38 
friends,* took liis station an hour before sunset, near the same spot, 
but on tlie bank of the stream opposite to that from which Mr. Rams- 
bottom and others had made their observations. Scarcely had he and 
his companions directed their eyes to the surface of the stream when 
they perceived that it was in a state of unusual agitation, which they 
quickly discovered was caused by shoals of small fry skimming along 
the surface in their endeavour to escape from some large fish by which 
they were closely pursued, and whose track close behind them was 
plainly seen. The character of the pursuers was soon revealed to the 
beholders by two great fish which in rapid succession rose from the 
water, fully exposing their glittering bodies to view, and proclaiming 
themselves to be real salmon. This scene of flight and pursuit con¬ 
tinued to bo enacted for upwards of an hour, not in one spot only, but 
in several places simultaneously over a considerable extent of the river, 
and terminated only with the setting of the sun. During these observa¬ 
tions the large dorsal fin of one of the pursuing fish was distinctly seen 
rapidly cleaving the water, while another was observed for a few 
moments reposing close under the surface. 
Again on the 3rd and on the 5tli April salmon were distinctly seen in 
the same part of the river by Mr. llamsbottom and one of the Commis¬ 
sioners,) and another gentleman.^ 
This portion of the Derwent in which the salmon have been thus 
observed to such advantage, and where they had evidently congregated 
in considerable number's, consists of a reach of deep still water four or 
five huudred yards in length, hounded at each extremity by a rapid 
which at the lower end passes over a fine bed of gravel, likely, in 
Mr. Ramsbottom's opinion, to he selected by the salmon as a suitablo 
place for forming their nests and depositing their ova. and is in close 
proximity to the mouth of the Plenty (their parent home), into which 
there was every reason to expect that some of them would enter for the 
purpose of shedding their spawn. 
The progress of the salmon has thus been clearly traced from New 
Norfolk to the mouth of the Plenty,—a space following the courso of the 
Derwent of upwards of eight miles in length. 
But the instances above related by no means embrace all the 
occasions on which the salmon have been soon in the river. The fisli 
do not appear to have passed up the stream in one body; for, after 
their appearance in the Derwent at the various points above indicated, 
they have been subsequently seen at several places between the Plenty 
and New Norfolk, show ing that they did not travel in one body, but by 
detachments, or in a continuous stream. 
Near a place called “ Bell's Terrace,” close to New Norfolk, where a 
fine gravel bed exists, the fish were seen on various occasions by more 
than one observer); long after their appearance near the Plenty. The 
last known occasion on which the salmon have been observed occurred 
on Sunday, the 21st April, when two were seen to leap from the water 
in a very distinct and striking manner by the same Commissioner to 
whom they had before exhibited themselves in so satisfactory a manner, 
near the mouth of the Plenty, and by another gentleman || at precisely 
the same spot where they had first been noticed on their return from 
the salt water. 
Soon after the date last mentioned the winter season set in, and the 
Derwent became considerably flooded, in which condition it has since 
* Mr. and Mrs. Styles Patterson. t R. C. Road, Esi|., J.P. { Dr. Moore. 
§ Sir. and Sirs. Shoobridjo and others. || Major Lloyd. 
