Alongside one of the falls he ordered a kettle full of water to be placed over a fire, and many minutes had not elapsed before a large Salmon made a false leap, and fell into it. This may seem incredible to those who never saw one of these rude salmon-leaps: but surely there is as great a chance of a Salmon falling into a kettle as on any given part of the adjacent rock; and it is a thing that would take place many times in the course of the season, were but the experiment tried.

When the Salmon have arrived at a proper place for spawning in, the male and female unite in forming in the sand or gravel a proper receptacle for their ova, about eighteen inches deep, which they are also supposed afterwards to cover up. In this hole the ova lie till the ensuing spring (if not displaced by the floods), before they are hatched. The parents, however, immediately after their spawning, hasten to the salt water, now extremely emaciated. Toward the end of March the young fry begin to appear; and, gradually increasing in size, become in the beginning of May five or six inches in length, when they are called Salmon-smelts. They now swarm in the rivers in myriads; but the first flood sweeps them down into the sea, scarcely leaving any behind. About the middle of June the largest of these begin to return into the rivers: they are now become of the length of twelve or sixteen inches. Toward the end of July they are called Gilse, and weigh from six to nine pounds each.

When the Salmon enter the fresh water, they are

always more or less infested with a kind of insect called the salmon-louse*: when these are numerous the fish are esteemed in high season. Very soon after the Salmon have left the sea, the insects die and drop off.

After the fish have become lean at the spawningtime, on their return to the sea they acquire their proper bulk in a very little while; having been known to be considerably more than double their weight in about six weeks.-Their food consists of the smaller fishes, insects and worms; for all these are used with success as baits, by the anglers for Salmon.

The principal fisheries in Europe are in the rivers; or on the sea-coasts adjoining to the large rivers of England, Scotland, and Ireland. The chief English rivers for them are the Tyne, the Trent, the Severn, and the Thames. They are sometimes taken in nets; and sometimes by means of locks or weirs with iron or wooden grates, so placed in an angle, that, being ímpelled by any force in a direction contrary to that of the stream, they open, let the fish (or whatever else pushes against them) through, and again by the force of the water or their own weight close and prevent their return. Salmon are also killed in still water, by means of a spear with several prongs, which the fishermen use with surprising dexterity. When this is used in the night, a candle and lantern, or a wisp of straw set on fire, is carried along, to the light of which the fish collect.

In the river Tweed, about the month of July, the capture of Salmon is astonishing: often a boat-load, and sometimes near two, may be taken at a tide;

* Lernæa Salmonea of Linnæus.

and in one instance above seven hundred fish were

From fifty to a

Most of those

caught at a single haul of the net. hundred at a haul is very common. that are taken from before the setting-in of the warm weather are sent fresh to London, if the weather will permit. The others are salted, pickled, or dried, and are sent off in barrels, in quantities sufficient not only to stock the London markets, but also some of the markets of the continent; for the former are by no means able to take all the fish that are caught here.

The season for fishing commences in the Tweed on the thirtieth of November, and ends about old Michaelmas day. On this river there are above forty considerable fisheries, which extend upwards about fourteen miles from the mouth; besides many others of less consequence. These, several years ago, were rented at above the annual sum of ten thousand pounds; and to defray this expense it has been calculated that more than 200,000 Salmon must be caught there one year with another.

The Scotch fisheries are very productive; as are also several of those in Ireland, particularly that at Cranna on the river Ban, about a mile and a half from Coleraine. At this place, in the year 1760, as many as three hundred and twenty tons were taken.

A person of the name of Graham, who farms the sea-coast fishery at Whitehaven, has adopted a successful mode of taking Salmon, which he has appropriately denominated Salmon-hunting. When the tide is out, and the fish are left in shallow waters, intercepted by sand-banks, near the mouth of the river,

when they are found in any inlets up the shore,

where the water is not more than from one foot to four feet in any depth, the place where they lie is to be discovered by their agitation of the pool. This man, armed with a three-pointed barbed spear, with a shaft of fifteen feet in length, mounts his horse, and plunges at a swift trot, or moderate gallop, belly deep, into the water. He makes ready his spear with both hands: when he overtakes the Salmon, he lets go one hand, and with the other strikes the spear, with almost unerring aim, into the fish. This done, by a turn of the hand he raises the Salmon to the surface of the water, turns his horse's head to the shore, and runs the Salmon on dry land without dismounting. This man says, that by the present mode he can kill from forty to fifty in a day: ten are however no despicable day's work for a man and horse. His father was probably the first man that ever adopted this method of killing Salmon on horseback.

Salmon are cured by being split, rubbed with salt, and put in pickle in tubs provided for the purpose, where they are kept about six weeks: they are then taken out, pressed, and packed in casks with layers of salt*.

Different species of Salmon come in so great abundance up the rivers of Kamtschatka as to force the water before them, and even to dam up the streams in such a manner as sometimes to make them overflow their banks. In this case, when the water finds a passage, such multitudes are left on the dry ground as would, were it not for the violent winds so prevalent

* Penn. Brit. Zool. iii. 284.

in that country, assisted by the bears and dogs, soon produce a stench sufficiently great to cause a pestilence*.

Salmon are said to have an aversion to any thing red, so that the fishermen are generally careful not to wear jackets or caps of that colour. Pontoppidan says also that they have so great a dislike to carrion, that, if any happens to be thrown into the places where they are, they immediately forsake them; the Norwegian remedy for this, and it is looked upon by the inhabitants as an effectual one, is to throw into the water a lighted torch†.

THE TROUTE.

The Trout, although a very delicate and at present well known fish, was in no esteem among the antients. It abounded in most of the lakes of the Roman empire, yet is only mentioned. by writers on account of its beautiful colours.

In some rivers Trouts begin to spawn in October; but November is the chief month of spawning. About the end of September they quit the deep water, to which they had retired during the hot weather, and make great efforts to gain the course of the currents, seeking out a proper place for spawning. This is always on a gravelly bottom, or where gravel and

* Penn. Introd. to Arct. Zool. p. cxxüi.

+ Pontoppidan, part ii. 133.

SYNONYMS. Salmo fario. Linn.-Salar of the antient wria Truite, in France.