rental. During the annual close time the protection is superintended by an 
inspector and sixteen water bailiffs. The extent of the coast or sea fishings 
within tlie Don district is about 10 ndles. Tlie average number of bag-nets 
within the district is 66, of which 9 are to the south of the Don, or between the 
mouths of the Dee and the Don, and 55 to the north. The average numl)er of 
stake or fly-nets within the district is 27, of Avhich 7 are to the south of the 
Don — that is, between the mouths of the Dee and Don, and 20 to the north. 
The distance between the mouth of the Don and the boundary betv/een the 
Don and Dee is a little over 6000 feet, and on that short space of beach there 
are nine bag and seven fly-nets ; Vv'hereas in 1836 there were only three stake- 
nets and one bag-net. Taking the whole space between the mouths of the Dee and 
Don, which is a little over two miles, it aj)pears Irom the plan appended to the 
Parliamentary Report of 1836 (see Appendix VI.), that there were then three 
bag-nets and seven stake-nets between the mouths of these rivers ; while the 
statement furnished to me by the (Jlerks to the District Boards of the Dee 
and Don shows that there are at present twenty bag and thirteen fly-nets. 
The cruives of the Don, with their objectionable appurtenances of the Baron's 
grain and the Lebby Pot, are the worst in Scotland, and confer a virtual 
monopoly of the salmon fishings in the river on their proprietors. If they could 
be bought up l)y the upper proprietors, and the dam dykes above them supplied 
with etticient fish-passes, a very few years would witness avast improvement in 
the salmon rental of the Don. A map of the Don cruives Avill be found in 
Appendix VII. I have inspected them on several occasions, the most recent 
occasion being on the 13th of last March. There are four cruive boxes in the 
dyke. But the great majority of fish are taken by the sweep-net in the long 
pool between the cruives and the ' Lebby Pot.' There is a channel below the 
cruive dyke separated from this long pool by a sort of island, and this channel 
is supplied with water from what oozes through the cruive dyke. It is termed 
the ' Baron's i^rain,' and jjroves a cul-de-sac from which no fish can escape, and 
where they fall an easy prey to the fishermen employed by the cruive-owners. 
Every cruive dyke should be water-tight, or as nearly so as may be ; but, un- 
fortunately, there is no such provision in the existing bye-law regulating 
cruives. Mr Leslie, C.E., one of the original Commissioners under the Act of 
1862, states that the Commissiou-ers made a recommendation that all cruives 
should be made water-tight, but this recommendation was not given effect to. 
The ' Lebby Pot' is a sort of dam, forming the long pool below the cruives, but 
suj^plying no mill or manufactory. It merely serves to increase the extent of 
the water on which the nets of the cruive pro])rietors can work. On the right 
bank of the river the barrier is wholly artificial ; on the left bank it is chiefly 
artificial, but partly also natural, being founded on rock. A statement of tlie 
complaint of the upper proprietors with regard to the Lebby Pot and the 
Baron's grain will be found in Appendix No. VIII. 
It is worth considering whetliei', in any future Act, it would not be advis- 
able to prohibit fishing, except with rod and line, within a certain distance 
above and below a cruive or mill-dam. Both the English and Irish Salmon 
Fishery Acts now in foi'ce contain such a prohibition.* 
* The following arc the provisions of the English Salmon Fisheries Act (36 and 37 
Vict. c. 71 sec. 17) with regard to fishing at w»'irs and dams : — ' No person shall 
* catch or kill, or attemj)t to catch or kill, except with rod or line, or scare or disturb, 
' or attempt to scare or disturb, any salmon within 50 yards above or 100 yards 
' below any weir, dam, or artificial obstruction which hinders or retards the passage 
' of salmon, or in any water under or appurtenant to any mill, or in tlie head race or 
' tail race of any mill, or in any waste race or pool communicating with such mill 
' race, or in any artificial channel connected with such weir or obstruction.' Then 
auother English Act (24 and 25 Vict. c. 109 sec. 27) provides that wliei-e any fishin^- 
weir extends more than half way across any stream at its lowest state of water, it 
shall have a free gap or opening, w'hich shall be situated in the deepest part of the 
