DAYS AND NIGHTS
SALMON FISHING.
A 2
London :
Frintrd by A. SpoTTi5Woor>B,
NfW-Strccl-txjuarr.
DAYS AND NIGHTS
^S A L M N FISHING
THE TWEED;
WITH A suoar account op
THE NATURAL HISTORY AND HABITS OF THE SALMON.
BY WILLIAM SCROPE, ESQ. F.L.S.
AUTHOR OF "the ART OF DEEU STALKING."
" Rura mihi, et rigui placeant in vallibus amnes." — Virgil. Georg. lib. ii.
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS.
SECOND EDITION.
LONDON:
JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET.
1854.
*• Let them that list, these pastimes still pursue,
And on such pleasing fancies feed their fill, —
So I the fields and meadows green may view,
And daily by fresh rivers walk at will
Among the daisies, and the violets blue,
lied hyacinth, and yellow daffodil,
Purple Narcissus like the morning rays.
Pale gander-grass, and azure culver-keyes."
J. Davoks.
TO
THE LORD P L AV A R T TI
Srijr fnTIfitoing 19agr^ arc tiT^rrtftrtf,
IN UEMEMBRAKCF, OF
THE HAPPY DAYS SPENT IN UIS COMPANrON'SUIP OX THE BANKS OF
THE TWEED,
AND THE SOCIAL INTERCOURSE ENJOYED FOR SO MANY YEARS
AT MERTOITN,
BY HIS SINCERE AND FAITHFUL FRIEND,
THE AUTHOR.
A 4
PREFACE.
" I WILL ^vrite a sort of a Book on Fishing,"
said I to my friend Mr. Lobworm ; when a fresh
breeze from the gentle south swept over the
meadows, " stealing and giving odours," and re-
minded me of the many calm and pleasant hours
I had spent by the margin of some crystal stream.
" You really had better do no such thing,"
replied Lob. — He was a man of few words.
" Your very polite reason, if you please?"
" Why the subject is utterly exhausted ; ninety-
nine books have been written upon it already, and
no man was ever the wiser for any one of them,
although many are clever and entertaining, and
moreover abound in excellent instructions."
" Hold! you forget dear old Izaak," said I,
" whose dainty and primitive work, the emana-
tion of a beautiful mind, has made many a man
both wiser and better; for it is dictated through-
out by that wisdom of which it is written, ' Her
ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths
are peace.' "
PREFACE.
" Tliercfbrc it is," replied Lobworm, " that I
would have you by all means to refrain : that
book will always stand unrivalled and unap-
proachable. Excuse me, but ' ex quovis ligno
non fit Mercurius.' "
" Nay, nay, you cannot for a moment imagine
that I shall attempt such a flight as that. I have
read of Icarus, and also of the Ulm Tailor, who
on the first trial of his patent wings fell into the
Danube, instead of pitching upon the opposite
bank ; so, as I cannot touch the summits, I must
perforce be content to creep on level lands, —
' timidus procellai : ' — mine shall be a work quite
of another character."
" There is not the least doubt of that, I
think," said Mr. Lobworm. " Know likewise,"
continued he (I never knew him so loquacious
or so disagreeable before), — " know likemse, to
thy discomfort, nay, to thy utter confusion, that
a book has lately appeared yclept ' The Rod and
the Gun,' so amusingly written, and so complete
in all its parts, that there is not the least occasion
for you to burthen Mr. INIurray's shelves "vvith
stale precepts that no one will attend to."
" Pretty discouraging that, most certainly," I
responded. " And then we have ' Salmonia,'
which is, or ought to be, a settler too ; and also a
scientific work by ^Iv. Colquhoun, who touches
PREFACE. XI
deftly on the subject. But I tell you this, Sir
Oracle, that although I see a hundred good
reasons why I should abandon my design, yet I
am resolved to persist: it is my destiny — that is
a classical reason. You know that, to the great
edification of our youth, the pious -^neas gives
no better reason for the hundred rascally and
much admired things he was in the habit of
executing in his expedition to Latium.
" I only hope the public will be so good as
not to be discerning ; because if they are, I shall
have you, my most tender and amiable friend,
eternally dinging in my ears, ' There, did not I
tell you so ? But you would not be ruled by me,
so you must take the consequences.' "
At the end of this colloquy, and when left
alone, I began to reflect a little ; and although at
first I could not help thinking my gentleman
somewhat hasty, yet I came to the conclusion
that he was partly, if not entirety, in the right.
So I began to listen a little to reason, and con-
tracted my plan, resolving to treat on Salmon
Fishing alone, as it is practised in the Tiveed ;
for although various authors have written some
pages on the sport, yet I am not aware that any
one has as yet gone far into the subject, or given
any precepts, or treated of the various methods
available to the sportsman of killing these
I'KF.FACE.
valuable animals in the rod-Usher's part of a
river throughout tke triiole of the lawful season.
This I have attempted to do in the folloAving pages,
having had more than twenty years' practice in
that border river alone, above twelve miles of
which I rented at different periods.
To the Tiveed I have confined myself ; and I
beg my readers to observe, that my remarks and
instructions are meant to apply to that river
alone ; and consequently that I am not account-
able for Avhat salmon choose to do in other
waters, and for the different means that people
may employ for catching them there.
Deer-stalking and salmon-fishing are at the
head of field and river sports: having written
what has been very generously received upon the
first and best of these subjects, I have been
encouraged to take up the other. This I have
done the more readily, as I have been fortunate
enough to bring to my aid the talents of artists,
who are amongst the most eminent in their
various departments that this country can boast
of. I must not, however, impute the landscape
part to them : this it was unfortunately ne-
cessary that some one should undertake who was
acquainted with the scenery, and I must hold
myself in a great measure responsible for such
portion of the plates.
PREFACE. Xlll
It will be seen that in the letter-press I have
attempted little more than to give a correct and
faithfnl account of the manner and spirit in
which the sport of salmon fishing is carried on
in various ways where the scene is laid, and to
bring before the sportsman the characters of
such people as he is likely to fall in with in his
excursions.
Among those whom 1 have taken this liberty
with, as the type of his class, will be found the
late Tom Purdie, Sir Walter Scott's faithful
right-hand man, well known to the readers of
Mr. Lockhart's delightful Biography, and the
genuine parent of the stories here attributed to
him.
Since the following pages have been printed,
Mr. Yarrell has put into my hands " The Annals
and Magazine of Natural History for Feb. 1843,"
containing an account of IMr. Young's experiments
on the growth of salmon. I have inserted an
extract in the Appendix, for the benefit of those
who are interested in the subject.
I hope I am correct in saying that, judging
from the outline, my statements will agree with
Mr. Young's experiments. This, however, -s\all be
more accurately seen when the Proceedings of
the Royal Society of Edinburgh are published.
Belgrave Square,
April. 1843.
ERRATA.
Page 24, line 1%for " some had," read "in some it bad."
108, line 21, omit " &c."
120, line 4, /or "griped," read "gripped."
130, line 23, /or " reels," read " reel."
194, line "i^^for " thence," read " home."
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
Citizen anglers. — INIi'. Pooley. — Mr. John Poplin. — Scientific
angler. — Self-complacent angler. — Harry Otter - Page 1
CHAP. n.
Salmonidse. — The common salmon. — His powers of swimming and
leaping. — Method of spawning. — Habits. — Passage to the sea.
— Letter from the author to Mr. Kennedy respecting the parr. —
The peciiliar formation of its eyes, similar to that of a salmon. —
JVIr. Shaw's experiments. — Passage of the smolts to the sea. —
Gilses. — Destruction of salmon fry. — Injurious effects of heavy
spates. — Tame salmon. — Change of colour in fish. — Dr. Stark's
experiments. — Proceedings at the Literary and Philosophical
Society of St. Andrew's. — Seasons of various rivers. — Cairn
net. — The salmon trout. — The grey, or bull trout. — Severe
contest with him. — St. Kentigern . _ ■ . 8
CHAP. ni.
Harry Otter. — Childish incident — Martha's eloquence. — The coy
Phyllis. — Self-devotion of a fish. — Feats of Master Harry. —
The pet basket. — Encounter with a duck. — An idle scamp. —
" I saw young Harry with his beaver off" - - - 70
CHAP IV.
Murderous fish. — Hypocritical fish. — Curious predicament. — A
cat fish. — Facetious whale. — Harry Otter pastoral. — Purchase
of horses of dissenting opinions. — The illustrious Higginbotham.
— A five pounder. — Trout not a fish. — Dumb-foundered —
Melrose. — Waxing of the water. — Walter the Bold. — The
Eildon Hills 82
CONTENTS.
CHAP. V
Course of the Tweed. — Abbotsfoid. — A (.hallenge. — Higgiu-
bothaiu broke. — Au ill-natured (wist. — A ponderous salmon. —
A proper mess. — Cut and drowned. — Agreeable wading bj a
corpulent gentleman. — A damp gentleman, and lata! effects of
wading Tage 101
CHAP. VI.
Salmon lines. — A lucky cast. — Disordered tackle. — Triumphant
notwithstanding. — New construction of a salmon reel. — Salmon
flies. — The metropolitan fly. — Powdered lawyers. — Descrip-
tion, and coloured engraving of flies — A worthy person em-
barrassed. — Vanishing of a line sea-ward. — Mathematical
angling. — liaison demonstrative. — Salmon taken by surprise. —
Tom Purdie. — Salmon casting his cantrips. — Robin Hope. —
Novel method of fishing. — Discoloured state of the Mater. — A
very confident friend and his mishap. — A gudgeon hunter. —
Fertile imagination of an angler. — Enormous pike with splendid
eyes. — A discomfiture. — Linn of Campsie, and voyage down
the Tay in a high flood 115
CHAP. VII.
An angler entranced — Absence of mind. — Cow versus fish. —
View-taking, and landscape painting. — Claude Lorraine and
Salvator Rosa. — Poussin. — The grey scull. — Roslin. — Pure
genius. — Twos and threes. — A voracious salmon. — Melrose
Bridge and the Cauld Pool. — The coup de grace. — Monstrum
horrendum. — Duncan Grant. — Rob of the Troughs clean
dune out. — Rob at bay. — Rob breaks the bay - - 159
CHAP. VIII.
Glamour. — Michael Scott. — Michael's imp — 'I'liomas of Ercil-
doune. — Imperfect incantation. — The imp victorious - 182
CHAP. IX
Conscientious water bailifl". — Black fishers. — River sneak. — A
chase. — Granting a favour. — The Souter's retreat. — The
clodding leister. — Tom Purdie's devil of a fish. — Heather
lights. — An unsonsie callant. — Tom gets a flcg. — " Bleezing
up," and peremptory kipper - - - - - 188
CONTENTS. XVll
CHAP. X.
Sunlight. — Mr Tintern's partiality to one leg. — His pony ahint.
Occurrence at Abbotsford. — Sunning. — Net and harpoon. —
Voracity of eels. — Tom Purdie's sarcasm. — Mr. Tintern sus-
pected of howking tricks. — Trolling. — A curious occurrence. —
Harling. — Bait fishing. — JVIinnow and parr's tail. — Black
Meg of Darnwick. — Firing of Meg's tower, and her death. —
The leister. — Canting the boat. — A striking incident. — Rake
hooks. — Liberal advice . . . - . Page 205
CHAP. XI.
The burning. — A night scene, and blazing up. — Tom Purdie
diverts himself. — Striking from an eminence. — Tom Purdie
gets a repreef from Sir Walter, and his consequent embarrass-
ment. — Benign explanation. — Sandy Trummel's mishap. —
Brig-end Pool. — Boat sunk. — Michael Scott. — A hint to pro-
prietors of rivers. — The otter. — Twae can play at that. — The
keeper of the regalia. — The author backs out, and bids fare-
well 235
LIST OF ILLUSTEATIONS.
1. Plate of two young Salmon in the Smolt and Parr state. — •
From a picture by E. Cooke, engraved and painted in
colours by hand by L. IIaghe. — Nil fuit unqiiam sic
impar sibi - - - -To face page 36
2. Plate of a young Salmon in the intervening state. — En-
graved and coloured by hand similar to No. 4. - 4G
3. " Cairn Net." — From a drawing by E. Cooke - - 62
4. " Otter devouring a Salmon" — From a drawing by Edwin
Landseeh, R. a. - - - - - 70
5. '■'' Mermaids and Fly." — From a drawing by E. Cooke - 131
6. "/ saio young Harry ivith his beaver off." — From a
drawing by William Simson - - - - 81
7. '■'■Melrose Abbey and Landscape" - 101"
8. ^'Fisherman and Deer" - - 188
9. "Salmon Reel" - - - 120
10. '■'■Clodding Leister" - - - 196
l\. '■'■Common Leister and Cleik - - 228
From drawings
by E. Cooke,
The Coloured Lithographs which appealed in the former Edition liave
been omitted in the present, to enable the ^Vork to be published at a
cheaper rate.
DAYS AND NIGHTS
SALMON FISHING.
CHAPTER I.
CITIZEN ANGLEKS.
" John Gilpin was a citizen
Of credit and renown." Cowper.
Salmon fishers do not fall from the clouds all per-
fection at once, but generally acquire some skill in
river angling for trout, and such like pigmies, before
they aspire to the nobler spoil ; — pretty work, indeed,
would they make of it, if they began at the wrong end :
nemo repente ivat Jishissimus. We will venture to say,
that many beginners have been frightened out of their
Avits by the sprightliness of a decent-sized trout : would
they then have the presumption to encounter a salmon
without fortifymg their nerv^es with previous practice of
some sort or another ? I would advise each, one and all,
to try their hands at something less powerful, before
they throw their gauntlet at Entellus. In short, we
ourselves, experienced as we are, stand in perfect awe of
B
2. IMK. roOLEY.
a salmon to this day ; and think it meet to approach him
by degrees, by mentioning, in the first instance, the
pursuits of less aspiring anglers, and their various grades
of ambition. Thus, we shall show the strength of the
passion for fishing, even of the most humble description,
and by comparison set off the followers of Salmo Salar
to the highest possible advantage.
We omit giving any particulars of such holiday folk
as disturb the puddles in the commons about London,
and l)eg to introduce our worthy friend Mr. Pooley,
Avho being counter-bound nearly all the year, takes his
pastime occasionally on the river Lea. A pedestrian he,
and a man of pretty considei'able pretensions. Behold !
he casts aside his domestic garb disdainful, and packs
himself up in a shooting jacket, which distinguishes him
from the common herd of travellers, and becomes him
admirably. Indeed he shows much address in the
skilful use of its buttons ; and it is really surprising to
see what an effect he produces by fastening the two last
in the waist, thereby making the rereward of his person
stick out in bold relief; for Mi'. Pooley is a man of a
commendable rotundity. The short rod which he trails
merrily in his hand, and the basket that irritates the
vertebra? of his back, proclaim his high resolve. At
early morn he quits the dusky city, with a temporary
distaste for the sound of Bow bells, and with pity for
such as are doomed to business whilst it is his pleasure
to angle.
At length, behold him arrived at thy lazy waters,
O Lea I With joyous voice he evokes the miller ; orders
a dinner, as he is pleased to suppose, of three dishes, the
MR. POOLEY. 6
principal one consisting of the fish he is about to catch,
with Izaak Walton's instructions for cooking them. The
miller generally puts on a somewhat distressing smile
on this occasion, as the said dish of fish is rather addressed
to the imagination than otherwise — food for the mind
alone. Behold him now, seated on a spot which has long
borne his name (iJ/;-. Pooley's Seat). The story runs, that
he once caught a pike there of five pounds ; but the truth
is, that the said pike was actually only two pounds, but
he added a pound to its weight every passing year,
because he said that the fish would have gained as much
had he lived up to the present day of reckoning. This was
a mode of calculation that some CACn of his most intimate
friends could not assent to, but he was always peremptory
on the subject. His person now being fairly disposed on
the bank, with his short and comely legs dangling over
the weir, he becomes deeply intent upon his neatly
painted float. On this his longing eyes are bent. He
sees but askance the swallows that flit by him, and the
willow that droops over the pool — he sees only his
float. By Jupiter, it bobs ! — now is the decisive moment.
Prompt and energetic, he gives a scientific jerk, and up
comes the light line obedient. Is there the semblance
of a fish at the end of it? O no, certainly not. What
then made the float move ? Who can say ? Perhaps it
was only a delusion of the optics brought on by a san-
guine temperament, or a slight ruffle occasioned by
the zephyrs that kissed thy Cockney waters, O gently
slumbering Lea ! You were excited, Mr. Pooley, you
must own, dreadfully excited, — audit well became you
to be so, for the moment was awful; but we will leave
B 2
4 MK. JOHN POPLIN.
you to resume your tranquillity. We grant you our
sympathy, but deny you our company.
Pass we on to the more ambitious angler, even to our
adventurous acquaintance, Mr. John Poplin. He cannot
submit to the worm, paste, or float — not he. His
skilful arm is practised to wave his rod gracefully, with
nothing less at the end of the line than the green
granam fly. Reclining on his sofa, and. tinted with a
slight suffusion of bile, he has seen on one auspicious
morn a seductive advertisement, headed " Trout FisliingT
With eager pen he responds to A.B. ; pays a guinea for a
ticket to enable him to angle for trout during a whole
season, in a part of the river Wandle that is strictly
preserved. How very cheap ! After pulling about mon-
strous fish in his dreams all night he pays his guinea, and
drives off to the Elysian fields : there he beholds the
whole extent of the fishery lying before him, — a mill-
pond full seventy yards long, one side only belonging to
the advertiser in right of a small water meadow. The
spot seems a favourite one ; for a goodly company of
citizens are extended along the bank in line at three
feet asunder — a similar number on the oj^posite bank.
Now three feet is a liberal allowance, for only two are
granted for a soldier standing in close order. With
graceful obeisance and skilful tact he apologises, and
wedges himself into line ; hooks his neighbour's tackle
on the right the very fii'st throw, whilst he on his
left hooks his. They remonstrate, and extricate with
proper courtesy. Not particularly admiring his position,
which he deems crowded, he backs out, quits the ranks,
and in evil hour trespasses on the water below. Then
SCIENTIFIC ANGLEIi. 5
was thy wrath awakened, O jolly miller ! White in
apparel, but rubicund in complexion, you sally forth,
portly and irascent : lofty is your language.
*^ Who gave you toleration to fish in my mill tail ? "
In return, Mr. Miller, you are called an uncivil brute,
and you well deserve it ; for, in civility, you should first
of all have remonstrated, and, in prudence, should after-
wards have endeavoured to exact a handsome fine for
the trespass. But you did neither of these ; on the
contrary, I am sorry to say, you were personal and un-
pleasant, and forcibly deprived our amiable friend Mr.
John Poplin of his rod ; so that he returned to London
with an accumulation of bile, and scolded his wife, maid,
and footboy. Hard was the fate of the caster of the
green granam !
Mount we now one step higher, nay, a goodly stride
or two ; and let us celebrate the real scientific fly-fisher,
to whom fortune has been more propitious. Possessed of
ample means, he roves from river to lake, rich in rods of
various dimensions, and the joyful possessor of all the
flies that have been named or engraved in all the ninety-
nine Ijooks that have been published on the art of
angling, not forgetting that distinguished fly called the
jyrofessor. We have a boundless respect for this young
gentleman. We like his custom of roving about. He
does not scruple to mount his tilbury, and to flourish his
rod over the rivers and lakes of Wales, and to lash also
with zeal all the watei's of Westmoreland and Cum-
berland. He is not a mere angler, but somewhat of an
artist also ; at least he thinlvs so himself. So when the
B 3
6 SELF-COMrLACENT ANGLER.
sun ritlcs high, and the lake lies hot and motionless,
" and the flies make strange streaks, albeit skilfully
thi'own, on the mirror-like surface of the water," as that
most capital penman, " the organist," has described it,
he plants his sketching stool in some shady nook, and,
armed at all points with the necessary implements,
imagines that he transmits to his canvass a vivid im-
pression of what he sees before him.
Well skilled to select his subjects, he does not take a
general view of the broad expanse, but gets a glimpse
of the lake between the bolls of the trees opposed to it
in shadow. Proud of his ultra marine, he touches in the
distant mountain, and the rugged brae nearer the fore-
ground he paints rich and sunny ; nor does he forget
those accessories that give interest and character to the
scene, — the smoke issuing from the cottage lying in some
shady nook, the boat hauled up on the gravelly beach, or
the cattle that stand listless on some point of land that juts
into the lake. Perhaps, too, some shepherd lies sleeping
with his flock around him in a sequestered glade. Thus
he paints the images of rural life ; and who happier than
himself, when he retires to the clean little inn, and
selects the trout for his dinner, giving a cut behind the
dorsal fin to descry those of the reddest tint? Self-
complacent are his regards when he eyes his ample
capture, — beaming are his looks when he contemplates
his coloured canvass. It is with pain we take leave of
the happy man : we would willingly write his memoirs,
but we have a higher duty to perform. We are about to
sing of Harry Otter, even of ourselves, doing battle with
HAKRY OTTER. 7
the lusty Salmon as we ride on the waves of the Tweed
in our little bark, or wade amongst its rapid cataracts.
It becomes us first, however, to preface our pages with
a short description of the Sahnon itself, as well as of
Harry Otter ; and we will begin with the fish, as being
the most interestinoc animal of the two.
B 4
SALMONIDiE.
CHAR 11.
" So dainty salmons, clievins tliuiuler-scared,
Feast-famous sturgeons, lampreys speckle-starr'd,
In the spring season the rough seas foi'sake,
And in the rivers thousand pleasures take."
Du Bartas.
The three species of the genus Salmo Avhich are to be
found in the Tweed, and which afford most sport to
the angler, are the common Sahnon, or Salmo Salar ;
the Grey, or Bull Trout, Salmo Eriox ; and the Salmon
Trout, Salmo Trutta. The Salmo Fario also, or
connnon Trout, is, or rather used to be, in great abun-
dance there ; but of this latter species I do not mean
to treat.
Although the salmon fisheries are of considerable
national importance, affording a great sujiply of food
and employment to thousands ; yet, surprising as it may
appear, the natural history and habits of the fish itself
have almost up to this time been very imperfectly
known. Indeed naturalists have been altogether mis-
taken as to the ajipcarance of the fry, which at a
certain growth they have supposed to be a distinct
species of fish ; and had it not been for the skill and
diligence of Mr. Shaw, who has demonstrated this their
mistake by a series of scientific and interesting ex-
periments, they would still have continued in error.
SALMON. 9
But not naturalists alone, who are apt to copy their
predecessors with somewhat too liberal a faith, but
even practical men, who have made their observations
from nature, have arrived also at false conclusions.
Mr. Yarrell, in the second edition of his beautiful
work on British Fishes, has given so ample and so
scientific an account of the Salmon, deduced from the
late recent and important discoveries, that little remains
to be said on its natural history.
I shall therefore be as brief on this subject as
possible ; adding, however, such remarks on the habits
of the three most valuable species of the Salmonidce as
my practical acquaintance with the subject may enable
me to supply.
And, first, for the
COMMON SALMON.
Salmo Salar.
Generic Characters. — " Head smooth, body co-
vered with scales ; two dorsal fins, the first supported
by rays, the second fleshy and without rays ; teeth on
the vomer, both palatine bones, and all the maxillary
bones ; branchiostegous rays, varying in number, ge-
nerally from ten to twelve, but sometimes unequal on
two sides of the head of the same fish." — Yarrell.
This splendid fish leaves the sea, and comes up the
Tweed at every period of the year in greater or lesser
quantities, becoming more abundant in the river as the
10 SALMON.
summer advances ; that is, provided sufficient rain falls
to swell the water to such an extent as will discolour
it, and enable the fish to pass the shallows with ease
and security. It travels rapidly ; so that those Salmon
which leave the sea, and go up the Tweed on the
Saturday night at twelve o'clock, after which time no
nets are worked tiU the Sabbath is past, are found
and taken on the following Monday near St. Boswell's,
— a distance, as the river winds, of about forty miles.
This I have frequently ascertained by experience.
When the strength of the current in a spate is con-
sidered, and also the sinuous course a Salmon must take
in order to avoid the strong rapids, this power of swim-
ming must be considered as extraordinary.
As Salmon are supposed to enter a river merely for
the purposes of spawning, and as that process does not
take place till September, one cannot well account for
their ajipearing in the Tweed and elsewhere so early as
February and INIarch, seeing that they lose in weight
and condition during their continuance in fresh water.
Some think it is to get rid of the sea-louse ; but this
supposition must be set aside, when it is known that
this insect adheres only to a portion of the newly run
fish, which are the best in condition. I think it more
probable that they are driven from the coasts near the
river by the numerous enemies they encounter there,
such as porpoises and seals, which devour them in great
quantities. However tliis may be, they remain in the
fresh water till the spawning months commence.
On the first arrival of the spring Salmon from the sea,
they are apt to take up their seats in the rear of a scull
SALMON. 1 1
of kelts ; at this early period they are brown in the back
in the Tweed, fat, and in high condition. In the cold
months they lie in the deep and easy water ; and as the
season advances they draw into the principal rough
streams, always lying in places where they can be least
easily discovered. They are very fond of a stream above
a deep pool, into which they can fall back in case of
disturbance. They prefer lying upon even rock, or
behind large blocks of stone, particularly such as are of
a colour similar to themselves. They are not to be found
all over the river like Trout, but only in such rough or
deep places as I have mentioned ; it is therefore very
necessary for a stranger to take out some one with him
who is acquainted with the water he means to fish, for
there are large continuous portions of almost all salmon
rivers where no fish ever take up their seats. It is true
that a very practised eye, which is well acquainted with
water, needs little assistance ; but there are not many
such nice observers.
At every swell of the river, unless a very trifling one,
the fish move upwards nearer the spawning places : so
that no one can reckon upon preserving his particular
part of the river, which is the chief reason of the uni-
versal destruction of these valuable animals. Previous
to a flood, the fish frequently leap out of the water, either
for the purpose of filling their air-bladder to make them
more buoyant for travelling, or from excitement, or,
perhaps, to exercise their powers of ascending heights
and cataracts in the course of their journey upwards.
Of the nature of these spates, or floods, I will speak
hereafter.
12 SALMON.
That Salmon will leap a great liclght I have read,
and heard asserted contmually ; but even the subdued
account which Mr. Yarrell has mentioned, placing their
powers of leaping ten or twelve feet perpendicularly, I
hold to be beyond the mark. I have frequently watched
their endeavours to surmount falls, and I do not think
I ever saw a Salmon spring out of the water above five
feet perpendicularly. There is a cauld at the mouth of the
Leader-water, where it falls into the Tweed, which
Salmon never could spring over ; this cauld I have lately
had measured most carefully by a mason, and its height
varies from five feet and a half to six feet from the level
above to the level below it, according as the Tweed, into
which the Leader falls, is more or less aifected by the
rains. Hundreds of Salmon formerly attempted to spring
over this low cauld, but none could ever achieve the
leajo ; so that a Salmon in the Leader-water was formerly
a thing unheard of. The proprietors of the upper water
have made an opening in this cauld of late years, giving
the owner of the mill some recompense, so that Salmon
now ascend freely. Large fish can spring much higher
than small ones ; but their powers are limited or aug-
mented according to the depth of Avater they spring from :
in shallow water, they have little power of ascension;
in deep, they have the most considerable. They rise
rapidly from the very bottom to the surface of the water
by means of rowing and sculling, as it were, with their
fins and tail ; and this powerful impetus bears them up-
wards in the air, on the same principle that a few tugs of
the oar make a boat shoot onwards after one has ceased
to row. It is probably owing to a want of sufficient depth
SALMON. 13
in the pool below the Leader-water cauld, that prevented
the fish from clearing it ; because I know an instance
where Salmon have cleared a cauld of six feet belonging
to Lord Sudely, who lately caused it to be measured
for my satisfaction, though they were but few out of the
numerous fish that attempted it that were able to do so.
I conceive, however, that very large fish could leap much
higher.
Although I think the powers of Salmon to leap
perpendicularly have been much overrated, yet I know
that they will ascend steep cataracts in a wonderful
manner. Mr. Smith of Deanston, in the Carse of Stirling,
has invented a sort of stair, by means of Avhich Salmon
are enabled to ascend streams in full waters in spite of
natural or artificial obstructions. One side of the river
under a weir or cauld is separated from the main stream,
and intersected by transverse pieces of wood or stone,
each of which reaches about two thirds of the width of
the gap. There are two ranges of these steps, one on
each side, and the steps on one side face the centre of
the interval between the steps on the other ; so that the
fish ascend from side to side in a zigzag direction, and
can rest in their ascent, should they find it necessary.
This is a very ingenious contrivance, and it has been
constructed on the Teith, near Doune, with complete
success. But I conclude it can only come into operation
in such floods as raise the water to a higher level than is
required for the mill-dam ; and therefore if rude steps
of rolling stones were constructed at a portion of the
back of the cauld, the end would be answered in a better
manner, since the ascent might be made more gradual.
1 4 SALMON.
The fish pass every practical)le obstruction till they
arrive at their spawning ground, some early, and some
late in the season. The sj^awning in the river Tweed
continues throughout the autumn, winter, and beginning
of spring. It commences about September, and I have
caught full roeners as late as May ; but the principal
months are December, January, and February. Mr.
John Crerar, who was fisherman to the Duke of Atholl
for sixty years, and who left behind him some pages in
manuscript on the habits of the Salmon, has recorded in
them that fish full of mature roe may be caught in the
Tay in every month in the year.
The fish become weak and wasted before the spawning
time, and change in colour. The male loses its silvery hue,
and is deeply tinged in the cheeks and body with orange,
and is also dappled with red spots, when, in the upper parts
of the Tweed, it is sometimes called a " Soldier." The
under jaw also becomes longer, and a cartilaginous sub-
stance grows from the point of it, and extends upwards till
it buries itself in the nose above. In this state the fish is
very thin in the back, and altogether much wasted ;
but its flesh is sometimes eatable, and at any rate
infinitely superior to that of a fish which has newly
spawned. The female, when ready to spawn, is dark in
colour, and her flesh is soft and worthless.
Salmon are led by instinct to select such places for
depositing their spawn as are the least likely to be af-
fected by the floods. These are the broad ^^arts of the
river, where the Avater runs swift and shallow, and has a
free passage over an even bed. Here they either select
an old spawning place, a sort of trough left in the
SALMON. 15
channel, or form a fresh one. They are not fond of
working in new loose channels, which would be Kable
to be removed by a slight flood, to the destruction of
their spawn. The spawning bed is made by the
female. Some have fancied that the elongation of the
lower jaw in the male, which is somewhat in the form
of a crook, is designed by nature to enable him to ex-
cavate the spawning trough. Certainly it is difficult to
divine what may be the use of tliis very ugly excrescence ;
but observation has proved that this idea is a fallacy, and
that the male never assists in making the spawning place ;
and indeed, if he did so, he could not possibly make
use of the elongation in question for that purpose, wliich
springs from the lower jaw, and bends inwards towards
the throat.
When the female first commences making her spawn-
ing bed, she generally comes after sunset, and goes off
in the morning : she works up the gravel with her snout,
her head pointing against the stream, as my fisherman
has clearly and unequivocally witnessed, and she arranges
the position of the loose gravel with her tail. When this
is done, the male makes his appearance in the evenings,
according to the usage of the female : he then remains
close by her, on the side on which the water is deepest.
When the female is in the act of emitting her ova, she
turns upon her side, with her face to the male, who never
moves. The female runs her snout into the gravel, and
forces herself under it as much as she possibly can, when
an attentive observer may see the red spawn coming
from her. The male in his turn lets his milt go over
the spawn ; and this process goes on for some days, more
16 SALMON.
or less, according to the size of the fish and consequent
quantity of the eggs.
During this time, Trout will collect below to devour
the spawn that floats down the river ; and numerous
Parrs, so called, are always seen about and in the spawn-
ing beds, — an explanation of which will be found in the
sequel. If a strange male interferes, the original one
makes at him, and chases him with great fury, and in
these combats they often inflict great injury on each
other. John Crerar once had his attention attracted by
a great noise of dashing and plunging, at King's Ford
in the Tay, and upon looking round he found it was
occasioned by the fighting of two Salmon. After a short
contest one of them set off; and the water being shallow,
Crerar fired at and killed him : he was a male of course,
and weighed thirty- two pounds. This occurred in June,
1799.
When the female has done spawning, she sets off, and
leaves the place. The male remains waiting for another
female ; and if none comes in twenty-four hours, he goes
away in search of another spawning place. In the
spawning beds on the Tweed, great injury is done with
the leister, and rake hooks ; and the fishermen, who know
how to profit by their cruel slaughter, are in the habit
of spearing the male which first comes to the female,
leaving the latter as a decoy fish, and killing the other
males in succession as they arrive to consort with her.
By this barbarous and poaching practice all the largest
spawning fish are destroyed, to the great destruction of
the river. These foul Salmon are bad and unwholesome
food, and used to be sold by the fishermen for about
SALMON. 1 7
half a crown the stone, Dutch weight : they were after-
wards salted. Trifling as this price is, the fishermen in
the upper parts of the Tweed formerly made up the
chief part of their rent in this manner ; for there is no
law against killing foul fish, except in close time.
I have now given a brief account of the Salmon, from
his first entry into fresh water till he has spawned. It
remains only to trace him back to the sea.
When the spawning is finished, the fish become very
lank and weak, and fall into deep easy water, where they
have not to contend with the current : here, after a time,
their strength is recruited, when, as the spring advances,
the strongest fish leave the depths and draw into the
streams. At this time they become clear in colour, and
are comparatively well-made ; but their flesh is soft, and
without flavour. They now move down the river by
degrees, in their passage to the sea. When they arrive
in the deep pools where the water runs evenly, they lie
in sculls, and take a rest for some days : here they are
caught in great quantities by anglers, as they take the
fly and other baits freely. March is usually the best
month for this sport, — if, indeed, it can be called sport
to kill an animal that is worth a mere ti'ifle, and resists
but little. If there are freshes, the- Kelts (for so the
females that have spawned are called) quit the Tweed
before the month of May, and the Kippers, or male fish,
at the same time. Very many do so in March and
April, according to the time that they have spawned
and regained their powers. In going downwards they
are taken about Kelso, or at least they used to be so in
my time, with the long net, in pools where they rest,
c
18 SALMON.
r^ucli as that below Kelso bridge ; but they cannot be
caught by the cairn nets, which are so destructive to
thcni in ascending.
Having now despatched the Salmon to the sea, it re-
mains to me to explain what becomes of the spawn, and
how and when the young fry arrive at maturity ; and
as there have Ijcen various doubts and contradictions on
this subject, I thmk it more prudent to lead the reader
to a consideration of the following pages, than to make
a positi^■e assertion on my own unsupported authority.
i\Ir. Shaw's ingenious experiments have lately had a
very wide cu'culation ; but still I have thought it pro-
per to make a very short abstract of them, as they are
of too great importance to be omitted in any publication
relating to Salmon.
Up to a late period it was universally thought that
the spaAvn deposited as above mentioned was matured in
a brief time, and that the young fry of the winter grew
to six or seven inches long, were silver in colour, and
Avent down to the sea in this state with the first floods
early in the May of the coming spring. They were then
called Smolts. In the summer months there are always
multitudes of little fry in every salmon river, which in
the Tweed are called Parrs, and have been thought to be
a different species from the Salmon. I have formerly
held several tiresome arguments, both with practical men
and also \\ith naturalists, with an intent to convince them
tliat tlicy were one and the same species.
The late Mr. James Hogg, the Ettrick Shepherd,
was particularly stiff and bristly in opinion against me.
But he recanted afterwards, and caused to be published
SALMON. 19
in the famed " Maga " an account of experiments made
by himself, all tending to confirm my theory. I suppose
it would have been better for my credit had I abstained
from any colloquy with the said James, which appears
not to have been particularly entertaining ; for lately,
upon asking my friend Sir Adam Ferguson if he re-
collected the circumstance, " Perfectly well," said he,
" and it was at your own table ; but I cannot say who
had the best of the argument, as I fell asleep soon after
it began."
But indeed I had not resided long on the banks of
the Tweed, before I came to the conclusion that the
Parr was not a distinct species, but, as I have said,
was actually the young of the Salmon ; and very many
years ago, long before Mr. Shaw's experiments, Mr.
Kennedy having brought in a bill for the better pre-
servation of the salmon fisheries, I wrote to him the
following letter, which I transcribe from the first
draught, which I preserved : —
'' Pavilion, Melrose.
« Sir,
" Your Salmon Bill being in progress, permit me to
have the honour of addressing you on a point that is
at present overlooked, and that you will at once per-
ceive is of vital unportance to its successful operation.
" It is a fact, that whilst the legislature has imposed
penalties for the destruction of Smolts or Salmon fry,
not only those whose duty it is to put the law in
force, but the public, and even fishermen themselves,
cannot ascertain what these are at all seasons of the
year. On the contrary, for most part of the year they
C 2
20 SALMOX.
go by the name of Parrs, and are destroyed daily with
impunity, and in incredible quantities. Hitherto the
Parr and the Smolt have been considered as different
species ; but that they are precisely the same, I think
may be demonstrated.
" The received opinion, and that which the present
law of Scotland acts upon, is, that the Salmon fry of
the winter and spring congregate and go down to the
sea in the jNIay of the same season, and that they are
of a pure silver colour, as indeed more or less they are.
Now in all salmon rivers Parrs are to be found in abun-
dance throughout the summer, and early in the spring ;
and in the summer they arc not of a silver colour, but
marked with red spots, and are shaded with vertical
bars on their sides at intervals. From the appearance
of these bars, they are very generally supposed to be of
a distinct species from the Smolt. Permit me to give
my reasons for entertaining a contrary ojjinion.
" After May the large Parrs totally disappear, and
such few as may be found afterwards are very small ;
but as the summer advances they become larger, and
in the spring following the bars and red spots above
mentioned gradually die away, and a stronger armour or
scale supervenes ; and as that is more or less advanced
in growth, the bars and spots are more or less visible.
" When they are in this silvery state, that is, when
the new scales are perfected, they become what are
called Smolts or Salmon fry ; but by removing such
new scales, you Avill find the bars and spots of the Parr
underneath as clear and vivid as ever. I have there-
fore a positive conviction that the Salmon fry, instead
SALMON. 21
of falling clown to the sea the same year they are
produced, remain in the river, under the name of Parrs,
till the year following.* That they increase little in size
we cannot be surprised at, as it is universally known
that the Salmon himself wastes from the moment he
comes into fresh water.
" If the Committee make themselves perfectly ac-
quainted with the natural history of the Salmon, they will
be aware of the peculiar construction of the eye of that
fish. Dr. Brewster f has been so obliging as to examine
for me the eyes of some Parrs, which I sent him for that
purpose ; and replies, * I have examined very carefully
the crystalline lenses of the Parr, which I find to be the
same with those of the Salmon, which is a strong con-
firmation of your opinion.'
*' I must add, that these Parrs, as they are called, are
never found but in salmon rivers, or in such as have an
uninterrupted communication with them ; and that they
cannot be the young of the Bull Trout, as the formation
of the tail in that fish is wholly different.
" When it is considered that trout fishing is enjoyed
by every class of people in Scotland, and that, speaking
with reference to the river Tweed only and its different
tributary streams, hundreds and hundreds of people are
fronting daily, and that each person catches several
dozen Parrs in a morning, except in that interval between
the disappearance of the old fry and the appearance of
the new in a forward state, it will be found that the
* ]VIr. Shaw has since proved that they remain in fresh water
still longer.
f Now Sir David Brewster.
C 3
22 SALMON.
young Salmon (for such I contest they are) so destroyed
■will amount to considerably more than the whole mar-
ketable produce of the river.
" By your present bill I know not how far the local
Scotch Acts may be repealed ; but I take the liberty of
suggesting that it would be for the public benefit if
the usage of a pout net in close time were made punish-
able by a fine. The inhabitants of almost every cottage
have these nets, which are taken out under pretence of
catching Trout, which no one but a proprietor has a
right to do in such a way. I have heard that above a
thousand Salmon have been taken in a small sj)ace of
the Tweed by these nets during close time. They are
most destructive below the backs of caulds, Avhere the
fish collect in order to ascend.
" I should have mentioned before, that what we call
the Parr in the Tweed goes by various other names in
the diiferent rivers of Great Britain, Avhicli is a material
circumstance to note.
"If you are desu'ous of any further information on this
subject, I shall most readily give you such as may be in
my power. What I have already said is of a nature
that cannot make me be suspected of having any private
or party view to answer.
" I have the honour to be," &c. &c.
The above being the first draught, I omitted to put
a date to it ; but it was written many years before
Mr. Shaw's experiments. For Mr, Kennedy's bill, to
which my letter alludes, was brought in on the loth of
April, 1825, and thi'own out on the second reading.
SALMON. 23
I received a very obliging answer from that gentleman,
the purport of which was to say, that as his bill had
foiled, it was not necessary to trouble me any forther on
the subject.
This letter contains evidence that Sir David Brew-
ster's experiments were made previously to its being
written ; and when I had thought of publishing, being
desirous to know the exact time Avhen they were made,
I wrote to Sir David to call liis attention to the subject.
His answer, dated 16th of April, 1840, was as follows :
" I am pretty sure that my experiments on the struc-
ture of the crystalline lens of the Parr, which is iden-
tical with that of the Salmon, were made previous to
1828.* I remember well your stating to me that when
the silver scales of the young Salmon (which in Rox-
burghshire we call Smouts) were carefully rubbed off,
the colours of a dai-ker hue which characterise the Parr
were invariably and distinctly seen. I think you showed
me the experiments, but I am not sure of this. With
the view of confirming this your theory, or of over-
turning it, I mentioned to you that the fibres of the
lens of the salmon," &c.
Then foUows the account of liis experiments, as de-
tailed a little farther on.
Besides the reasons mentioned in the above letter,
there were other causes which influenced me in the
opinion I had formed ; the two principal of Avhicli were —
* The date of Mr. Kennedy's Bill, wMch I have hut just ascer-
tained, \)vo\eii that thoy were made iu or before the year 1825;
whereas Mr. Shaw's fn-st account of his interesting experiments
appeared in the " Xew Edinburgh and Philosophical Journal " for
1836, vol. xxi. p. 99. — eleven years after.
C 4
24 SALMON.
Firstly, That no one ever saw a clear silver-looking
fry below the usual dimensions of those which are ready
to go down to the sea ; that is, till the new dress comes
over them, and obliterates the distinguishing marks of
what is called the Pan*.
Secondly, That PaiTs are found above falls which
Salmon can, but they cannot possibly, surmount.
A high spate might certainly bring some of these
falls more to a level ; but it would be as impossible for a
Parr to swim up them in a raging flood, as it would be
for the sere leaf that falls into the Avaves to find its
passage vipwards. Mr. Shaw, Avho has carefully watched
shoals of ^ttr;- (correctly speaking, Smolts)m their descent
to the sea, affirms that they pass down the current with
the greatest caution, keeping their heads up the stream,
and rowing gently with their fins against it, so as to
steady themselves and prevent a too rapid descent ; and
thus they drop down Ijy degrees, tail foremost, precisely
in the same manner that we manage a boat in the Tw^eed
Avhen descending the rapids.
When the fry Avere congregating in May I caught
these little fish in various stages of the growth of the
new scale. Some had supervened so as to obliterate the
bars and spots entirely, when their sides became silver ;
in others they were partially obliterated, so as to leave
only a mere stain of colour ; whilst some retained them
almost entire. As I caught these fry I sent them up
to Sir David Brewster, who was then residing at his
beautiful place on the banks of the Tweed. After a
careful examination he could find no distinction in the
structure of the organs between any of these little
creatures, however differing in colour.
SALMON. 25
The Salmon has a peculiar formation of the eye,
the crystalline lens having the fibres of Avhicli it is
composed arranged as in the annexed sketch A, the
line m n being horizontal on one side, and vertical
on the other ; whereas in many of the Trout species
the fibres are arranged as at C, crossing one another, or
rather meeting at two opposite jjoles, lil^e the meridians
of a globe, the line joining the two poles being the
axis of vision of the eye.
" After examining the lenses of the Parr you sent
me," says Sir David Brewster in a letter now before me,
" I found the structure to be exactly the same as that of
the Salmo7i. I have frequently had occasion to mention
the proofs that you gave me of the identity of the Parr
with the Salmon, and to mention my own experiments
on the lenses as confirmatory of your opinion that the
Parr and the Salmon are one and the same species."
Salmon begin spawning as early as September, and
continue to do so throughout the winter months ; De-
cember, January, and February being the principal ones
for that operation. They continue on the spawning-
ground, or Hade, as it is termed in Scotland, also during
the spring months, though in diminished quantities. I
myself have caught full roeners, as they are called, in the
month of May in the Tweed. Now we know from the
26 SALMON.
proof of experiments that have been made by various
persons, that the spawn of the Sahnon continues im-
bedJed in the gravel from ninety to one hundred and
fifteen days, according to the temperature of the water,
before it vivifies ; and indeed remains there some weeks
after its exclusion from the egg. Mr. Shaw has stated
the exact time of this latter period to be fifteen days ;
at the end of which time, says he, the egg which was
attached to its abdomen, from which it derived its
nourishment, " contracted and disappeared ; the fin or
tadpole-like fringe also divided itself into the dorsal,
adipose, and anal fins, all of which then became per-
fectly developed ; the little transverse bars, which for a
period of two years characterise it as a Parr, also made
their appearance ; so that a period of at least 140 days is
required to perfect this little fish, which even then
measured little more than one inch in length."
The above not being matter of conjecture, but having
been demonstrated by experiment, how by any possi-
bility can the old doctrine be true, that the fry which go
to sea about the first or second week in May, six or seven
inches long, can be the spawn of the winter immediately
preceding it ? And what and where are the young of the
Sahnon all the summer, if they are not indeed Parr ; for
no silver-coloured fry are at that time to be seen in the
river ? I must add also, that it is incumbent upon those
naturalists who assert that tlie Parr is a distinct species,
to prove that it is so from comparative anatomy. But
they have not been able to do this ; on the contrary, as
far as I can learn, they confess tliey have discovered no
variation of organic sti'ucturc.
SALMON. 27
I have lieard it objected that the growth of the Sahiion
being very rapid, it seems out of the order of nature to
suppose that a creatiu'e should remain so long in fresh
water with so little increase of size. But Salmon never
grow in fresh water ; on the contrary, they begin to
waste from the moment they enter a river, whether they
arc clean at that i:)eriod, or forward in spawning. Besides,
as the full latitude of the spawning season endures for
six months, some of the fry, acknowledged by all to be
Smolts, must be six months older than others, and yet
when they congregate to go to sea they will all be found
to be nearly of the same size. Now if the fiy, confessed
by all to be Smolts, or the young of the Salmon, do not
increase during so many months, why should it be
objected that the PaiT is not the young of the Salmon
on the same account ?
These and other arguments have occurred to me from
time to time. All reasoning, however, on tliis subject
is noAV become superfluous ; Mr. John Shaw of Drum-
lanrig having demonstrated, by a number of careful and
scientific experiments, that the Parr is actually the
young of the Salmon. His first paper, announcing this
important fact, was published in the " Edinburgh New
Philosophical Journal " for July, 1836, vol. xxi. page 99.
His second was read before the Royal Society of Edin-
burgh on the 18th of December, 1837, and was published
in the " Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal " for
January, 1838, vol. xxiv. page 165. His third and con-
cluding communication, by far the most interesting, and
which has been lately received by the Royal Society
of Edinburgh, contains a continuance and confirmation
28 SALMON.
of the results of the experiments mentioned in the two
first papers above alluded to, together with the very ex-
traordinary fact, that the milt of a Parr eighteen months
old, and only weighing an ounce and a half, is capable
of impregnating the ova of a full-grown Salmon.
Before proceeding to make the experiments related in
his last communication, he made three ponds, the banks
so raised, and constructed otherwise in such a manner,
that it was impossible for the young fish to escape, or
for any other fish to have access to them. Accurate
drawings and descriptions of these ponds are given in
his printed pages, now before me, which he was so oblig-
ing as to present me with. " Being thus prepared," says
Mr. Shaw (alluding to the construction of his ponds),
" with every means of carrying my experiments into
practice, I proceeded to the river Nith on the 4t]i of
January, 1837, and readily discovered a pair of adult
Salmon engaged in depositing their spawn. They were
in a situation easily accessible, the water being of such
a depth as to admit of my net being employed with
certain success." The fish were accordingly captured by
means of a hoop net. The ova were then pressed with
the hand from the body of the female, and impregnated
in the same manner by the milt of the male, and the
spawn in this state was transferred to a private pond
previously prepared for its reception. That there might
be no doubt as to the species, the skins of the parent
Salmon were kept, and may be seen at any time.
On the 28th of April, 114 days after impregnation,
the young Salmon were excluded from the egg, which
was not the case when they were visited the preceding
SALMON. 29
day. On the 24th of May, twenty-seven days after
being hatched, the young fish had consumed the yolk
which remains attached to the lower part of the body,
and which serves him for nourishment, and the charac-
teristic bars of the Parr had become distincthj visible.
From a deposition of mud, as Mr. Shaw apprehends, all
these fry, except one individual, were found dead at the
bottom of the ponds, so that there was no opportunity of
watching their future progress ; but an ingenious experi-
ment was made, which proved that an increased tempe-
rature hastened the development of the infant fish.
But Ave shall see that Mr. Shaw was too indefatigable
to be daunted by such an untoward accident, and that
he persevered in his experiments, till liis efforts were
rewarded by complete success.
On the 27th of January, 1837, he captured a male
fish of sixteen pounds, and a female of eight, and expressed
the ova of the female and impregnated it with the milt
of the male in the manner above related, and dcjiosited
the spawn in this state in a private pond as before, and
to Avhicli no fish could by possibility have access.
"On the 21st of March," says Mr. Shaw (that is,
fifty-four days after impregnation), "the embryo fish
were visible to the naked eye. On the 7th of May
(101 days after impregnation), they had burst the
envelope, and were to be found amongst the shingle
of the stream. The temperature of the water was at
this time 43°, and of the atmosphere 45°; and it is
this brood Avliich I have now had an opportimity of
watching continuously for a length of time, that is, for
more than the entire period which was requu'ed to elapse
30 SALMON.
from their exclusion from the cgp^, until their assumption
of those characters which distinguish the undoubted
Salmon fry."
Mr. Shaw then proceeds to describe the size and ap-
pearance of the Salmon fry at different periods of their
age, accompanied with several very accurate and well-
executed engravings illustrating the text. " One of these
is a specimen two years old, when it has assumed its mi-
gratory dress, and measures about six inches and a half,
being about the average size of the brood." Two years, —
mark this, — and only six inches and a half long ! It
then goes to the sea the first floods in May, and returns
in two or three months, as it may happen, when it is
called a Gilse, and is increased to the size of from four to
seven pounds, and indeed very considerably more, being
larger or smaller in proportion to the time it has re-
mained in the sea. A second visit to the sea gives it
another increase, when it returns to the river as a
Salmon. This appears so wonderful and extraordinary
a departure from the general laws of nature, that it is
no wonder that the most scientific men have been
misled.
But if the Salmon fry attain but to such pigmy
growth in fresh water, still less is that element favour-
able to adult Salmon, which, as I have elsewhere ob-
served, fall off in size and contlition from the moment
they enter a river for the purpose of sjiawning. When
they have spawned, however, they certainly do mend
greatly in condition, or, more correctly speaking, recover
from their state of weakness.
But to return to ]\Ir. Sha\v. — " The circumstance,"
SALMON. 31
says he, "of male Parrs with the milt matured, and
flowing in profusion from their bodies, being at all
times found in company with the adult female Salmon
while depositing her spawn in the river, and the female
Parrs being in every instance absent, suggested the
idea that the males were probably present with the
female Salmon at such seasons for sexual purposes.
" To demonstrate the fact," he continues, "in January,
1837, 1 took a female Salmon weighing fourteen pounds
from the spawning bed, from whence I also took a male
Parr weigliing one ounce and a half, with the milt of
which I impregnated a quantity of her ova, and placed
the whole in a jarivate pond ; where, to my great as-
tonishment, the process succeeded in every respect, as
it had done with the ova wliich had been impregnated
by the adult male Salmon, and exhibited, from the first
visible appearance of the embryo fish up to theu- as-
suming theu' migratory dress, the utmost health and
vigour.
" The residt from this experiment was of so startling
a nature, that it was not thought prudent to give it
publicity till the trial was repeated. It was so, early
in the following January, 1838, when two lots of eggs of
a Salmon, weighing eighteen pounds, were impregnated
with the milt of two male Parrs, and there ensued pre-
cisely the same result as before. Again, in December,
1838, four lots of ova from an adult Salmon were im-
pregnated with the milt of four Parrs with sunilar
success ; and the same Parrs, being afterwards placed
in a private pond, assumed the migratory dress in the
following May, not in the most minute degree differing
32 SALMON.
from what in the Tweed are universally called Smolts,
and are acknowledged by all to be the young of the
Salmon."
All these experiments appear to me to be quite con-
clusive, and of a nature to satisfy any one who has not
pledged himself to an opposite theory. But if any
thing were still wanting, it has been completely sup-
plied by an additional experiment, ^vliich clenches the
proof.
On the 4th of January, 1837, a male Parr, itself the
produce of a male Parr and female adult Salmon, was
made by expression of the milt to impregnate the eggs
of a Salmon weighing twelve pounds ; and for the better
secm'ity of the lot the whole was placed in a wooden
trough, over which a sheet of fine copper wire-gauze
was fixed. The trough was then placed in a stream of
water previously prepared for its reception, and the
results were precisely of a corresponding nature to those
already detailed.
Now, if the Parr and the Salmon were distinct
species, their produce w^ould be h^^brids, and would not,
therefore, breed again, according to the rules of nature
established to prevent the confusion of different sjiecies
by a conservative law ; but this last and most important
experiuient has proved that the produce from the male
Parr and female adult Salmon w'Al breed again with
the old Salmon, and therefore that such produce are
not mules, but of the same sjDCcies with their parents.
In a letter to Mr. Shaw, written in the spring (1840),
I suggested to him to impregnate the ova of the Salmon
with the milt of the common river Trout, imagining
SALMON. 33
that the produce, if any, might be Avhat is called in
the Tweed the Bull Trout, Avhich exactly resembles in
outward appearance and general size what one would
conceive such a process would create.
I learn from Mr. Shaw's last paper that he has suc-
ceeded in breeding the Sea Trout by artificial impreg-
nation with their OAvn species ; so that the produce
of this cross, that is, of the River Trout and Salmon,
cannot be the Sea Trout of the Spey and other rivers,
but may possibly prove Avhat I suggested. It is at
least a very curious coincidence, that the Tweed, which
abounds in common Trout, abounds also in Bull Trout ;
whereas in the Annan and the Tay, where Trout are
very scarce, the Grey or Bull Trout is very scarce also.
But though crosses may be produced by mechanical im-
pregnation, it is a matter of grave consideration whether
such take place naturally. Trout, however, are ahvays
seen near the spawning beds of the other SalmonldcB.
" The young of these Sea Trout," says Mr. Shav,-,
"at the age of six months bear no very marked re-
semblance to the young of the real Salmon, either in
the parr or fry state ; and as they advance in age and
size the resemblance becomes still slighter. But upon
comparing them with the common Trout, the resem-
blance is very striking, the general outline of the fish
being much less elegant than that of the young Salmon
or Parr ; the external markings being also more pecu-
liarly those of the Trout species ; so that in the absence
of the parent skins, which I carefully j)reserved, it
would be a matter of difficulty to determine to which
kind of Trout they actually belong."
D
34 8AI.MON.
Mv. SIkiw jit'tcrwarcls impregnated the ova of the
Salmon with the milt of the common River Trout,
according to my suggestion ; and in a letter with which
he favoured me, dated 26th of April, 1841, he says: —
" I am happy to inform you that my experiments with
the ova of the common Trout and Salmon have been
quite successful, and the young hybrids are now hatched,
and in good health." Mr. Shaw will, of course, publish
the details of his late expei'iments, and thus add to the
obligations which those who are interested in this sub-
ject already owe him.
I will only add, that his papers arc written Avith such
candour, and all his experiments conducted with such
care and al)ility, and so often repeated with similar
results, without any effort or intention to make tliem
bend to a favourite theory, that every one, I think,
who reads his pages, must consider that the Parr and
the Salmon are of the same species, and that the
question is so far set at rest for ever.
To sum up, — it appears that the young fry had burst
the egg 101 days after impregnation, the temperature
of the water being at that time 43°, and the temperature
of the atmosphere 45° : a former brood, which died and
Avere excluded in a colder temperature, did not come
into life till 1 14 days after impregnation.
It further appears from a part of Mr. Shaw's publi-
cation, Avhich I have not hitherto quoted, but which I
have now before me, that the fry, at two months old,
are only one inch and a quarter long ; at four months,
two inches and a half; and at six months, three inches
and a quarter : that makes nine months and eight days
SALMON. 35
after the impregnation of the spawn. At eighteen
months old the fry measure six inches in length, and
the milt of the male is matured, and can be made to
flow from the body freely by the slightest pressure ; but
the females of a similar age do not exhibit a corre-
sponding appearance as to the maturity of the roe. The
male is at this time in the autvimn of his second year, and
lies about and in the spawning beds of the large Salmon,
where he impregnates the ova. The following spring
he is about seven inches and a half long, Avhen beautiful
silver scales grow over the spots and bars which have
characterised him up to this period; and the majority of
the breed then congregate, and go to sea with the first
floods in May.
In the latter end of April, 1842, Mr. Shaw obligingly
sent me two parcels of the Salmon fry, which arrived in
good condition ; and although not so glossy as when first
captured, were made brighter in appearance by the appli-
cation of water. I carried them immediately to Barnes,
the residence of Mr. Edward Cooke ; and having selected
the most silvery amongst them, I begged him to paint
it as faithfully as possible ; and after he had so done I
desired that, during my absence, he would remove the
scales from the upper half of the same fish, and paint
it again as it shovild appear after such removal. The
result Avill be seen in the accompanying lithograph, with
the execution of which I did not at all interfere. It
proves what has been asserted as to change of outward
appearance.
All the fry, however, which go to sea at this period,
D 2
36 SALMON.
have not their silver scales perfected ; but many have the
bars and spots faintly indicated, as rej)resented in the
lithograph (No. 3.) introduced a few pages forward, —
another fish selected from the same lot ; and although the
majority of these little emigrants go to the sea in large
masses about the first swells of the river in May, yet
I have no doubt but that some are continually going
down to the salt water in every month of the year, — not
with their silver scales on, but in the parr state. I say
not with their silver scales, because no clear Smolt is
ever seen in the Tweed during the summer and au-
tumnal months. As the spawning season in the Tweed
extends over a period of six months, some of the fry
must be necessarily some months older than others, —
a circumstance Avhich favours my supposition, that
they are constantly descending to the sea; and it is
only a supposition, as I have no proof of the fact, and
have never heard it suggested by any one. But if I
should be right, it will clear up some things that cannot
well be accounted for in any other mode. For instance,
in the month oi March, 1841, Mr. Yarrell infoi'ms me
that he found a young Salmon in the London market,
and which he has preserved in spirits, measuring only
fifteen inches long, and weighing only fifteen ounces.
And again, another the following April, sixteen and a
half inches long, weighing twenty-four ounces. Now,
one of these appeared two months and the other a month
before the usual time when the fry congregate. Ac-
cording to the received doctrine, therefore, these ani-
mals were two of the migration of the i)receding year ;
SALMON. 37
and thus it must necessarily follow that they remained
in salt water, one ten and the other eleven months, with
an increase of growth so small as to be irreconcilal)le
with the proof we have of the growth of the Gilse and
Salmon during their residence in salt water.
Having now sent these tiresome little creatures to
sea, it remains to me to trace their progress till they
become Salmon.
A few, but a very few of these Smolts, return from
the sea to the Tweed as early as the month of May ;
that is, during the same month in which the general emi-
gration takes place : they then weigh from a pound to
two pounds each, and are long and thin, and very forked
in the tail. They keep on ascending the river during the
summer months, the new-comers increasing afterwards
about a pound and a half a month on an average, but
much less in their very yovuig state. The most plentiful
season in the Tweed, if there is a flood, is about St.
Boswell's Fair, namely, the 18th of July, at which period
they weigh from four to six pounds ; and those which
leave the salt for the fresh Avater at the end of Septem-
ber, and during the month of Octoljer, sometimes come
up the river of the weight of ten and eleven pounds, and
even more. All these fish are known in the North by the
name of Gilses, but by the London fishmongers are ge-
nerally, I believe, called Salmon Peel. Some of them are
much larger than small Salmon ; but l)y the term Gilse
I mean young Salmon that have only been once to sea.
They are easily distinguished from Salmon by their
countenance and less plump appearance, and particularly
D 3
38 SALMON.
by the diminished size of the part of the body next to
the tail, which also is more forked than that of the
Salmon. They remain in fresh water all the autumn
and winter, and spawn at the same time Avith the Salmon,
and in the manner Avhich I have already described. They
return also to sea in the spring with the Salmon. It
seems worthy of remark, that Salmon are oftentimes
smaller than moderate-sized Gilse ; but although such
Gilse have only been once to sea, yet the period they have
remained there must have exceeded the two short visits
made by the small Salmon, and hence their superiority
of size.
When these fish return to the river from their second
visit to the sea, they arc called Salmon, and are greatly
altered in their shape and appearance ; the body is more
full, and the tail less forked, and their countenance
assumes a diiferent aspect.
It has formerly been suggested that the Gilse was a
separate species from the Salmon ; but they have been
proved to be one and the same by very conclusive testi-
mony. Many years ago, when I was on the Tweed, two
were put in a salt pond by Mr. Beriy : one of them was
found dead, and supposed to have killed himself by
rushing against a stake ; the other Avas taken out some
time afterwards a complete Salmon. But I shall men-
tion a recent experiment, made by a tacksman on the
Duke of Sutherland's salmon fishings on the river
Shin.
In the course of February and March, 1841, he took
a considerable number of Gilses, and marked them with
wire in various places sufficiently eflficacious to be again
SALMON.
39
recognised. Of these, ten were retaken in the course of
the months of June and July following, by which time
they had assumed the size and all the distinctive marks
of the genuine Salmon. The following table shows
when each was taken, and its weight at that time, and
its increased weight when recaptured. In addition to
the fact which it establishes of the identity of the Gilse
with the Salmon, it shows also how rapid the growth of
the Gilse is in liis process of becoming a Salmon : ■ —
When marked.
When retaken.
Weight of Gilse.
Weight of Salmon.
lbs.
lbs.
February 18
June 23
4
9
18
25
4
11
18
25
4
'J
18
25
4
10
18
27
4
13
18
28
4
10
March 4
July 1
4
12
4
1
4
14
4
10
12
18
4
27
4
12
The above disparity of growth is easily accounted for,
since it is not probable that these fish, which were caught
and returned to the river in February, went down to the
sea before March, if, indeed, so early : of course they
would not increase in growth in fresh water, though
they would mend somewhat in weight after their weak
spawning state. Setting these, therefore, aside, it ap-
pears that the growth of the last four fish averaged two
pounds each per month when they were at sea ; and if
they remained in the river after the 4th of Marcli, as it
D 4
40 SALMON.
is reasonable to suppose they did, then their growth
must have been 2>roportionally greater.
For the scientific and successful experiments of Mr.
Shaw, the Keith medal was awarded to him for the
biennial period of 1838 and 1839: it is of gold, and of
the intrinsic value of sixty guineas.
The importance of his proof is immense ; for the Parrs
not having been before considered to be young Salmon,
have not been hitherto protected by the law beyond
the short period in which they assume their silver dress,
and thus have been killed by hundreds of thousands, by
the multitude of boys and men who angle in the various
tributary burns and rivers that pour their waters into
the Tweed.
Mr. John Wilson says, in his evidence before the Select
Committee, taken in 1824 — " I have seen from my own
w^indow upwards of seventy or eighty people angling
within the distance of half a mile on the Tweed." Then
there is the Tiviot ; the Adder, comprising the A^Hiite
Adder and Black Adder ; the Till, the Eden, the Kale,
the Oxnam, the Jed, the Ale, the Rvile, the Slitrig,
the Gala, the Carter, the Borthwick, the Leader, the
Ettrick, the Yarrow, the Lyne, the Eddlestone, the
Manor, the Quhair, with many smaller burns and
mountain streams. In floods Salmons enter and spawn
in most of these rivers, if not in all of them ; at the
subsiding of the waters some of tlieni fall back, and
some are left nearly dry, and easily captured. It is
ordained by nature that the Parr should in these cases
impregnate such ova as have been deposited, perhaps
because he is not so easily discovered, or such an object
SALMON. 41
of attraction as a Salmon. A^^iat an ample space the
above streams present for the destruction of the fry !
And not only are they killed by the rod, each urchin,
perhaps, taking eight or ten dozen a day, but by various
other means in a wholesale manner.
Mr. William Laidlaw *, a gentleman mentioned with
so much merited praise in the best biographical work
extant, perhaps, who formerly lay under the general
misapprehension regarding the Parr, writes to me as
follows : —
" So great was the number of Pan's in the rivulet of
Douglas Burn, that I have seen five dozen taken out
of one small pool with aid of a pair of old blankets ; and
I and my playfellows, when boys, have committed great
havoc by damming up one of the streams, where the
rivulet happened to divide into two, and laying the
other as dry as we could. The Parrs were so numerous,
that we used to make the water Avhite with the milt
of those we killed. When the water was lowering, the
poor creatures, instead of swunming downwards, where
they would have had a chance of safety, all kept sicat-
tering upwards, and we actually killed them by hundreds.
But a fact, which I could not account for, was this,
— namely, that they appeared to come up the rivulet
during the early part of the summer only ; but after the
month of September there were very few to be seen,
and not any in October ; and when this discovery relative
* I am greatly indebted to tliis gentleman for his communi-
cations I'especting T. Purdie.
42 SALMON.
to the Parr was first made, and I think it was from
yourself I had it twenty years ago, I used to notice that
there were scarcely any Parrs in the Tweed during the
winter months."
So far INIr. Laidlaw. The disappearance of the Parrs
from the burns is easily accounted for. They would
naturally avoid the cold shallow rivulets, and fall into
the deep and warmer water of the Tweed during the
Avinter months, where they could not be well discovered,
or be so subject to the action of torrents.
Besides the destruction of the fry in this and similar
modes, we must add the thousands that are illegally
taken at mill-dams, and the injury which the long net
occasions in sweeping over the sf)awning beds. In
the evidence taken before a Committee of the House
of Commons in 1824 or 1825, there was an attempt
to prove that no harm could be done in this latter
manner, as there was no weight, but only a rope
attached at the bottom of the net. This is very
true ; but the rope itself is sufficiently heavy to
sink to the bottom, and disturb the gravel of the
spawning beds, which, being newly raked up, and
put together by the Salmon, must be easily displaced.
It is fair, however, to observe, that the long net is
not used in the generality of such places as fish com-
monly spawn in.
To these sweeping modes of destruction we must add
the great havoc committed by the eels and trout, which
devour the spawn ; and when avc consider the peculiar
powers and habits of the eel, a fish most abundant in the
Tweed, we must at once see that a ruinous devastation
SALMON. 43
is occasioned by these creatures, which bore thi'ough the
gravel.
Strongly, however, as all these causes operate, there
is one more destructive than all of them put together ;
namely, the effect of the furious spates wliich are
continually taking place in the Tweed, and which put
the channel in motion, and often sweep away the
spawning beds altogether.
Before the hills were so well drained as at present,
this was not so much the case ; as the mosses gave out
the water gradually, and the river continued full for a
long time, to the great solace of the rod fisher. But
now every hill is scored with little rills which fall into
the burns, which suddenly become rapid torrents and
swell the main river, which dashes down to the ocean
with tremendous violence. Amidst the great din, you
may hear the rattling of the channel stones, as they are
borne downwards. Banks are torn away ; new deeps
are hollowed out, and old ones filled up ; so that great
changes continually take place in the bed of the river
either for the better or the worse.
When we contemplate these things, we must at once
acknowledge the vast importance of Mr. Shaw's experi-
ments; for if ponds were constructed up the Tweed
at the general expense, after the model of those made
by him, all these evils would be avoided. The fry
might be produced in any quantities by artificial im-
pregnation ; be preserved, and turned into the great river
at the proper period of migration. There might at
first be some difficulty in procuring food for them ; but
this would easily be got over. At a very small expense.
44 SALMON.
and with a few adult Salmon, more fry may be sent to
sea annually than the whole jiroduce of the river at
present amounts to, after having encountered the sweej}-
ing perils I have mentioned.
Proprietors should call meetings for this purpose ;
and Parrs, hitherto so called, should be protected by
law. Let all who liave an interest in the river consider
the wisdom of mutual accommodation. The proprietors
of the lower part of the river are dependent on the
upper ones for the protection of the sjiawning fish and
the fry ; and they on their part depend upon the lower
ones for the strict adherence to the weekly close time.
I think this method of artificial impregnation would
prove somewhat more successful than the method said
to be adopted by the Chinese, which, for the better
enlightening of barbaric nations, I will transmit to pos-
terity, from the authority of " The English Chronicle "
of the 25th July, 1839: —
" The Chinese have taken a fancy to hatch fish under
fowls. For this purpose they collect from rivers and
ponds the gelatinous matter which contains the eggs of
fish, put it into vessels, and sell it to the proprietors
of ponds. AVlien the hatching season arrives, a fowl's
egg is emptied of its usual contents, and this gela-
tinous matter is put in. The entrance is hermetically
sealed, and the egg is then put under a hen. After
some days it is opened, and placed in a vessel of Avater
heated by the sun ; it is kept in the rays imtil the
little fish become strong' enouo;h to bear the external
temperature."
Not to derogate from the ingenuity of the celestial
SALMON. 45
nation, I liave no doubt but that fowls may be dispensed
with, and that a river may be stocked with any sort of
common fish by transmitting the ova and milt amalga-
mated, embedded in gravel, and placed in a vessel filled
up with water. One of our best fish, namely Trout, cannot
be sent alive even to a moderate distance. It is Avorth
while, therefore, to try the experunent. According to a
letter published by the late Sir Anthony Carlisle, some-
thing nearly approaching to this was done by him in
the river Wandle about tliirty years ago. He then im-
bedded the ova of the Salmon in the gravel without the
milt of the male, leaving the River Trout to impregnate
them : he asserts that they did so, and that the river
was afterwards full of the fry so produced. It would
be interesting to put the Salmon eggs properly impreg-
nated with the milt of the same species in one of our best
streams, — in the upper parts of the Test, for instance,
— and to investigate the result from year to year.
Salmon keep on increasing in size till they attain a
prodigious weight, even up to eighty -three pounds ; which,
says Mr. Yarrell, is the largest fish on record, and was
exhibited at Mr. Grove's, fishmonger, in Bond Street,
about the season of 1821. This Avas a female fish;
and, from the observation of the same eminent authority,
those fish Avhich attain a very unusual size have always
proved to be females.
But the devices and intelligence of fishermen have
increased as Salmon have become more marketable, so
that few escape all the perils that beset them long
enough to gain any considerable size ; and we no more
hear, as in days of yore, of a fish being exchanged.
4<; SALMON.
weight for weight, ft»r a Iligliland weddcr, and the
butcher having to pay. The Sahnon in the Tweed are
no longer Lirge ; far from it. During my experience of
twenty years I never caught one there above thirty
pounds, and very few above twenty. I have remarked
that the largest fish are found in the most consider-
able rivers, Avhich I attribute to the superior chance of
longevity where fish have a greater scope for escape.
It appears, from the above facts and observations,
that Salmon are not uniform in their habits. Some
come into the river many months before they are in a
spawning condition, and remain in it till the time comes
for depositing their spawn ; getting worse in condition
every day they are in fresh water, and thus, as it should
seem, doing unnecessary penance all that time. Others,
again, remain in the sea, thriving all the while, and do
not enter the ri^'crs till their spawn is nearly matured.
I have said above that I believe the Smolts singly, or
in small quantities, are continually falling down to the
sea in nearly if not quite every month of the year, ac-
cording to their age ; but that they congregate, and go
there in vast shoals in the beginning of the month of
ISIay. There seems to be a corresponding habit as to the
time of their return ; for they come back at first in small
quantities, and periodically in the spring and summer
months, and in July they arrive in vast quantities; and
this sudden abundance consists, I think, of the fry that
have assembled and gone to sea the preceding May,
whilst the others that ascend at different periods are
the Smolts that go down in the same manner.
The accompanying lithograph represents a fry in the
SALMON. 47
state when the silver scales just beghi to appear, and
soften the bars and spots, — the intermediate state
between the summer Parr and Smolt.
As to the belief that Salmon return to the same river
in which they are bred, I hold it to be a well-founded
one. But I think it is not invariably the case ; and that
should their native river be too low for their ascent,
owing to an extraordinary drought, and continue so
when the period of spawning aj)proaclies, most of the
Salmon will seek and ascend some other river that may
be contiguous to it, whose volume of water is more
abundant. Thus many Tweed Salmon have been
caught in the Forth, and a very successful fishing there
is generally followed by a scarce one in the Tweed.
It appears that Salmon will live, and even breed, in
fresh water, without ever making a visit to the sea.
Mr. Lloyd, in his interesting and entertaining work on
the Field Sports of the North of Europe, says, " Near
Katrinebergh there is a valuable fishery for Salmon,
ten or twelve thousand of these fish being taken
annually. These Salmon are bred in a lake, and in
consequence of cataracts cannot have access to the sea.
They are small in size, and inferior in flavour. The
year 1820 furnished 21,817."
Mr. George Dormer of Stone Mills, in the parish of
Bridport, put a female of the Salmon tribe, which
measured twenty inches in length, and was caught by
him at his mill-dam, into a small well, where it remained
twelve years, and at length died in the year 1842.
The well measured only 5 feet by 2 feet 4 inches, and
there was only 15 inches depth of water. In this con-
48 SALMON*
fined spot she remained up to Saturday the 12t]i of last
month, when death put a period to her existence. This
fish has been the means of great attraction since the time
she was mentioned in the newspapers, which was about
five years ago, many persons having come a great distance
to see her ; and those who have witnessed her actions (of
Avhom there are many in the city of Exeter) can bear tes-
timony to the truth of the following statement : — " She
would come to the top of the water and take meat off a
plate, and would devour a quarter of a pound of lean
meat in less time than a man could cat it ; she would also
allow Mr. Dormer to take her out of the water, and,
when put into it again, she would immediately take
meat from his hands, or would even bite the finger if
presented to her. Some time since a little girl teased
her, by presenting the finger and then withdrawing it,
till at last she leaped a considerable height above the
water, and caught her by the said finger, which made it
bleed profusely : by this leap she threw herself com-
pletely out of the water into the court. At one time a
young duckling got into the well to solace himself in his
favourite element, when she immediately seized him by
the leg, and took him under water; but the timely
interference of Mr. Dormer prevented any further
mischief than making a cripple of the young duck.
At another time a full-grown drake api)roached the
well, and put in his head to take a draught of the
water, when Mrs. Fish, seeing a trespasser on her pre-
mises, immediately seized the intruder by the bill, and
a desperate struggle ensued, which at last ended in the
release of INIr. Drake from the grasp of JMrs. Fish, and
SALMON. 49
no sooner freed than Mr. Drake flew off in the greatest
consternation and affright ; since which time to this day
he has not been seen to approach the well, and it is
with great difficnlty he can be brought within sight of
it. This fish lay in a dormant state for five months in
the year, during which time she would eat nothing, and
was likewise very shy."*
That Sahnon and some other fish assume in some de-
gree the colour of the channel they lie upon, from what-
ever cause, is a circumstance pretty generally achnitted
by those who have paid any attention to the subject ; and
tliis, perhaps, is the reason why fishermen tell you that
they can distinguish the Sahnon of one river from those
of another contiguous to it. Indeed, I myself could
easily distinguish the Isla from the Tay Salmon by
their colours, when I rented fisheries on both those rivers.
This fact I thought so curious, that I had some corre-
spondence witli my eminent friend Sir David Brewster
on the subject ; and at the Literary and Philosophical
Society of St. Andrew's, Dr. Gillespie read the following
paper entitled " Recollections of the Habits, Colom-s,
and Sufterings of Fishes."
" ' My chief experience is with trouts, — such as are
found in our mountain lakes and streams ; and it is
mainly to these that my few recollections refer. Trouts
seem to have a generic tyj^e, comprehending several
apj)arently different species ; which difference, however,
in many cases, disappears when the circumstances under
which they are viewed are the same. I know a locality "
* This account seems to have been sent to a Devonshire news-
paper by INIr. Dormer himself, or some of his family.
E
50 ClIANCiE OF COLOUR IN FISH.
in Dumfries-shire, amidst the hills of Queensbery, where
three mountain streams, all of different character, meet
— the one proceeding from a moss ; the other running
over a clear channelly bed ; and the third, from its
clayey banks and bottoms, exhibiting a milk-and-water
aspect, like the ' flavns Tiberis ' (or Albula) of Italy.
Now the trouts in all these streams were of the same
generic type; but differed, notwithstanding, in exter-
nal appearance or colour. The moss race were of the
Roderick Dhu tint — aspect grim and swarthy : the clear
channel i:)roduced those of a brightly spotted appearance ;
and the clay bottom exhibited a correspondingly bluish
race. Now, you might convert the blue fish into bright,
and the bright again into black, by merely transferring
them into the corresponding streams. This often took
place, more or less, after what is called a thunder
plump, which falls partially, and is quite local. I have
seen one of these streams overflowing its banks, and
carrying all before it, whilst its two mountain sisters
remained calm and unmoved. Upon the ebbing of this
partial flood, the trouts in the two conjoining streams
immediately rush in quest of food (particularly after a
long drought) into the other ; and, in less time than any
one who has not marked the fact could believe, they all
become of the same appearance. Upon returning again
into their native waters, they reassume their former
colour. Fill your basket with fish from all the three
streams, and in a little while that part of the bodies
which presses against the others will exhibit the same
appearance, whilst the other j)arts will remain as before ;
and hence the clouded aspect they exhibit. I once
CHANGE OF COLOUR IN FISH. 51
threw a trout, by accident, from a clear channel stream
over my head into a peat-moss pool behind me, which
had no communication with the running water; and
after a few months I caught him as black and portly
as possible. Such facts certainly prove, to my own
satisfaction at least, that trouts do not vary in original
and indelible type so much as is generally imagined. In
regard to what follows upon the changing colours of fish
when in the act of dying, I cannot speak with the same
certainty ; but either my eyes deceived me very much
(and at the period of life to which I refer they were
pretty good), or I observed the following phenomena : —
I usually killed my fish, not by breaking their necks, as
is noAV generally the method adopted, but by slapping
their heads against a stone, the edge of my shoe, or
the butt of my fishing-rod ; and even when a boy T
was sensible of some change which took place in the
colour of the dying victim. A kind of streamer, or
phosphorus light, seemed to shoot along the quivering
flesh, and only ceased with the life of the trout. In
sahnon I should think the fact is still more manifest.
The salmon fishery at the Eden afforded me an acci-
dental proof of this. Some summers ago I was in the
habit of bathing near the stakes at ebb tide, when the
salmon were removed from the nets. I had a pleasure
in walking into the inside of the nets, and seeing the
finely-shaped living salmon plunging about, and still in
their native element. Upon securing the fish, the men
were in the habit of giving them the coujj de grace
on the forehead with a wooden mallet, — analogous to
E 2
52 LITTLE SUFFERING FROM THE HOOK.
my fishing-rod butt ; find at each successive stroke
on the brain, the colours undulated away in the most
delicate and beautiful radiance. All this is, indeed, ex-
ceedingly revolting to humanity, and presents a tempting
theme for the reprobation of the poet and sentimentalist ;
and yet I confess that I cannot enter completely into
this feeling, not only from my enjoyment of, and relish
for, the sjiort of rod-fishing, but even from consider-
ations of a more legitimate bearing. I do not think
that cold-blooded animals suffer equally with warm-
blooded ; and my grounds for forming this opinion I
shall shortly state. I have often lost a trout which had
gorged my bait, and yet recaptured him in a short
time with the former hook deej) fastened in his stomach,
and the broken line pending from his jaws. I, for one,
certainly shoidd have had little appetite to dine so soon
after swallowing a fork. I have seen a large trout
enjoying the amplitude of a clear pond with a couple
of my fly-hooks appended to his nose. Nay, I have
even witnessed him rising to a natural fly in this
situation, whilst, fisher-like, he caught a smaller com-
panion by the depending hook. Nature is wonderfully
benevolent to her children. The absence of all kiiid
of medical aid in the waters seems to be fully compen-
sated by the vis medicatrix naturcB — an old experienced
practitioner, by whose management the most severe
wounds made by the pike upon the trout, and the
grampus upon the salmon, are safely and rapidly cured.
I have caught trout s, particularly in the neighbourhood
where pike harbour, in various states of mutilation, yet
seemingly in good health and spirits ; from all which I
DK. staek's experiments. 53
infer that their physical sufferings are less than we
suppose, and that the quiverings which they exhibit
when dying are rather of a galvanic (which the change
of colour seems to countenance) than of a convulsive
or very painful character. It is, at least, comfortable
for those Avho have been accessary in early life to much
apjmrent suffering, to find out afterwards that the
suffering was more apparent than real.'
" Sir David Brewster stated to the Society that he had
been led to consider this subject in consequence of a cor-
respondence with W. Scrojje, Esq., who had paid much
attention to the change of colour in fishes. Mr. Scrope
was of opinion that a real change of colour took place, if
not voluntarily, at least very quickly ; and he supported
his views by the following opinions of Mr. Yarrell and
Mr. Shaw : —
" 'An interesting account (says Mr. Yarrell) of
some experiments made by Dr. Stark, was pubUshed in
Jamieson's Edinburgh Journal for 1830, page 327. It
shows that the colour of sticklebacks, and some other
small fishes, is influenced not only by the colour of
the earthenware or other vessel in which they are kept,
but also modified by the quantity of light to which
they are exposed ; becoming pale when placed in a
white vessel in darkness, even for a comparatively short
time, and regaining their natural colour when placed in
the sun. From these circumstances, observed also in
some species of other genera, Dr. Stark is led to infer
that fishes possess, to a certain extent, the power of
accommodating their colour to the ground or bottom of
E 3
54 013SERVATI0NS OF SIR D. BREWSTER.
the waters in which they are found. The final reason
for this may be traced to the protection such a power
aiFords to secure them from the attacks of their ene-
mies, and exliibits another beautiful instance of the
care displayed by Nature in the preservation of all
her species. Dr. Stark often observed that on a flat,
sandy coast, the flounders were coloured so very much
like the sand, that, unless they moved, it was im-
possible to distinguish them from the bottom on which
they lay.'
" Mr. Shaw, who has the charge of the salmon cruive
at Drumlanrig, has observed that the Salmon taken in
it change their colour in consonance with the turbid or
refined state of the water. In the experiments he has
made with Parr in different-coloured earthenware ves-
sels, the change of colour is perfected in the space of
four minutes. If Parr is taken from the dark-coloured
vessel, and put immediately to the Parr in the light-
coloured one, the difference of colour between the tAvo
fish will be found strikingly observable.
" Mr. Scrope himself had observed that the Trout at
Castle Combe are white in a chalky spate, resuming
their colour when the water clears; and that in aU
the rivers in which he had fished, the fish are clear in a
gravelly bottom, and dark in that overhung with trees.
All this he considered as resulting from the same prin-
ciple of preservation by which the ptarmigan and alpine
hares have their colours changed with the approach of
snow.
"Notwithstanding these distinct statements by so
many observers in whom confidence might be placed.
VARIOUS OPINIONS. 55
Sir David thought that the experiments required to be
repeated by persons acquainted Avith those branches of
physical optics with Avhich the phenomena were inti-
mately allied. It is very easy to explain why a fish
may appear dark in a dark vessel, and light in a co-
loured one; and why it should have a still different
appearance when taken out of both vessels and exposed
to the light of the sun. All bodies assume the colour
of the light which they reflect, and a brilliant light will
develope colours which are invisible in light of ordinary
intensity. As the pecuHar colours of fishes depend on
the tliickness or size of certain minute transparent par-
ticles, it is not easy to understand how the fish could
voluntarily alter the size or thickness of those particles,
or how exposure to another colour could permanently
produce the same mechanical effect. If a fish is kept
in mossy or muddy water, it will doubtless absorb the
colouring matter which the water may contain; but
this is rather a process of dyeing than one of physiolo-
gical action. The changes said to take place in the
colour of fishes when dying might arise from the drying
of their scales, which produces a change in all colours,
but particularly in those of thin fihus, which are quite
different when they are dry from what they are when
immersed in a fluid.
*'A conversational discussion then took place, in which
Professor Connell supported Dr. Gillespie's views, and
Dr. Reid those of Sir D. Brewster."
This subject is in such good hands, that I shall not
intrude any speculative observations of my own. We
have lately seen such wonderful effects produced by
E 4
56 RODERICK DHU TROUT.
the agency of light, that these thhigs are become less
startling.
It is very certain that Trouts and Salmon are less
vivid in colour, and in fact more grey, when they have
been some time out of their element; fishmongers
throw water from time to time over their fish, as well
to preserve their colour as to keep them fresh. I
would recommend any one who wishes to show his
day's sport in the pink of perfection, to keep his Trouts
in a wet cloth, so that on his return home he may ex-
hibit them to his admiring friends, and extract from
them the most approved of epithets and exclamations,
taking the praise bestowed upon the fish as a particular
compliment to himself.
Since our writing the above remarks, I have paid
more attention to the subject, and am enabled to state
that in one particular part of the river Chess, I have
been in the habit of taking Trouts of a darker and
greyer colour than those which I captured in the
other parts of this little stream; and, observing this
to be invariably the case, I desired my fisherman to
scoop up some of the channel with his landing net,
which proved upon inspection to be part of a stratum
of black flint.
I can state farther, — what appears to me to be alto-
gether a curious circumstance. I had often observed
that the largest of those Trout which almost con-
tinually lay under the Iddes, which were constructed in
the stream and covered with boards, — being, in fact,
large troughs open at the lower end so as to admit the
fish, and staked within so as to preserve them from being
CHAMELEON TROUT. 57
poached out, — were of a very black colour : this arose,
no doubt, from the privation of light. Sometimes I
have seen them lying on the shalloAvs within a few
yards of the hide, where they still retained their black
hue. I caught with a minnow one of these dirty-
looking animals in the month of June last. He was
not only black in the back, so that he could be seen at
a considerable distance in the water, but was also of a
granulated inky cast on his sides and underneath : his
resort was under a hide in comparative darkness. He
was not wasted, but of the same proportions with his
brighter companions. I concluded, however, that from
his African appearance he would cut but a sorry figure
at the table ; but being about three quarters of a pound,
with no promise of amendment, I bagged him notwith-
standing. As this was the first Trout I took that
morning, he lay at the bottom of my basket. After
catching a few more lower down in the river, I thought
I would have another look at my swarthy captive. I
found him more praiseworthy than at first ; for the upper
side, which came in contact with the other fish, became
also bright, and of a colour exactly similar to them,
whilst the loAver side that touched the dry basket re-
tained its original dark hue ; but by turning that part
of the fish also towards the others, the whole Trout
after a time became of a uniform bright colour, and
was not in that respect dissimilar to the rest. I do
not mean to hint that the blackamoor was dyed by
his dead companions, because I think that a wet cloth
Avould have produced the same effect; but it seems
extraordinary that the water, which had no effect upon
58 SALMON.
his colour when living in the river, should have so de-
cided a one after he was dead, — not bringing back the
original dye, but removing the dark tint entu-ely.
But to return to my subject.
It is an undoubted fact that Salmon ascend some
rivers much earlier than others. I have rented fisheries
both in Tweed and Tay, and to my own knowledge the
latter river is a month earlier than the former. The
Esk and the Eden both fall into the Solway Firth, and
are only separated at their mouths by a sharp point of
land ; yet, according to the statement of Mr. Howard*, a
proprietor and renter of the river Eden, new fish go uji
that river three months before they ascend the Esk, and
the month of February is one of the greatest produce
there. The Irthing falls into the Eden, and may be a
fourth of its water ; but no Salmon run up it, except in
spawning time. Now the waters of the Eden may be
presumed to be of a warmer temperature than those of
the Esk, which latter is a brawling shallow stream,
wdder also than the Eden, which is of a deeper and
more tranquil nature.
Snow water is offensive to fish, and they will not
ascend a river whilst it is impregnated with it. Setting
aside this impediment, and cateris paribus, I believe the
season of all rivers depends upon the temperature of
their waters during the winter and spring months.
Thus the Ness is the forwardest river in Scotland, which
the following table of monthly captures produced by
Mr. Alexander Eraser f will prove.
* Evidence before Select Committee in 1825, p. 140.
t Ibid. p. 42.
ElVER NESS.
59
Statement of the Number of Salmon Killed in the
Ness in Twelve Years.
Total
Salmon
1811.
1811-12.
1812-13.
1813-14.
1814-15.
1815-16.
1816-17. 1817-18. 1818-19.
monthly
in Eight
Years.
Sal.
Gr.
Sal.
Gr.
Sal.
Gr.
Sal.
Gr.
Sal.
Gr.
Sal.
Gr.
Sal.
Gr.
Sal.
Gr.
Dec.
226
-
454
-
391
-
240
-
324
-
422
128
-
220
-
2405
1812.
Jan.
427
.
.565
354
.
204
.
370
.
10.52
.
388
.
194
.
3.554
Feb.
194
-
874
289
.
296
.
298
.
696
.
326
.
266
.
3239
March
103
-
.591
.
522
.
164
.
645
-
490
.
270
.
244
.
3029
April
157
-
461
.
227
-
195
-
283
-
370
.
248
-
206
-
2147
May
29
.
157
.
359
-
1.52
.
102
•
246
.
34
-
48
-
1127
June
6
39
18
27
69
180
7
20
16
11
40
.
10
4
-
170
July
2.5
211
38
208
21
263
51
97
40
164| ,57
184
12
147
9
84
253
Aug.
236
1361
318 700
221
710
292
186
187
406; 604
340i 260
286 74
240
2192
Sept.
77
482
74 169
15
_!!
21
142
18
120 178
187; 19
170; 28
120
430
1480 2093'35.'5o'll04
2468
1250 16'J2
4:!5'22'<3 707 4155 711 1695
003 1293
444
18,.546
1819-1820
1820-1821
1821-1822
1822-1823
Sal.
1215
1806
710
344
Now it must be observed that the Ness never freezes,
even with the most intense frost. In the year 1807,
Avhen the thermometer at Inverness was from 23 to 30
and even 40 degrees below the freezing point, it made
no impression upon the river or the lake. " The Ness
(says Mr. Fraser) was always privileged earlier than any
river in Scotland from this cause ; and it will be evi-
dent that the Salmon taken in December and January
are the most valuable produce : for though they appear
to be only one third of the total number, yet from their
size they constitute more than half the weight."
The most forward rivers in Ireland, I am informed by
the London fishmongers, and from other sources, are
those on the western coast. In England, perhaps the
Severn produces the finest Salmon during the Avinter
months ; and the Lord Viscount Clive, proprietor of a
60 RENTAL OF SALMON FISHERY.
salmon fishery in the Severn, near Poole Quay, says* the
best fish are commonly taken there in November,
December, and January, though they are not numerous,
and that in the Dovey and Tivy, two rivers with which
he is well acquainted, the Salmon are always in the best
season at the period when the Severn Salmon are in the
worst condition.
But if Salmon prefer the warmest rivers in the win-
ter, they spawn earliest in those that are most cold. Thus
in the shallow mountain streams which pour into the
Tay nearer its sources (I do not mean such as may
issue from lochs), the fish spawn much earlier than those
in the main bed of the river. The late John Crerar,
head fisherman and forester to the Duke of Atholl,
wrote thus in his manuscript : —
" There are two kinds of creatures that I am well
acquainted with, — the one a land animal, the other a
water one : the red deer, and the salmon. In October
the deer ruts, and the salmon spawns. The deer begins
soonest, high up amongst the hills, particularly in frosty
weather; so does the salmon begin to spawn earlier in
frosty weather than in soft. The master hart would
keep all the other harts from the hind, if he could ; and
the male salmon would keep all the other males from the
female, if he was able."
The gross rental of the salmon fishings in Tweed is
very considerable ; but has varied very much in amount
from time to time, according to the plenty or scarcity of
fish. ISIr. John Wilson f states, that during the seven
* Minutes of Evidence ttilcen in 1825, &c. p. 14.
•f Minutes of Evidence, &c. in 1824, p. 9.
CAIRN NET. 61
years previous to 1824 it averaged 12,000/. a year; but
in that year only about 10,000/. With the present rental
I am unacquainted.
" The fishings, as regards their relative value, may be
divided into the following classes : — The first compre-
hends the short distance from the mouth of the river to
Berwick Bridge, where alone there are probably a greater
number of salmon captured than in all the remainder of
the river. From Berwick Bridge to Norham, to which
place the tide reaches, may be considered the second class :
as far as this place the net and coble only are in use.
From Norham to Coldstream Bridge the fishings are of
still less value ; and here, besides the net and coble, the
various modes of fishing practised in the upper parts of
the river are also in use — rodjisliing, setting, leistering ;
cairn, hanging, and straik nets. From Coldstream to the
Bridge of Kelso the net and coble are used only par-
tially in floods ; and on Mondays, says Mr. Houy, when,
by the cessation of the lower fishings on Sunday, the
salmon get further up, I have seen from 100 to 500
salmon and gilses caught at Kelso in the morning by
the net and coble. From Kelso to the higher districts
of the river the principal modes of fishing are by the
rod, leister, caii*n and straik net."
When fish are ascending the river the cairn net is
very destructive. In the parts of the river most favour-
able for placing it a cairn is built, as in the vignette.
This projection into the current makes the water com-
paratively still and easy below ; and Salmon in travelling
naturally take to it, as finding there some relief to the
labour of ascending. They pass between the net and the
fi2
SALMON TROUT.
shore ; and endeavouring to get forwards at the point of
the cairn become entangled in the net, and are taken in
great quantities.
THE SALMON TEOUT.
Salmo Trutta, Limi.
This fish is called by different names in various locali-
ties, — White Trout, Phinock, Sea Trout, TVIiitling,
Ilirlitiy. It is little inferior to the Salmon in flavour ;
and being less rich, is I presume more wholesome. It
is distinguished, says Mr. Yarrell, by the gill-cover
being intermediate in its form between that of the
Salmon, and Grey or Bull Trout. The teeth likewise
SALMON TROUT. 63
are more slender, as well as more numerous than in those
fish. The tail is less forked than in Salmon of the
same age, and smaller in proportion, but becomes ulti-
mately square at the end.
It is found in most, if not in all salmon rivers ; but
it is now very scarce in the Tweed, which I attribute
to the spates that are become more sudden and violent
in that river than formerly, owing to a more complete
drainage of the mountains and adjoining lands; for
these fish always prefer the smaller and less turbulent
streams. Like the Salmon, it remains in the river
two years before it puts on the migratory dress, and the
males also shed their milt at eighteen months old, similar
to the Parr (so called) of a corresponding age. The
Orange Fin, for so the fry of the Sea Trout is called, so
much resembles the common River Trout, that it is with
very great difficulty it can be distinguished from it.
Like the Gilse, it returns to the river the smnmer of its
spring migration, weighing about a pound and a half
upon an average. It afterwards increases about a pound
and a half a year ; but is seldom seen above six or seven
pounds, though it probably attains to a much greater
weight.
By the aid of the cruive, Mr. Shaw traced this fish
from the Orange Fin of three ounces to the Hirling or
Wliitling, up to the Sea Trout of seven pounds ; and he
has now a specimen in his possession exhibiting the
four several marks he had put on it in the course of
its annual migrations. At the size of six pounds the
central rays of the tail were considerably increased in
length, so much so in the males that their tails became
64 SALMON TROUT.
actually rounded : the fish altogether at this time loses
a great deal of Its former elegance. The tails of the
females of a corresponding age are more square, and
their general shape is more slim.
These fish may be crossed with Salmon ; I mean
that by artificial impregnation hybrids may be thus
produced. Mr. Shaw says in a letter to me, dated
November 25th, 1840: — "I put some of your sug-
gestions regarding the ova of the Salmon, and the com-
mon Trout, Sea Trout, and Salmon, into practice about
a month ago, and shall let you know the result." The
following year I had the pleasure of a letter from
him, dated October 14th, 1841, saying that " The hy-
brids which I produced by artificial impregnation last
autumn are all in a very healthy state, the cross not
having in the slightest degree aifected their consti-
tution. Those produced between the Salmon and the
Salmon Trout (^Salmo Truttci) appear to partake more
of the external markings, silvery coating, and elegance
of form of the Parr (young Salmon) than any of the
others. Those produced between the Sahnon and com-
mon Trout {Sahno Fario), and between the common
Trout and Salmon Trout, have in every respect more
the appearance of the common Trout than the former."
Some have imagined that the Whitling or Hirling are
the young of the Bull Trout. But this is a mistake, as
the Hirling abounds in the Annan, where the Bull
Trout is very rarely seen ; and also in the Nith, where
INIr. Shaw has never been able to discover one of the
other species. Lord Home likewise, whom I consider
the very best practical authority, says, " The Whitling
BULL TROUT. 65
of the Tweed is the Sahnon Trout, and not the young
Bull Trout, which now goes by the name of Trout
simply."
THE GREY, BULL TROUT, or ROUND TAIL.
Salmo Eriox, Linn.
" The Grey Trout," says Mr. Yarrell, " is distinguished
from the Salmon and Salmon Trout by several specific
peculiarities. The giU-cover differs from them decidedly
in form, and the teeth arc longer and stronger." The
tail grows square at an earlier period than in the Salmon ;
and the central caudal rays continuing to elongate
vdth age, the whole tail, originally concave, eventually
becomes convex, and from thence it has been called the
Round Tail. The elongation of the under jaw is peculiar
to the males only, and is less than in the Salmon. The
scales also are less, the shoulders thicker, and the tail
more muscular. In short, it is altogether a more thick
and powerful fish than the Sahnon, and consequently
gives the angler more sport ; but to the epicure it gives
less, as it is inferior in flavour and colour, and if not
very fresh from the sea its flesh is short and woolly. It
is very much the colour of the Salmon, but tinted with
grey or brown spots.
These fish are found in many sahnon rivers, but not
in aU. It is very abundant in the Tweed, which it
visits principally at two seasons ; in the spring about the
month of May, and again in the month of October,
F
66 iSEVKIlE CONTEST.
when the mules are very plentiful ; but the females
are scarce till about the beginning or middle of No-
vember. With Salmon it is the reverse, as their females
leave the sea before the males. The Bull Trout is also
more regular in his habits than the Salmon, for the fish-
ermen can calculate almost to a day when the large
black male Trouts will leave the sea. The foul fish rise
eagerly at the fly, but the clean ones by no means so.
They ^veigli from two to twenty-four pounds, and occa-
casionally, I presume, but very rarely indeed, more.
The largest I ever heard of was taken in the Hallow-
stell fishing water at the mouth of the Tweed, in April,
1840, and weighed twenty-three pounds and a half.
The heaviest Bull Trout I ever encountered myself
weighed sixteen pounds, and I had a long and severe
contest with his majesty. He was a clean fish, and I
hooked him in a cast in Mertoun Water called the
Willoio Bush, not in the mouth, but in the dorsal fin.
Brethren of the craft, guess wdiat sore work I had with
him ! He went here and there with apparent comfort
and ease to his own person, but not to mine. I really did
not know what to make of him. There never was such
a hector. I cannot say exactly how long I had him on
the hook ; it seemed a week at least. At length John
Haliburton, who was then my fisherman, waded into
the river up to his middle, and cleiked him whilst
he was hanging in the stream, and before he was half
beat.
Besides the tln-ee species I have mentioned, I have
sometimes, though very rarely, caught a fish very si-
milar in shape to the Grey or Bull Trout, but much
ROYAL BURGH OF PEEBLES. 67
cleaner, which the fishermen call a North-country
Salmon. It is clearly not a Bull Trout, for that fish is
as well known in the Tweed as the Salmon itself. I
have no doubt but that it is rightly named, and a wan-
derer from the northern coasts.
I have also occasionally caught in the Tweed a small
silver fish, between a quarter and half a pound, which
seems of the Salmon tribe ; its flesh is of a pale pink,
and good eating. In the river Isla I have taken many
of them with a net.
I have now given a brief account of all the fish of
the Salmon tribe in the Tweed, except the Sahno Fario,
or common Trout, which I do not profess to treat of.
Much more has been said by naturalists as to dis-
tinctive character and organisation. Whoever wishes
for minute information on these points, cannot do better
than consult the new edition of INIr. Yarrell's unrivalled
work on British Fishes, — a gentleman to whom I feel
much indebted for some very liljeral and scientific com-
munications; nor must they omit to look into the
pages of a most highly entertaining and clever work
lately published, called *^Tlie Rod and the Gun."
I shall only add, that in allusion to the consequence
attributed to these beautiful fish in the Tweed, and in
consideration of the favourable places for spawning in
the upper parts of the river, the Royal Burgh of Peebles
wears for arms, — vert, three salmon counter naiant in
pale argent, with the motto, " Contra nando Incre-
mentum."
In the arms of the city of Glasgow, and in those of
F 2
68 ST. KENTIGERN.
the ancient see, a salmon with a ring in its mouth is
said to record a miracle of St. Kentigcrn, the founder
of the see, and the first Bishop of Glasgow.
" They report," says Spotswood, " of St. Kentigern,
that a lady of good place in the country, having lost
her ring as she crossed the river Clyde, and her
husband waxing jealous, as if she had bestowed the
same on one of her lovers, she did mean herself unto
Kentigern, entreating his help for the safety of her
honour ; and that he going to the river after he had
used his devotion, Avilled one who was making to fish
to bring the first fish he caught, which was done. In
the mouth of this fish he foimd the ring, and, sending
it to the lady, she was thereby freed of her husband's
suspicion."
The classical . tale of Polycrates, says the very
clever author of " The Heraldry of Fish," related
by Herodotus a thousand years before the time of
St. Kentigern, is, perhaps, the earliest version of
the fish and the ring, Avhich has been often repeated
with variations. The ring, says Herodotus, was an
emerald set in gold, and beautifully engraved, the w^ork
of Theodorus the Samian; and this very ring, Pliny
relates, was preserved in the Temple of Concord in
Rome, to w4iich it was given by the Emperor Au-
gustus.
In the Koran of Mahomet the legend of the ring,
and its recovery by means of a fish, is introduced.
" Solomon entrusted his signet with one of his concu-
bines, which the Devil obtained from her, and sat on
KORAN OF MAHOMET. 69
the throne in Solomon's shape. After forty days the
Devil departed, and threw the ring into the sea. The
signet was swallowed by a fish, which being caught
and given to Solomon, the ring was found in his belly,
and thus he recovered his kingdom." *
* Sale's Ti'anslation of the Koran.
p 3
'•/ iSv. //S'
,/r
I mm^-%
CHAP. III.
" Hostess. Say what beast, thou knave thou.
Falstaff. What beast I Whj', an otter.
Hostess. An otter. Sir John ! why an otter?
Falstaff. Why, she's neither fish nor flesh. A man knows not where
to have her."'
Before I enter upon the practical part of Salmon
Fishing, I will just say a few w^ords about my natural
tendency to the sport, to the end that it may be evident
that my maxims are not drawn from books, but originate
in my own experience.
WATER CURE REJECTED. 71
I declare, then, that I, Harry Otter, am by nature a
person of considerable aquatic propensities, having been
born under the sign of Aquarius, or Pisces, — it matters
not which. My delight in water, however, has its
limits, and extends only to external applications: the
placid amusement of wading in a Salmon river is very
much to my taste — quite captivating. Showers, and
even storms, if not of too long a continuance, are
exceedingly refreshing to my person ; but I must in
candour admit that the decisive action of a water-spout
may not possibly be so gratifying — ne quid nimis,
Macintosh's invention I consider as wholly uncalled
for, accounting it, as I do, an unpardonable intrusion
to place a solution of Indian-rubber between the human
body and a refreshing element. It is like taking a
shower-bath under shelter of an uml^rella.
Thus far I can extend ; but desire me to drink
water by itself, and I am your very humble servant.
Had I been at a symposium of brandy and the
said vapid element with that worthy Magnus Troil, he
should not have drunk all the brandy himself, and put
me off with the water, as he is recorded to have done
to his very simple friend. I beg to say that I am not
one of those two thousand patients who have been
relieved by a water cure, administered by James Wilson,
Esq., physician to liis Serene Highness the Prince of
Nassau, as advertised. Internally, in its pure state, I
totally discard it. But I like the society of fish ; and
as they cannot with any convenience to themselves
visit me on dry land, it becomes me in point of courtesy
to pay my respects to them in their own element.
F 4
72 CTIILDISn INCIDENT.
Next to wading in water, comes, I think, the pastime
of trudging over bogs and fens, — ground intimately
allied to it, and which Colonel Hawker has made quite
classical. This is a sort of debateable land, and the
natural inhabitants of it reject you with most vin-
equivocal signs of disapprobation. Tlie red shank, the
pewet, the curlew, and all their allies, scream and dart
around you, inhospitable as they are, and tell you, as
plainly as bills can speak, to sheer off, and not invade
their premises. But we are a sort of Paul Pry, and
love to persist responding now and then with our double
barrel, which we more especially direct towards the
ruff, snipe, Avild duck, and teal, — birds whose merit we
particularly appreciate. Thus we are, as may be seen, of
an amphibious nature, and respond to the fat knight's
description, when he compared Hostess Quickly to our
namesake. That this predilection for humidity is w^ith
me an instinct, may be seen from the following briei
notice of my infant propensities.
"NYlien I was an urchin I stole off, and wandered up
the stream that came winding through the verdant
meadows of my native valley, till I arrived at the foot
of the Castle Hill ; following the little path that dived
into a thicket, and wound round its base near the mar-
gin of the river : thence, amongst irregular clumps of
thorn bushes, holly trees, and other wild wood, stopping
a while to gather the cowslips and white violets that
dappled the sunny slopes, I pursued my way through a
■tangled thicket, whose branches overhung the stream.
I remember even now that the sunbeam glittered on
the leaves, struck through the masses here and there.
INSULAR LIFE. 73
and pierced to the surface of the water, which shone in
spots through the gloom like the fragments of a broken
mirror : these lucid touches caught my childish fancy ;
but my favourite spot was not yet attained. Not until
I had rounded the rib of the promontory on which
stood the grey castle, and came to another face of it,
did I obtain the object of my ramble. At this turn of the
stream I found myself in a small lonely meadow
sprinkled with cowslips, upon which oi^ened two
wooded valleys, each watered by a small stream, which
at their junction washed out a deep hole ; and at the
foot of the hole a small gravel heap was thrown up,
upon which grew the yellow iris, and some other
vegetation. In Lilliput it would have been termed an
island : so in truth it was. I know not how it happened, —
unless, indeed, that I was strictly enjoined not to go near
the water, — but I had a decided propensity to establish
my httle person on this insular spot. For some time I was
either very good, or very much afraid — - it matters not
which, — and the achievement was dubious. At length the
demon of temptation appeared in the form of a dragon-
fly, which, glancing from some branches that extended
across the stream a little above, danced up and down in
the air in all its gaudy trim, and at length settled on
an iris in this enchanted island. I stood enraptured on
the bank with my arms outstretched, and my longing
eyes fixed upon the beauty. It was irresistible — I
could hold out no longer. So mustering up my
naughty courage, and letting myself gently down the
bank, I paddled through a httle shallow water, till I
actually set foot safely on the desired spot. Here I
74 IMAliTlIA S ELOgUIiNCE.
found that my love for the lihella was not mutual ; or,
if it was, 1 may say,
" Love, free as air, at siglit of human ties
Spreads its light wings, and in a moment flies."
Even so did the dragon-fly : he and my hopes vanished
at once. Nevertheless I shoAved a decided taste for an
insular life, and sat down watching the trout rise on
all sides, as happy as a king ; and I might have remained
there to this day, had not that kill-joy Martha, who
was blest with the care of me, and from whom I had
escaped in the morning, come upon my trail. Infuriated
she was (for the whole Xantippe possessed her). She
sallied forth like another Ceres in quest of her lost child.
Half frightened, half pleased, I could see her toiling
up the hill. " JMaster Harry ! Master Harry ! " resounded
shrilly through the woods and valleys : even now me-
thinks her voice rings in my ears. In vain —
'■ Xor at the lawn, nor at the wood, was he."
But when at length she returned, " alia solinga valle,"
I stood confessed within the range of her animated optics.
She declared her sentiments without reserve in very
fluent language. I was an ohstroj)olons brat; a perfect
damoii (demon), as fond of dabbling in water as a
sally mander. I should catch it when she got hold of
me, that I should. This being intelligibly explained, I
thought I would delay that period as long as possible.
To all this eloquence, therefore, answer made I none ;
but I believe I looked and felt rather oddly. At length,
seeing her amble to and fro upon the banks, and per-
ceiving that she had the hydrophobia strong upon her,
THE COY PHYLLIS. 75
I told her if she wanted me she must come and fetch
me, as I was forbidden to go into the water. " Hang
your imperance, I says. Master Harry, but I'll find one
as shall fetch you in a twinkling ! " So saying, the elo-
quent Martha suited the action to the word, and ran
round the turn of the river, where it seems she knew
the keeper was fishing, who, I believe, in village phrase,
** kept company with her." Down comes John, a good-
natured fellow ; tickles me with the point of his fishing
rod in gamesome mood ; makes two or three casts with
his fly at me ; and at length wades to me, and places me
on the mainland at the gentle Martha's side. Peace was
made, but without promise for the future.
Henceforth, when I could escape control, I divided
my time between the water and the meadows : in warm
weather the water, in cold the land possessed me.
Then I began to tamper with the minnows ; and, grow-
ing more ambitious, after a sleepless night full of high
cojitrivance, I betook me at early dawn to a wood near
the house, where I selected some of the straightest hazel
sticks I could find, which I tied together and christened
a fishing rod : a rude and uncouth weapon it was. I
next sought out Phyllis, a favourite cow so called, in
order to have a jiluck at her tail to make a line with.
But Phyllis was coy, and Avitliheld her consent to spoli-
ation ; for when I got hold of her posterior honours, she
galloped off, dragging me along, tail in hand, till she left
me deposited in a water-course amongst the frogs. The
dairy -maid, I think, would have overcome this difficulty
for me, had I not discovered that horse-hair, and not
cow's tail, was the proper material for fishing lines ; so
70 SELF-DEVOTION OF A FISIT.
the coachman, who was much my friend, phicketl Cham-
jjion and Dunqdln, at my request, and gave mc as much
hair (black enough to be sure) as would make a dozen
lines. For three whole days did I twist and weave like
the Fates, and for three whole nights did I dream of
my work. Some rusty hooks I had originally in my
possession, which I found in an old fishing book belong-
ing to my ancestors. In fxct, I did not put the hook to
the rod and line, but my rod and line to the hook. I
next proceeded to the pigeon-house, and picking some
coarse feathers, made what I alone in the wide world
would have thought it becoming to have called a fly ;
but call it so I did, in spite of contradictory evidence.
Thus equipped, I proceeded to try my skill ; but exert
myself as I would, the line had domestic qualities, and
was resolved to stay at home. I never could get it fairly
away from the hazel sticks ; therefore it was that I
hooked no fish. But I hooked myself three times : once
in the knee-strings of my shorts, once in the nostril, and
again in the lobe of the ear. At length, after sundry
days of fruitless effort, like an infant Belial, I attempted
that by guile which I could not do by force; and drop-
ping the fly with my hand under a steep bank of the
stream, I walked up and down trailing it along : after
about a week's perseverance, I actually caught a trout.
Shade of Izaak Walton, what a triumph was there !
That day I could not eat, — that night I slept not.
Even now I recollect the spot where that generous fish
devoted himself.
As I grew up I became gradually more expert, and
at length saved money sufficient to buy a real fishing
FEATS OF MASTEK HARRY. 77
rod, line, reel and all, quite complete. Down it came from
London resplendent with varnish, and many cunning
feats did I perform with it. About this time I learned
to shoot ; not that I was strong enough to hold a gun,
but that the keeper put the said implement to his
shoulder, when I took aim at larks and sjiarrows, and
those sort of tilings, and pulled the trigger. So I waxed
in years and wisdom. All the time I could steal from
my lessons (for I was not quite a Pawnee) I spent in
this edifying manner ; at length I was fully initiated in
all the mysteries of sporting by a relation, himself the
prince of sportsmen, who took a fancy to me. The
reason was as follows : —
In the depth of winter, the ground being smothered
with snow, and the blast bitter, I followed him out a
wild-fowl shooting. I was devoid of hat, an article that I
looked upon as superfluous, and that I always lost or mis-
laid as soon as it was given me. Equipped I w^as in white
cotton stockings ; and my shoes, wliich were of the thin-
nest, I had tied to my feet with a string w^hich passed
over the instep. I could not put them up at heel Avith
any comfort, because I had large chilblains there, which
were broke. At length, after creeping a space on my
gloveless hands and knees in the snow, and under cover
of some sedge and willow bushes, up flew some wild
ducks before my patron. " Quack, quack ! " — down came
one to his shot, and fell with a splash into the river. In
I plunged after him like a Newfoundland dog : you
might have heard the flounce in a still day at Chippen-
ham, about six miles ofl". The duck not being dead, made
a swim and a dive of it. Lonsr and dubious was the
78 lOKTLNATE WADING.
chase ; but in the end I descried liis bill auiungst tlie
sedges, where he hud jjoked it up to take a little breath.
Making a dexterous snatch, I seized him underneath by
the legs, — Chinese fashion, with the exception of the
piunpkin, — and drew him loud quacking to the bank.
When landed I squeezed my clothes a little, according
to order ; Init I do not believe tliat I benefitted my chil-
blains.
At a rather more advanced period of my life I used to
make long fishing excursions, generally with prosperous,
but occasionally with disastrous results. I remember well,
when a pair of bait-hooks was to me a valuable concern,
I hooked two large black-looking trouts in a deep jdooI
at the same time. As I had to pull them several feet
upwards against the pressure of the stream, my line gave
way, and left me proprietor of a small fragment only.
For some time I looked alternately at my widowed rod
and my departed fish ; Avhich last w^cre coursing it round
and round the pool, j^ulling in oj)posite directions, like
coupled dogs of dissenting opinions : Durum — sed levius
fit patientia. So I sat down with somewhat of a rueful
countenance, and began to spin with my fingers some
horse-hair which I had pulled that morning, at the risk
of my life, from the grey colt's tail. This being done in
my own peculiar manner, and my only remaining hook
being tied on with one of the aforesaid hairs, I continued
to folloAv my sport down the stream for about half a
mile. After the lajjse of a considerable time, I had occa-
sion to cross bare-legged from one bank to the other.
In my transit through the current, I found something
like a sharp instrument cutting the calves of my legs.
THE PET BASKET. 79
I scampered ashore, under the impression that I was
trailing after me some sharp-toothed monster, perhaps a
lamper eel ; when, upon passing down my hand to as-
certain the fact, I found to my great astonishment and
delight that I was once more in possession of my lost
line, hooks, fish, and all. The fish had fairly drowned
each other, and, by a curious coincidence, were passively
passing in the current at the time my legs stemmed it.
Originally I had what in Scotland is called a, poke or
bag to carry my trouts in. Tliis being rather of a coarse
appearance, I panted after a basket. One of my school-
fellows had exactly the thing ; and I bargained for it by
giving in return all my jDcrsonal right in perpetuity to
two young hawks. Proud of my acquisition, I set out
with no small share of vanity, carrying my basket through
the whole length of a neighbouj-ing village, which was
considerably out of the way. When I arrived at the
happy spot where my sport lay, I was successful as
usual. At length the declining sun admonished me of
some ten miles betwixt me and home ; so I resolved only
to take a few casts in a dark and deep pool which was
close at hand, and then to bend my course homeward.
There I hooked a fine fish, which I was obliged to play
for some time, and then, after he was fairly tired, to lift
out Avith my hands, not having yet arrived at the dignity
of a landing net. In stooping low to perform this pro-
cess, the lid of my new pet basket, which from want of
experience I had omitted to fasten, flew open, and two
or three of my last-killed fish dropped into the deep
water immediately before me. In suddenly reaching
forward to secure these, round came my basket, fish and
80 ENCOUNTER WITH A DUCK.
all, over my head, and fairly capsized me. With some
difficulty, aud even risk of drowning, I got my head
above water, and my hand on the crown of a sharp rock.
There I stood, streaming and disconsolate, casting a wist-
ful look at the late bright inmates of my basket, which
Avere tilting down the weeds through the gullet into a
tremendous pool, vulgarly called Hell's Cauldron. Into
that same pool with the ominous name had I myself
very nearly passed, and thus had followed my hat, which
was coursing about in the eddy or wheel of this fearful
depth. Thus vanished before my eyes my whole day's
sport, for dead fish immediately sink ; and it w^as not
Avithout some skilful fishing up that my hat and I re-
newed our acquaintance. I have before observed that
Avhen I was quite an urchin I never wore a hat, or any
covering over my hair ; but as I grew older I thought it
decorous to follow the fashion.
At another time, whilst still a puer, and only pos-
sessed of one single bait-hook, to my utter confusion I
found that solitary hook had been swallowed by a duck,
which a mass of sedges under the bank had concealed
from my view. There we were, Mrs. Duck and I,
dashing, swashing, and swattering down the stream ; the
duck all the time declaring his sentiments by the ut-
terance of a fearful noise, and I endeavouring by every
means in my power to prevent my only hook from being
ravished from me by my feathered opponent. In the
meantime a group of lasses, who were washing clothes
at the river side, and were friendly to the bird, set upon
me, first with their tongues, of the use of which they
seemed to be in full possession, and latterly with their
AN IDLE SCAMP.
81
palls and watering pans ; in consequence of which I
was compelled to snap my line, and tnrn upon my fair
tormentors. But let no boy of fourteen ever try to face
a batch of lasses. In fine, I was terribly mauled, and
did not feel my ears at all comfortable in their externals
for a considerable time afterwards.
But enough of these idle anecdotes. The reader will
now understand that I, Harry Otter, was an idle scamp.
If he chooses to keep company with me in my rambles,
he will, nevertheless, find no very particular harm in me,
and I on my part shall be delighted to hold good fellow-
ship with an indulgent brother of the craft.
■' I saw young: Harry with his beaver off.'
G
82 Ml UDEllOUS FISH.
CHAP. IV.
" I in these flowery meads would be ;
These crystal streams shall solace me."
Much has been said by various humane persons about
the cruelty of fishing ; but setting aside that, according
to the authority of the eminent author of Salmonia, and
of Dr. Gillespie also, who, by-the-by, is professor of
humanity at St. Andrew's, fish seldom feel any pain from
the hook. Let us see how the case stands. I take a little
wool and feather, and, tying it in a particular manner
upon a hook, make an imitation of a fly ; then I throw it
across the river, and let it sweep round the stream with
a lively motion. This I have an undoubted right to do,
for the river belongs to me or my friend ; but mark
what follows. Up starts a monster fish with his murder-
ous jaws, and makes a dash at my little Andromeda.
Thus he is the aggressor, not I ; his intention is evidently
to commit murder. He is caught in the act of putting
that intention into execution. Having wantonly intruded
himself on my hook, which I contend he had no right to
do, he darts about in various directions, evidently sur-
prised to find that the fly, which he hoped to make an
easy conquest of, is much stronger than himself. I
naturally attempt to regain this fly, unjustly withheld
from me. The fish gets tired and weak in his lawless
endeavours to deprive me of it. I take advantage of
his weakness, I own, and drag him, somewhat loth, to
the shore, where one raj) at the back of the head ends
HYPOCRITICAL FISH. ^ 83
hiin in an instant. If he is a trout, I find his stomach
distended with flies. That beautiful one called the
May-fly, who is by nature almost ephemeral, — who rises
up from the bottom of the shallows, sj^reads its light
wings, and flits in the sunbeam in enjoyment of its new
existence, — no sooner descends to the surface of the water
to deposit its eggs, than the unfeeling fish at one fell
spring numbers him prematurely with the dead. You
see, then, what a wretch a fish is ; no ogre is more blood-
thirsty, for he will devour his nephews, nieces, and even
his own children, when he can catch them ; and I take
some credit for having shown him up. Talk of a wolf,
indeed, a lion, or a tiger ! Why these are all mild and
saintly in comparison with a fish. When did any one
hear of j\Iessrs. Wolf, Lion, and Co. eating up their
grandchildi'en ? Wliat a bitter fright must the smaller
fry live in ! They crowd to the shallows, lie hid among
the weeds, and dare not say the river is their own. I
relieve them of their apprehensions, and thus become
popular with the small shoals.
When we see a fish quivering upon dry land, he looks
so helpless without arms or legs, and so demure in ex-
pression, adding hypocrisy to his other sins, that we
naturally pity him ; then kill and eat him with Hervey
sauce, perhaps. Our pity is misjilaced, — the fish is not.
There is an immense trout in Loch Awe in Scotland,
which is so voracious, and swallows his own species with
such avidity, that he has obtained the name of Salmo
ferox. I pull about this unnatural monster till he is
tired, land him, and give him the coup de grace. Is this
cruel ? Cruelty " should be made of sterner stuff."
G 2
84 CURIOUS PREDICAMENT.
There is a certain spurious sort of humanity going about
that I cannot understand. Thus I know a lady who will
not eat game, because, she says, shooting is a cruel
amusement ; but she is very much addicted to fowls, and
all domestic poultry, feeding them one day, and eating
them up the next, with treacherous alacrity and amiable
perseverance. It wovild be more candid in her, therefore,
to say to us sportsmen, like the fox in the fable, —
" Go, but be moderate in your food ;
A pheasant too might do me good."
" I once saw," says the learned and accomplished Dr.
Gillespie, " one of these all-devouring fish in a curious
predicament. In fishing, or rather strolling, within these
few years, Avith a rod in one hand and a book in the
other, so as to alternate reading and fishing, as the
clouds came and went, I observed a great many June-
flies, at which the fish were occasionally rising, and which
at the same time were picked up by the swallows, as
they skimmed over the surface of the still water. It so
happened that a trout from beneath, and a swallow
from above, had fixed their affections upon the same
yellow-winged and tempting fly. Down came the
swallow, and up came the open mouth of the fish ; into
which, in pursuit of his prey, the swallow pitched his
head. The struggle was not long, but pretty severe ; and
the swallow was once or twice nearly immersed, wings
and all, in the water, before he got himself disentangled
from the sharp teeth of the fish." It is true that the
trout had no intention of encountering the bird ; but
every one knows that pike will pull young ducks under
the water, and devour them.
" The Tay trout," says John Crerar (I copy from
A CAT FISH. 85
his MS.), " lives in that river all the year round. It is
a large and yellow fish, with a great mouth, and feeds
chiefly on salmon spawn, moles, mice, frogs, &c. A
curious circumstance once happened to me at Pulney
Loch. One of my sons threw a live mouse into it, when
a large trout took the mouse down mimediately. The
boy told me what had happened ; so I took my fishing
rod, which was leaning against my house close to the
loch, and put a fly on. At the very first throw I hooked
a large trout, landed it, and laid it on the walk : in two
seconds the mouse ran out of its mouth, and got into a
hole in the wall before I could catch it." Thus far
John Crerar.
" The mouse that is content with one poor hole
Can never be a mouse of any soul."
I believe every author on the subject, from the time
of dear Isaak Walton to the present day, has taken some
pains to vindicate the amusement of angling. For this
purpose they have quoted men eminent for humanity,
illustrious for science, and famed for high achievement
— philosophers, warriors, divines, — who have been dear
lovers of the sport.* But does it require this \an-
dication? For myself, far from being surprised that
distinguished men have delighted in fishing, I only
wonder that any man can be illustrious who does not
* When Sir Humphrey Davy was at Gisburn, the late Lord
Ribblesdale took him to see the celebrated Gorsdale Rocks, ex-
pecting they would astonish and interest him, and call forth some
very learned remarks ; but the great philosopher noticed only the
stream beneath them, which he scrutinised minutely, saying he was
sure there were no fish in it, or he shoidd have discovered them.
G 3
86 FACETIOUS WHALE.
practise either angling or field sports of some sort or
another. They all demand skill and enterprise. If
you ask me to reconcile angling to reason, you may
possibly distress me. It is an instinct, a passion, and a
powerful one, originally given to man for the preser-
vation of his existence. The waters as well as the
land yield forth their increase. In the joyless regions
of the north, when the bear famishes on the iceberg,
and the gaunt Avolf howls amongst the snow-drifts, the
miseral)le tenant of the land stalks along the desolate
shores, and with his javelin, or hooks of bone, acquires
by his rude slcill a precarious subsistence for his family.
Everlasting winter has stamped her iron foot upon the
soil : the snow whitens all interminably, except where
tlic blasts drive it from the face of the bleak rocks ; and
without this resource he must perish, — he and his sad
family together. Even so it is ordained from above.
Thrice happy are we, who live in a more genial
climate, and who inherit the instinct given to our less
fortunate fellow-creatures, and exercise it not from hard
necessity, but as a means of recreation. Man being thus
evidently destined to fish, let us consider the style of
thing that is likely to give him the most gratification.
When I read of the whale fishery, and of that animal
running out a mile of rope, for an instant my thoughts
were bent on the seas of Greenland ; but I was taken
aback by the frontispiece of Captain Scoresby's enter-
taining narrative, which represents his boat thrown
aloft in the air by a playful jerk of a whale's tail, and
all the crew tumbling seaward in very sprawling and
unstudied attitudes. Xow this is a sort of adventure
HAERY OTTER — PASTORAL. 87
which I do not covet myself, or recommend others to
seek. In such case, perhaps, the heroes of the harpoon
might be caught at their descent by some ravenous
shark; and unless people have a curiosity about the
construction of that animal's intestines for the sake of
scientific purposes, a visit to his interior would be
useless, and I think imprudent. Besides, whale fishery
is a sort of unsavory butchery, which does not suit all
tastes. We will take leave, therefore, to discard it at
once.
The truth is, that I like no sea fishing whatever,
being of opinion that it requires little skill ; neither do
I enjoy sailing in the salt element, for very particular
reasons relating to health. But my mind is full of
solemn thoughts as I stand on the sounding shore, and
see the gallant vessel pass away into the great desert
of waters, till her misty hull rests lonely in the horizon.
Then, as shades of night set in, and as she fades in the
general gloom, I meditate on the perils of storm and
battle, and all the adventurous scenes her crew may
encounter, for good or for evil, — far, far away from the
land of their affections.
" Xos patriam fiiginms, nos duloia linquimus arva ;
Nos patriam fugiinus."
No ; the wild main I trust not. Rather let me wander
beside the banks of the tranquil streams of the warm
South, " in yeUow meads of asiDhodel," w^hen the young
spring comes forth, and all nature is glad; or if a
wilder mood comes over me, let me clamber anions: the
steeps of the Nortli, beneath the shaggy mountains, where
G 4
88 PURCHASE OF IIOKSES.
the river comes raging and foaming everlastingly,
wedging its way through the secret glen, Avhilst the
eagle, but dimly seen, cleaves the winds and the clouds,
and the dun deer gaze from the mosses above. There,
amongst gigantic rocks, and the din of mountain torrents,
let me do battle with the lusty salmon, tiU I drag him
into day, rejoicing in his bulk, voluminous and vast.
But, alas ! we run riot. Let me now set forth by what-
chance I became a fisher for salmon. Dininjj one
auspicious day with a friend in London, after a sultry
morning gratifying to nothing but a lizard or a serpent,
— the town hot, still, and deserted, as the ruins of
Pompeii, — we turned from the base thraldom to which
we had subjected ourselves, and resolved to wander over
the blue hills of Scotland ; " for we had heard of
grouse-shooting, and we longed to follow in the field
some lusty heath-cock.'''' It was Wednesday. On
Friday we would depart, that was certain ; for we were
young and ardent. Our travelling means were not very
ricli : they consisted of a curricle with one horse (his
companion having died lately), and a tilbury without
any. But the next day there was to be a sale at Tat-
tersall's, which all juveniles delight in ; so away we went
to the hammer, rejoicing in our soi disant judgment,
and purchased two animals most indubitably of the
horse species. My friend accommodated himself with a
chestnut, I with a mottled grey ; and it would be dif-
ficult to say which of the two had the best bargain.
Now it chanced that these two nags never had harness
on their backs from the time of their foalhood ; but this
did not interest us in the least : they had it on soon at
HORSES DISSENT. 89
all events, aU at the door of Thomas's Hotel, Berkeley-
Square. The chestnut shone as off-horse in the curricle,
the grey was resplendent in the tilbury. As for the
start, I cannot boast much of that, — kicks, plunges, rear-
ings to match. There was evidently some misunder-
standing. My feUow-traveller, wheeling round in spite
of " curb or rein," passed me in an opposite direction.
My thoughts were intent on Davies Street : the grey dif-
fered with me widely in opinion, and was ambitious of
the Square ; round which (if I may use the expression)
he galloped with unnecessary haste, till he met my fel-
low-traveller at the bottom, and we passed each other in
grand style, our nags being considerably animated by
the " lumbering of the wheels." Not once alone did
tliis happen ; and before our coursers could be gained over
to our opinion. Charing Cross possessed the curricle, and
Hanover Square could boast of the tilbury. Our skill
might reasonably be questioned — our perseverance could
not ; for before midnight we rallied, and urged our re-
luctant beasts to the dulness of Stilton. From hence-
forth every thing went on smoothly with them ; except
that the chestnut died of the distemper, and the grey
fell out of a crazy boat into Loch Lomond, ran away
some time afterwards, overturned the vehicle, broke my
unfortunate servant's leg, and lamed liimself for life.
We journeyed on to Selkirk in juvenile mood. From
hence my friends went to Edinburgh, where I agreed to
join them. And now comes the point — what made me,
Harry Otter, a fisher for salmon ? Why thus it was, — I
went forth, after my arrival at the aforesaid town, at the
hour of prime. I asked no questions, for I cannot endure
90 THE ILLUSTRIOUS HIGGINBOTHAM.
to hear beforehand what sort of sport I am likely to
have. Sober truth is sometimes exceedingly distressing,
and brings one's mind to a lull ; it puts an end to the
sublimity of extravagant speculation, which I hold to
be the chief duty of a sportsman. So, as I said, I asked
no questions ; but I saw the river Ettrick before me
taking her free course beneath the misty hills, and,
brushing away the dew-drops with my steps, I rushed
impatiently through the broom and gorse with torn hose
and smarting legs, till I arrived at the margin of that
wild river, where the birch hung its ringlets over the
waters.
Out came my trusty rod from a case of " filthy
dowlass." Top varnished it was, and the work of the
famous Higginbotham : not he the hero of an hundred
engines, " who was afeard of nothing, and whose fire-
man's soul was all on fire ; " but Higginbotham of the
Strand, who was such an artist in the rod line as never
appeared before, or has ever been seen since. " He never
joyed since the price of hiccory wood rose," and was soon
after gathered to the tomb of his fathers. I look upon
him, and old Kirby the quondam malver of hooks, to
be two of the greatest men the world ever saw ; not even
excepting Eustace Ude, or Michael Angelo Bonarotti.
But to business. The rod was hastily put together ; a
beautiful new azure line passed through the rings; a
casting line, made like the waist of Prior's Emma, ap-
pended, with two trout flies attached to it of the manu-
facture even of me, Harry Otter. An eager throw to
beg-in with : round came the flies intact. Three, four, five,
six throws — a dozen : no better result. The fish were
A FIVE-POUNDER. 91
stem and contemptuous. At length some favourable
change took place in the clouds, or atmosphere, and
I caught sundry small trout ; and finally, in the cheek of
a boiler, I faii-ly hauled out a two-pounder. A jcAvel of
a fish he was — quite a treasure all over. After I had
performed the satisfactory office of bagging him, I came
to a part of the river which, being contracted, rushed
forward in a heap, rolling with great impetuosity. Here,
after a little flogging, I hooked a lusty fellow, strong as
an elephant, and swift as a thunderbolt. How I was agi-
tated say ye who best can tell, ye fellow tyros ! Every
moment did I expect my trout tackle, for such it was, to
part company. At lengtn, after various runs of dubious
result, the caitiff began to yield ; and at the expiration of
about half an hour, I wooed him to the shore. lATiat a
sight then struck my optics ! A fair five-pounder at the
least ; not fisherman's weight, mark me, but such as would
pass muster with the most conscientious lord mayor of
London during the high price of bread. Long did I gaze
on him, not without self-applause. All too large he was
for my basket ; I therefore laid the darling at full length
on the ground, under a birch tree, and covered over
the precious deposit with some wet bracken, that it
might not suffer from the sunbeam.
I had not long completed this immortal achievement
ere I saw a native approaching, armed with a prodigious
fishing rod of simple construction guiltless of colour or
varnish. He had a belt round his waist, to which was
fastened a large wooden reel or pirn, and the line passed
from it through the rings of his rod : a sort of Wat
Tinlinn he was to look at. The whole affair seemed so
92 KIND OBSERVATIONS.
primitive, — there was such an absolute indigence of or-
nament, and poverty of conception, tliat I felt somewhat
fastidious about it. I could not, however, let a brother
of the craft pass unnoticed, albeit somewhat rude in his
attire ; so, " What sport," said I, " my good friend ? "
" I canna say that I hae had muckle deversion ; for
she is quite fallen in, and there wull be no good fishing
till there comes a spate."
Now, after this remark, I waxed more proud of my
success ; but I did not come down upon him at once with
it, but said somewhat slyly, and with mock modesty, —
" Then you tliink there is not much chance for any
one, and least of all for a stranger like myself."
" I dinna tliink the like o' ye can do muckle ; though
I will no say but ye may light on a wee bit trout, or
may be on a happening fish. That's a bonny little
wand you've got ; and she shimmers so with varnish, that
I'm thinking that when she is in the eye o' the sun the
fish will come aneath her, as they do to the blaze in
the water."
Sandy was evidently lampooning my Higginbotham.
I therefore replied, that she certainly had more shining
qualities than were often met with on the northern side
of the Tweed. At this personality, my pleasant friend
took out a large mull from his pocket, and, applying a
copious quantity of its contents to his. nose, very politely
responded —
" Ye needna fash yoursel to observe aboot the like
o' her ; she is no worth this pinch o' snuff."
He then very courteously handed his mull to me.
" Well," said I, still modestly, " she will do well
A TKOUT NOT A FISH. 93
enough for a bungler like me." I was trolling for a
compliment.
" Ay, that will she," said he.
Though a little mortified, I was not sorry to get
him to this point ; for I knew I could overwhelm him
with facts, and the more diflSdently I conducted my-
self the more complete would be my triumph. So laying
down my pet rod on the channel, I very deliberately
took out my two-pounder, as a feeler. He looked par-
ticularly well ; for I had tied up his mouth, that he
might keep his shape, and moistened him, as I before
said, with soaked fern to preserve his colour. I fear
I looked a little elate on the occasioa ; assuredly I
felt so.
" There's a fine fish now, — a perfect beauty ! "
" Houte-toute ! that's no fish ava."
" No fish, man ! Wliat the deuce is it, then ? Is it
a rabbit, or a wild duck, or a water-rat ? "
" Ye are joost gin daft. Do ye no ken a troot when
ye see it ? "
I could make nothing of this answer, for I thought
that a trout was a fish * ; but it seems I was mistaken.
However, I saw the envy of the man ; so I determined
to inflict him with a settler at once. For this purpose
I inveigled him to where my five- pounder was de-
posited ; then kneeling down, and proudly removing the
bracken I had placed over him, there lay the monster
most manifest, extended in all his glory. The light, —
* Salmon, salmon trout, and bull trout alone, are called Jish in
the Tweed. If a Scotchman means to try for trout, he does not
say " I am going a fishing,'''' but " I am going a trouting."
94 A SUPPOSITION.
the eye of the hindscape, — before whose brilliant sides
Kunjeet Sing's diamond, called " the mountain of
light," would sink into the deep obscure ; — dazzled
with the magnificent sight, I chuckled in the pleni-
tude of victory. This was unbecoming in me, I
own, for I should have borne my faculties meekly ; but
I was young and sanguine ; so (Iwrresco refer ens) I
gave a smart turn of my body, and, placing an arm
akimbo, said, in an exulting tone, and with a scrutinis-
ing look, " There, what do you think of that?" I did
not see the astonishment in Sawny's face that I had
anticipated, neither did he seem to regard me with the
least degree of veneration ; but, giving my pet a shove
with his nasty iron-shod shoes, he simply said,
" Houte ! that's a wee bit gilse."
This was laconic. I could hold no longer, for I hate
a detractor ; so I roundly told him that I did not think
he had ever caught so large a fish in all his life.
" Did you, now ? — own."
" I suppose I have."
" Suppose ! But don't you know ? "
" I suppose I have."
" Speak decidedly, yes or no. That is no answer."
" Well, then, I suppose* I have."
And this was the sum total of what I could extract
from this nil admirari fellow.
A third person now joined us, whom I afterwards
discovered to be the renter of that part of the river. He
had a rod and tackle of the selfsame fashion with the
* Suppose^ in Scotch, docs not imply a doubt, but denotes a cer-
tainty.
DUMB-FOUNDERED. 95
apathetic man. He touched his bonnet to me ; and if he
did not eye me with approval, at least he did not look
envious or sarcastic.
" Well, Sandy," said he to his piscatorial friend, my
new acquaintance, " what luck the morn ? "
*' I canna speecify that I hae had muckle ; for they
hae bin at the sheep-washing up bye, and she is foul, ye
ken. But I hae ta'en twa saumon, — ane wi' Xancy*, and
the ither wi' a Toppyf, — baith in Faldon-side Biu:n fut."
And twisting round a coarse linen bag which w^as
slung at his back, and which I had supposed to contain
some common lumber, he drew forth by the tail a never-
ending monster of a salmon, dazzling and lusty to the
view ; and then a second, fit consort to the first. Could
you believe it ? One proved to be fifteen pounds, and
the other twelve ! At the sudden appearance of these
whales I was shivered to atoms : dumb-foundered I
was, like the Laird of Cockpen when ]\Irs. Jean refused
the honour of his hand. I felt as small as Flimnap the
treasurer in the presence of Gulliver. Little did I say ;
but that little, I hope, was becoming a youth in my
situation.
I was now fau-ly vaccinated. By dint of snuff and
whiskey, I made an alliance with the tenant of the
water ; and being engaged for that year to join my
friends at Edinburgh, and go on a shooting excursion to
the Hebrides and the north of Scotland, I resolved to
revisit the Tweed the smnmer follow^ing.
* A flv so' called from Nancy Dawson, who was born on the
Tweed, near Little Dean Tower.
I The Toppy will be described hereafter.
96 • BIELROSE.
It was the above incident that regulated my residence,
in a great measure, for above twenty years of my life.
A year had rolled on since this my first excursion to
the North, and I, HaiTy Otter, was again seated in an
open vehicle, enriched with fishing rods, both of small
and of ample dimensions ; I must say exceedingly
ample. The stanch Arno lay at my feet ; nor was I
deficient in a gun, such as Manton used to turn out in
that age of flint. My attendant, or groom, was of the
freshest fashion, — a youth newly hired. John, who was
whilom in my service, understood the arts of travelling
better than this man. But, alas ! John was a backslider ;
for when I asked him if he had any objection to go to
Scotland, " Pray, sir," said he, *' is that the country as
is infested with eagles ? " I candidly confessed that there
certainly were birds of that description there. ** Then,
I am sorry, sir, but I must beg leave to decline going,"
was his valorous reply.
Tedious it were to recount the dawdling of a long
journey performed by the same man and the same horses.
I wull not therefore utter such an infliction. It is quite
enough to say, that in the end I ensconced myself in an
hostel in the little town of IMelrose : inn, properly so
called, there was none, for Melrose was then unsung.
It was late, and I looked forth on the tranquil scene
from my window. The moonbeams played upon the
distant hill-tops, but the lower masses slept as yet in
shadow ; again the pale light catched the waters of the
Tweed, the lapse of whose streams fell faintly on the ear,
like the murmuring of a sea-shell. In front rose up the
mouldering abbey, deep in shadow ; its pinnacles, and
A SLIGHT MISTAKE. 97
buttresses, and light tracery, but dimly seen in the
solemn mass. A faint light twinkled for a space
among the tombstones ; soon it was extinct, and two
figures passed off in the shadow, who had been digging
a arrave even at that late hour.
As the night advanced, a change began to take place.
Clouds heaved up over the horizon ; the wind was heard
in murmurs ; the rack hurried athwart the moon ; and
utter darkness fell upon river, mountain, and haugh.
Then the gust swelled louder, and the storm struck fierce
and sudden against the casement. But as the morrow
dawned, though the rain-drops still hung upon the leaf,
the clouds sailed away, the sun broke forth, and all was
fair and tranquil.
The fisherman was sent for express. His apparel may
be taken as a general sample of the garb of the piscator
on that river, where " Flora discloses her beauties " par
excellence. A hat with salmon flies round the crown,
the loop of each gut being passed over the head of a
pin stuck into the said hat, and the barb of the hook
fastened into the felt. The bonnet on such occasions is
laid aside. A short coat or jacket ; waistcoat according to
fancy ; blue pantaloons ; and a pair of colossal shoes,
studded with splatter-headed nails.
" Well, Wattie, I am glad you are come ; for you
shall see me catch a dozen salmon to-day."
" You mun be a warlock then ; for the deil a mon
atween Bolside and Kelso, beside yoursel, wuU tak ae
saumon the day. If ye were even to throw the * Lady of
* The Flower of Yarrow, married to Scott of Harden.
H
98 WATER W.VXING.
Mertoun into the water, they wud na look at her ; for the
storm cam from the wast last nigcht ye ken, and she *
wull be waxing the morn ; but we can gang doon to
her and see." Down we accordingly went, and she was
decidedly waxing, he said.
All this was a mystery to me at that time ; but
I learned from him that when the river is about to
flood, the rain that has fallen near its sources comes
pouring down from the gulleys and di'ains, and propels
the clear water before it, which then climbs the dry
stones of the channel, exhibiting a convex surface, like
wine in a glass filled to the brim. This eiFect cannot be
perceived where the river is in quick motion ; but in
the little bays and pools that are here and there in the
channel, it is very visible: the water will rise to some
height before it is in the slightest degree discoloured,
and this in proportion to the quantity of rain that has
fallen near the sources; so that a stranger would not
notice the change. In strong spates it is afterwards of
a reddish cast, and fines by degrees into a porter colour,
which gets clearer and clearer till it resumes its wonted
transpai'ency. It must be noted that I speak with
reference to the Tweed only ; for it is obvious that
every river is coloured somewhat differently, according
to the nature of the soil from which, and through
which, it flows. Thus the Tay partakes much of the
dark moss and peat colour ; and on part of the Inver-
ness coast, where some of the rivers come from a hard
stony soil, they are never much discoloured, or, if dis-
* The Tweed, like a ship, is always called sJie^ the feminine
gender giving it its due consequence.
WALTER THE BOLD. ^9
coloured, in a different manner. Thus the fisherman is
kept two or thi-ee days from his sport. And he may as
well go home when the waxing begins, though tlie
water is clear, and the rise is imperceptible, except in
the way I have mentioned ; for it is a singular truth
that the salmon will not take the fly into his mouth
when this change takes place, though he will often rise
to it, and leap over it. This fact is so well known, that
no experienced person on the Tweed thinks of fishing
during such an occurrence. This waxing commences
sooner or later, according to the violence or quantity of
the rain that has fallen, and the situation where the
storm breaks. In a moderate spate, with a westerly
wind, it is seen at Melrose about ten or twelve hours
after the rain, more or less. If the wind is very violent,
also, the water which is blown out of the lakes will
make the river rise slightly ; but in that case no change
of colour will afterwards take place.
" Ye can no fish the day ; so I wud hae ye advised to
gang after the patrigs."
So indeed I did, auspice Wattie, who, to my surprise,
seemed somewhat loth to attend me. We found birds
— Amo stood — we shot to the top of our bent ; and
Wattie would have marked weU, but for one failing,
which, lover as he was of the sport, he could not over-
come. This failing, to call it by the mildest name, was
an apprehension of evil, wliich possessed him to that
absurd degree that he sculked astern, and lay upon the
ground the moment he expected a shot to be fired ;
and I verily believe that he stopped his ears also. Once,
when a covey spread beautifully amongst somoi gorse,
II 2
100 EILDON HILLS.
for a space he eluded iny vit^ion, and when the firini^
ceased, I detected liim in his form couched between two
blocks of granite ; " for he kent," he said, " that it was
no canny to dander aboot, and disturb the patrigs."
And I think this was judicious ; but it did not seem to
account for the paleness of his complexion.
My bag was now sufficiently full ; and in returning
to the hotel I noticed the form of the Eildon Hills,
which, we have since been credibly informed, were
cloven in tlu-ee by the art of gramarye. It was then
that I discovered that my companion's mind was com-
pletely subdued by superstition.
" Thae hills are pleasant to the view," said he ; " and
it is the custom on the seventh day for people to ascend
the middle one, and enjoy the prospect. On the last
Sabbath I gaed up ; and instead of the hill being throng
as usual, I fund mysel alone, and when I was near the
tap a sudden mirkness cam owre me, and I sat doon on
the sod in a cauld sweet. Then I cast my een up ; and
I saw, as plain as I see ye the noo, twa men houking
a grave by the light of a torch ; and ither men joined
them, walking twa by twa, wi' pale lights. And when
they cam to the grave, they gaed to the far side of it ;
and an auld wife cam in front wi' a lang wliite stick
in her hand, and a light like a star a tap o' it : she had
an awfu' beard, and beckoned me to the grave. Ou
it was dreadfu' ! I believe I swooned away, as it was
rigcht I should ; and when I cam to mysel, all was
vanishit, and it was as mirk as pick. And a' this day I
thoucht that your gun was the instrument that was to
pit me intill that grave."
CHAP. V.
" And far beneath in lustre wan
Old Melros' rose, and fair Tweed ran."
Lay of the Last Minstrel.
My first visit to the Tweed was before the Minstrel of
the North had sung those strains which enchanted the
*H 3
102 COURSE OF THE KIVEK.
world, and attracted people of all ranks to this land of
romance. The scenery therefore at that time, unassisted
by story, lost its chief interest ; yet was it all lovely
in its native charms. What stranger just emerging from
the ano;ular enclosures of the South, scored and subdued
by tillage, would not feel his heart expand at the first
sight of the heathery mountains, swelling out into vast
proportions, over which man has had no dominion ? At
the dawn of day he sees, perhaps, the mist ascending
slowly up the dusky river, taking its departure to some
distant undefined region ; below the mountain range his
sight rests upon a deep and narrow glen, gloomy with
woods, shelving down to its centre. What lies hid in
that mysterious mass the eye may not visit ; but a sound
comes down from afar, as of the rvishing and din of
waters. It is the voice of the Tweed, as it bursts from
the melancholy hills, and comes rejoicing down the
sunny vale, taking its free course thi'ough the haugh,
and glittering amongst sylvan bowers, — swelling out at
times fair and ample, and again contracted into gorges
and sounding cataracts, — lost for a space in its mazes
behind a jutting brae, and reappearing in dashes of
light through bolls of trees opposed to it in shadow.
Thus it holds its fitful course. The stranger might
wander in the quiet vale, and, far below the blue sum-
mits, he might see the shaggy flock grouped upon
some sunny knoll, or straggling among the scattered
birch trees ; and, lower down on the haugh, his eye per-
chance might rest awhile on some cattle standing on a
tongue of land by the margin of the river, with their
dark and rich brown forms opposed to the brightness of
ABBOTSFORD. 103
the waters. All these outward pictures he might see
and feel ; but he could see no farther : the lore had not
spread its witchery over the scene, — the legends slept in
oblivion. The stark moss-trooper, and the clanking
stride of the warrior, had not again started into life ;
nor had the light blazed gloriously in the sepulchre
of the wizard with the mighty book. The slogan
swelled not anew uj)on the gale, resounding through
the glens, and over the misty mountains ; nor had the
minstrel's harp made music in the stately halls of
Newark *, or beside the lonely braes of Yarrow.
Since that time I have seen the cottage of Abbots-
ford with its rustic porch, lying peacefully on the
haugh between the lone hiUs ; and have listened to the
wild rush of the Tweed as it hurried beneath it. As
time progressed, and as hopes arose, I have seen that
cottage converted into a picturesque mansion, with every
luxury and comfort attached to it, and have partaken
of its hospitality : the unproductive hills I have viewed
covered with thriving plantations, and the whole aspect
of the country ci\'ilised, without losing its romantic
character. But, amidst all these revolutions, I have
never perceived any change in the mind of him who
made them, " the choice and master-spirit of the age."
There he dwelt in the hearts of the peoj^le, diffusing
life and happiness around liim : he made a home beside
the border river, in a country and a nation that have
derived benefit from his presence, and consequence from
his genius. From his chambers he looked out upon
* The tower of Newark stands near Bowhill.
H 4
104 A CHALLENGE.
the grey ruins of the abbey, and the sun which set in
splendour beneath the Eildon Hills. Like that sun, his
course has been run ; and though disastrous clouds came
across him in his career, he went down in unfading glory.
These golden hours, alas! have long passed; but often
have I visions of the sylvan valley, and its glittering
waters, with dreams of social intercourse. Abbotsford,
Mertoun, Chiefswood, Huntley Burn, AUerley, — when
shall I forget ye !
But, to our humble business. The swell of the river
had been trifling, and it would be fit to fish on the
morrow. The later in the day, said Walter the Bold,
the better ; so I fidgetted away the early part of the
morning, and hauled over my London tackle, which
proved unseemly to the sight of the Scotchman. The
flies, he said, were dressed like dancing dogs ; but my
rod, he owned, was fine.
At last we started. We had about two or three miles
to go to the upper cast, called the " Carry-wheel." As I
neared it, and saw the sweep of the gallant river, I stepped
out in eagerness till I came to the top of a steep covered
with wood, gorse, and broom; then I dashed down the
rocks, and found myself on the channel, with the rush of a
glorious salmon cast before me. Think of this, ye gudgeon
fishers ! The rod was put together in haste, — out came
the London book ; and whilst I selected that misnomer a
metropolitan salmon fly, a huge fish sprang out of the
water before me, bright and lusty. What a challenge ! In
my agitation the flies got entangled ; — confusion worse
confounded beset me. The hooks stuck into my quivering
fingers, and then a puff" of wind scattered them abroad
HIGGINBOTHAM BROKE. 105
in various directions. To crown all, Walter kept me in
a perspiration by making, as if he would throw for
the fish, which, by anticipation, I considered as my pro-
perty. At length I collected my senses, and my flies also ;
and it is a wonder that I did so, as the said fish conti-
nued his gambols, and repeatedly claimed my attention.
Now then for it. The cast being narrow at the
throat, I began with a short line, which I kept length-
ening as it got wider; for so it became me. I came
now, step by step, to the spot where I expected to do
for the fish. Excited as I was, I flung with spirit ;
but the fly alighted not upon the wave ; far from it ;
it attached itself most perfectly to a birch-tree in my
rear, and crack went my top-varnished Higginbotham.
Thus I was at once discomfited almost in the arms of
victory. Being totally driven from my propriety, I
cannot be answerable for what I said or did : something
very sublime it was, no doubt; but let that pass. Cer-
tain it was that each particular hair of my head stood an
end with horror. As I had spare tops to my rod, I soon
set all to rights again. But throw, and throw as I would,
the salmon woidd not " come and be kUled ; " so I gave
up the unreasonable brute at last as unattainable. Nor
could the Scotchman make any hand of him afterwards.
In fishermen's language, / had set him dow?i.
The tail of the cast now grew broader, and it was
necessary to wade ; so in I went, " accoutred as I was ; "
that is to say, in light, flimsy walking shoes, without
nails. I soon perceived that the wet stones were slip-
pery and treacherous beyond endurance, and that my
shoes had no adhesive qualities. My untutored feet took
106 AN ILL-NATURED TWIST.
no hold, and I floundered about in the superlative de-
gree, quite innocent of a due balance. At length,
joyous to relate, I saAV a break in the water, and the
switch of a fish's tail : I struck, and found I had him
fast. As for playing him, I did no such thing ; on the
contrary, I honestly confess that he played me, and had
all along the best of it too, — for I could not keep my
footing. I swayed like a pendulum, only more un-
evenly, till down I went from a treacherous stone, which
joggled under my step, and tilted me in about middle
deep. Being thus sufficiently humid, I beat a retreat as
soon as I was able, and backed out on the channel:
arrived there, I felt the beauty of my new situation,
and made certain of a capture. The monster was still
strong, and sjirung out of water, as if to show me what
a prize I was about to obtain, and I acknowledged his
value secretly. He next judged it prudent to give a
sudden turn, a sort of ill-natured twist, — an obstinate
obliquity of motion that I shall never forget, or forgive :
at once my muscles ceased to quiver, — the line lost its
strain and sprang aloft in thin air, and the rod was as
straight as when it came from the maker's hands.
Here was an exposition ! — here was a horror ! To crown
all, "Walter stood by and took snuff most provokingly
philosopliical, and I thought I detected a half-suppressed
smile on liis visage. Raving as I was internally, I still
conducted myself with outward decency, particidarly
when I found that the fish was lost owing to the bad
temper of a London hook, which broke in the animal's
jaw ; so that I, Harry Otter, was not to blame after all.
I gave one solemn sigh for the death of old Kirby,
A PONDEROUS SALMON. 107
whose hooks would not have broken in the mouth of a
shark.
My Scotch friend now fitted me out with one of his
own flies, but desired me not to throw any more in the
Carry-wheel ; " for," said he, " as sure as deid, the spirit
is against ye : he hampered yer heucks, he broke yer
goad and yer flee, and he pulled ye doon in the waters ;
and ye never ^vould hae been seen again in this life,
gin I hadna cotched ye by the oxter. * Thae that the
Kelpie grips seldom rise again ; but nae ither spirit, ye
ken, has power in the rinnin' water." Whether I
partook of this superstition matters not ; but I left the
cast because it was unlucky, which is much the same
thing.
I was now under the influence of some better spirit
of the flood ; for I absolutely landed two gilse of six
pounds each in a cast called " The Noirs." Wattie,
seeing my rod bent, came up : he said but little ; but
that little was the most unqualified abuse of my mis-
management. The fact is, I treated the gilse just as
I would have treated a trout ; a very base mistake.
I bagged them, however, notwithstanding, — thanks to
the excellence of the channel.
The next cast I came to was called " The Brig-end ; "
and here I hooked a fine salmon : he was brave and
strenuous, and so ponderous, that it seemed as if my
hook had caught hold of a floating Norwegian pine,
" fit for the mast of some high ammiral." After various
eccentric courses. Master Fish made a sudden and des-
perate rush down the river; — out went my line with a
* The ai'm.
108 A PROPER MESS.
whirring rattle, and cut one of my fingers sharply. I
followed as best I might, prancing in the water like a
Avar-horsc, with the spray about my ears. Wattie
hallood out, and said I know not what ; but the tone
of his voice was far from being complimentary. Nearly
all my line of a hundred yards was now run out ; when
the fish made a sudden turn, crossed to the opposite
bank, and coasted up it amongst the rocks. Here again
AVattie Avas perfectly wild.
" Gang back, I tell ye, — haud up yer gaud, — shorten
yer line, — keep aboon him, ye gomrell ! Ou, ye are
drownit as sure as deeth ! Pirn in, pirn in ! — pirn out,
pirn out ! Gang forrat, gang forrat ! — gang ahint,
gang ahint ! " These contradictory exclamations I could
have excused, as I believe they were warranted by the
sudden turns of the fish ; but the fellow had absolutely the
temerity to attempt to take my rod from me, Avhereat I
lashed out behind, and gave him sundry kicks, as strong
and hearty as could be managed Avith my degenerate shoes.
I did shorten my line a little, however ; but the water
&c. pressed against it so heavily that I could not extricate
it as I Avished. I had now receded to the shore, and
gained, as I thought, the victory. Being resolved to be
canny, I fixed my eyes intently upon the point Avhere
the line dipped into the Avater, under Avhich I conceived
the fish to be ; but to my surprise I caught a glimpse
of my playfellow Avith the tail of my eye, springing out
of the Avater, and toAving my tackle after him about
twenty yards above the spot Avhere I conceived him to
be. I Avas in a perfect tremor — ye gods, hoAV I did
shake ! But that did not last long, as the line all of a
CUT AND DROWNED. 109
sudden vaulted into the air, and streamed abroad like
the lithe pennon on a ship-mast, being^at a rude guess,
about twenty yards minus of its pristine proportions.
This was all magic to me at the time, — magic of the most
distressing sort ; but in after days I saw what my error
was. I knew that it consisted in giving out too much
line at first, which would have been unnecessary, had I
stepped back at once on the channel, kept my rod aloft,
and ran down the river-side with my fish, still keeping
above him. This, as has been seen, I did not do ; but
kept deep in the water, where I could make but little
way. With a shorter hue, and good footing, I might have
kept above my fish when he crossed over and made up
the stream, and thus have held the line tight ; but as it
was, it hung back in a huge sweep, that would have
gone round the foundations of another Carthage, — which
sweep, coming in contact with a concealed rock or stone,
gave the fish a dead pull, and he broke it incontinently :
abiit, evasit, erupit. It was very distressing — very.
Now having your line in this untoward position is
called being drowned, and the breaking of the tackle in
the manner described being cut, — soul-haiTowing, sui-
cidical miseries, that no one can properly describe ex-
cept Mr. Richard Penn.
Here ended my fishing, and in summing up the
events of the day I had not much to congratulate my-
self upon. I had been guilty of almost every error pos-
sible : I broke my hook and my rod ; I was moreover
cut and droioned, teclmically speaking. I learned, how-
ever, four things : firstly, never to fish in a cast where
the Kelpie has his strong-hold ; secondly, to look occa-
110 WADING AGREEABLE.
sionally behind me before my throw, where the banks
are steep and near ; thirdly, to try the strength of my
hook before I use it, not after ; and, fourthly, to get into
shoes of a proper consistency, and well studded with
nails of Brobdinag dimensions. Take warning, gentle
readers, from these disasters, which are recounted for
your benefit and instruction.
The day following I was more successful ; for I shot
twelve brace of partridges, and killed seven salmon in
the evening. This I thought good sport, as partridges
are scarce by the river side.
I rented various houses and large fisheries on Tweed
side for about twenty years after this, remaining there
not only during the summer months, but sometimes all
the year round except close time ; so that my experience
reaches to all the methods of catching salmon during
the legal time of the year. I shall now proceed to give
as good an idea as I can of the sort of thing to be ex-
pected by those w^ho are inclined to follow the same
amusement, together with such instructions as I would
fain hojie may increase their success. And, first, for
wading.
Wading in the water is not only an agreeable thing
in itself, but absolutely necessary in some rivers in the
North that are destitute of boats ; and that you may do
this in the best possible style, procure half a dozen pair
of shoes, with large knob-nails at some distance asunder :
if they are too close, they will bring your foot to an
even surface, and it will glide off a stone or rock, which
in deep water may be inconvenient. Cut some holes in
the upper-leathers of your shoes, to give the water a free
PROPER CAUTIONS. Ill
passage out of them when you are on dry land; not
because the fluid is annoying, for we should wrong you
to say so, but to prevent the pumping noise you would
otherwise make at every step. If you are not much of
a triton, you may use fishermen's boots, and keep your-
self dry : it is all a matter of taste. When you are
wachng through the rapids, step on quickly and boldly,
and do not gaze down on the stream after the fashion of
Narcissus ; for running waves will not reflect your
beauty, but only make your head giddy. If you stop
for a moment, place your legs abreast of each other :
should you fancy a straddle, with one of them in ad-
vance, the action of the water will operate upon both,
trip you up, and carry you out to sea. Observe, I am
talking of a heavy stream. The body of a man, who
probably lost his life in this manner, was found low down
the river when I was fishing. I asked John Haliburton,
who was then my fisherman, where it came from. " I sup-
pose," said he, "it travelled all the way from Peebles."*
Avoid standing upon rocking stones, for obvious rea-
sons ; and never go into the water deeper than the fifth
button of your waistcoat: even this does not always
agree with tender constitutions in frosty weather. As
you are likely not to take a just estimate of the cold m
the excitement of the sport, should you be of a delicate
temperament, and be wading in the month of February,
when It may chance to freeze very hard, jduII down your
stockings, and examine your legs. Should they be black,
or even pm-ple. It might, perhaps, be as well to get on
dry land ; but if they are only rubicund, you may con-
* Peebles was about tweuty-five miles from the spot in (juestion.
112 COUPULENT GENTLEMAN.
tinuc to enjoy the water, if it so pleases you. If you
go in far enough to throw over the cast, that is suffi-
cient ; for, remember, it is not good to have a very long
line when a short one will answer your purpose. You
will not strike your fish so soon, and a sudden run of
his might place you in an awkward predicament when
your progress is impeded by wading.
It is really refreshing, and does one's heart good, to
see how some that are green in the sport will, in the
language of stag hunting, " take to soil." I heard of a
very fat man from the precincts of Cheapside, who was
encountered in the river Shiel, in Inverness-shire, by two
gentlemen, — merrier ones than whom " I never passed
an hour's talk withal." The corpulent man looked at the
water for some time like a child that is going into a cold
bath, and does not half like it ; he then broke forth in
the following guise : —
" I am convinced, gentlemen, that your waders catch
most fish. I say, gentlemen, that those who wade are the
most successful." His opinion being greatly encouraged,
he put forth one foot in the pool ; and not finding the
sensation very alarming, for the weather was warm, he
walked soberly forward, saying at every step, " Ay, ay,
— your Avaders catch the most fish." Now the rock
shelving down near the bank, in progressing he was
soon up to the hips —
" Tendebatque raanus ripaj ulterioris amore ; "
but he could not reach the desired spot even then.
In this dilemma he looked wistfully at the shore for
advice. " How deep should I go ? " said the enter-
prising man. One said to the fifth button of your waist-
A DAMP GENTLEMAN. 113
coat, and the other to your shirt-collar. He preferred
the fifth button ; and soon treading on a faithless stone,
fairly toppled head foremost into the pool. His hand
relaxed its grasp, and away went the fishing rod down
the stream. He huiiself was soon placed out of danger
by the gentlemen, — an attention that, considering all
things, he was fairly entitled to ; but his rod lay across
the river, the butt end opposed in its passage by one
rock in the middle of it, and the top by another ; so the
weight of the stream bore upon the centre, and snapped
it in twain. The corpulent gentleman took all with the
greatest good humour ; and as the water streamed from
him at all points, as it were from a river god, and as he
applied a brandy flask to his mouth, he said only at the
intervals between his potations, " I am not quite so sure
that your waders catch the most fish ; gentlemen, I say,
I have my doubts of it."
To the credit of my friends be it spoken, they waded
and swam after the two divisions of his rod, which they
spliced together for him, and set him going again ; not
in the faithless water, but on the trusty shore, which he
now seemed to prefer.
I cannot in conscience recommend a course of wading
to a sedentary man as a new experiment, or even as an
old custom revived after a lapse of years ; and this for
the following reason.
General Gowdie was born on the banks of the
Leader-water, which falls into the Tweed about a mile
and a half below Melrose, near Fly Bridge. In his youth
he was an ardent and expert salmon fisher ; in after life
he went out to India, and served honourably there for
I
114 FATAL EFFECT OF WADING.
forty years. At length, in the decline of life, he was
eeizctl with the Swiss passion — an unconquerable yearn-
ing to revisit the land of his sires. Night after night he
heard in his dreams the murmuring lapse of the Leader
as it glided down his native valley; again he reposed in
the sunny dell, and thought of " auld lang syne ; " then,
when the cheerless morn broke forth, and he found him-
self on a vast continent, far away from the land of his
fathers, he felt as one cast out of Paradise. Gone were
the visions of Ms early scenes and companions ; — lost,
long lost, but too well remembered. How distant, alas !
from the bonny copses of Carrol-side ! — how far from
the silver waters of the Tweed !
After honourable service he set sail for the shores of
Scotland, detemiined to pass the remainder of his days
in comparative privacy and tranquillity. I met him soon
after his arrival, and gave him some salmon fishing. It
was delightful to see how he enjoyed himself : he waded
as deep as any of us. And I well remember showing him
a favourite seat for a salmon near the point of a cairn :
he cast his fly at once in the exact spot to an inch, and
threw several times with the same adroitness; not be-
cause he expected to raise a salmon, — for he well knew
that if a fish did not come at the first dexterous throw,
it was useless to cast a second time for him in the same
place, — but because he felt great satisfaction at his
renewed dexterity, and he was pleased that any one
should witness it.
Poor fellow ! his happiness did not last long. The
habit of wading at his advanced time of life brought on
internal disease, which soon ended fatally ; and he only
repassed the seas to lay liis bones in the father-land.
JOHN, LORD SOMERVILLE. 115
CHAP. VI.
" I tell you more : there was a fish taken,
A monstrous fish, with a sword by 's side, — a long sword ;
A pike in's neck, and a gun in's nose, — a huge gun;
And letters of mart in's mouth from the Duke of Florence.
Cleanthes. This is a monstrous lie.
Tony. I do confess it ;
Do you think I'd tell you truths ? "
Fletcher's Wife for a Munth.
Having set forth the advantages, as well as the risk
of wading, in a fair, and I hope a rational light, I will
proceed to advise on other matters.
In primis, your rod should be proportioned to the
size of the river you fish in ; eighteen or twenty feet
long. The longer the rod, the greater command you will
have over your fish ; for being enabled to keep the line
more perpendicular, you can lead him with more ease
and security amongst rocks and eddies ; whereas with a
short rod you cannot keep enough of your line clear of
the water to prevent danger in such places. It is true
that the late Lord Somerville, who was an excellent
fisherman, used a one-handed trout rod for salmon. He
did not, however, do so from choice, but from necessity ;
for having once put out his shoulder, he could not
manage to throw with a rod of the usual size. He
once put this little rod into my hands when we were
fishing together in his water ; but, for want of practice,
I 2
116 SALMON LINES.
I could make little or nothing of it, but I was astonished
to see what a long line he himself could throw with it.
It must be noted, however, that he fished from a boat
in the upper and narrower part of the Tweed, where
the channel is excellent, and where there are few bad
rocks ; in a large river, abounding in all those natural
obstructions which its waters fight with, no human
ingenuity could have saved hun from being often cut
with such Lilliputian tackle.
Your line should be about a hundred or a hundred
and twenty or thirty yards, according to the breadth
of the river you fish in ; tapering, of course, towards the
end. Your gut single, clear, and round. Of such you
may make a casting line sufliciently strong for any salmon
you will ever encounter in these degenerate days.
The colour of your casting line should depend upon
the state of the river. Take some thought, therefore, to
adapt it accordingly : in doing so, you may fancy that
you and the fish have changed places. Whilst you are
on dry land your object of comparison is the dark bed
of the river, which misleads you of course ; whereas the
objects of comparison to the fish, who lies below, are
the colour of the sky and the medium of water. If the
water then be moss-stained, your gut may be very faintly
tinged of the same colour, — very faintly indeed, as all
dyes are overdone ; but if the river be clear, do not on
any accomit stain your casting line at all. The sky
may vary in colour every minute : an attempt to match
it, therefore, is out of the question. You may easUy
satisfy yourself of the superiority of white over dyed
gut, in ordinary cases, by remarking the appearance of
both when placed in a tumbler of pure water.
A LUCKY CAST. 117
Whatever you do, have nothing to say to multiplying
reels : they are apt to betray you In the hour of trial.
My first discovery of their insufficiency for heavy fish
created some embarrassment at the time. I had a pet
multiplier, which ran beautifully, and which I had long
used for trout fishing. As it was sufficiently large to
contain a salmon liae, I employed it for that purpose
also, till it began to get ricketty with the more heavy
work. One day, the water being fallen in, and the
morning also being sunny, so as to exclude the expect-
ation of killing a salmon, I put some trout tackle at the
end of my line, which was on the said reel, and began
trouting in Bolside-water. In the course of the day a
cloud passed before the sun ; and at the same time, as is
usually the case, a slight breeze arose and ruffled the
surface of the water. I hastened to change my tackle,
and substituted a small salmon fly in place of the trout
ones : small, because, as I have said, the water was
quite fallen in. Though many years have passed over
my head since that time, I remember this fly well.
His wings were of the clear brown feather from the
bittern ; his body of black wool, with a hackle of the
same colour ; and his tail of a very pronounced yellow,
being made of the feather of a golden pheasant ; red he
was in the head, and altogether of a very commendable
and alluring aspect. The curl on the water still con-
tinuing, I whisked him off gaily. At the very second
throw, the pool being somewhat dead, I saw the water
heave up, advancing in a wave towards me. I waited
patiently for the break, which was a slight one, but
pleasant and beauteous to behold. This I knew to be
I 3
118 DISORDERED TACKLE.
the act of tlie Salmo Salar; and as my line was short, I
was, as I before recommended to others. In no hurry to
strike ; but fix him I did in due season. He no sooner
felt the hook than he began to rebel ; and executed some
very heavy runs, which so disconcerted the machinery of
my multiplier as almost to dislocate the wheels. The
line gave out with starts and hitches, so that I was obliged
to assist it with my hands. To wind up it resolutely
refused ; so that I was compelled to gather in the line in
large festoons when it was necessary to shorten it, and
again to give these out as best I could when the fish
made a run. Add to this embarrassment that the ground
was distressing, there being alder bushes in my rear,
which made it impossible for me to retreat and advance
by land, by which means I could have humoured the
fancies of the fish, so as to obviate in some degree the
necessity of giving out and shortening the line. So I
had no power whatever over the salmon, which was
evidently a very large one.
In the course of an hour I made no impression upon
him at all, my whole aim being to avoid a break. I
never engaged with a more subtle animal. Sometimes
he would make the tour of all the neighbouring stones,
where he endeavoured, no doubt, to rub the hook out of
his mouth ; then he would take a long rest, as if he
cared nothing about it. From the cause I have men-
tioned my tackle was always in disorder, which kept
me in great apprehension. Thus the matter went on for
nearly two hours more, still with a very dubious result.
At length a stone being thrown in by my attendant at
a spot where I could follow along the bank, he put his
I
AVEIGHT TELLS. 119
head down the river peremptorily, and went oiF like a
rocket. I ran with him down the channel, as he skunmed
through the shallows and darted through the rough
gorges, in evident danger, as I was, of losing him every
moment. At length he fairly exhausted himself, and I
was able to m'ge him to a sand bank, and lay him on
his broadside.
The sand bank, however, had a few inches of w^ater
running over it, but not sufficient to cover the fish.
My attendant, Philip Garrat, had the tact to place
himself between the dee]) water and the fish. Then
came the struggle. A Wiltshire novice, like the said
Philip, could not hold a live salmon with his hands,
so he tried to kick liim forward on the dry channel.
All this time I hallooed stoutly to liim to take care of
the line. My anxiety was extreme ; for the fish was
sometimes able to place himself in a swimming posture,
and wriggle away near the deep water. In fact, had
there been but one inch of water moi*e over the sand
bank, he would have*had it all his own way. Philip,
aware of the danger, set at him wath redoubled activity,
kicking his fastest and best. But the event being still
doubtful, he knelt down and grappled with him ; and
finding him still slippery and elusive, he cast himself
bodily upon liim, and fixed him with his weight at once :
'^ Toto certatum est corpore regni." So thought he of
Macedonian appellation ; but he did not express himself
in such terms, being a man of no clerk-like capacity :
whatever he might have thought, he only said, looking
up Avith a grin of delight and with a Wiltshire accent,
" I got un, — be hanged if I ha'nt."
I 4
120 TRTUMPIIANT AT LAST.
A cold bath for a few minutes more or less is of no
consequence ; so I made him remain a space, like -^tna
pressing upon the shoulders of Enceladus, till I came
up and griped the huge salmon by the tail, and Avalkcd
to dry land with him, triumphant.
I was nearly three hours in killing this fish, all owing
to the derangement of a multiplying reel ; and as this
contrivance, though useful enough in our trout rivers,
will by no means answer with very large fish, I have
mentioned the above occurrence in detail as a warning
to others.
After this time I caused to be made some large single
reels, nicely constructed, so as to give the line out
evenly, and not run too slackly ; and I directed that the
cylinders should be of a very ample circumference,
which gave me the same advantage that a multiplying
reel has with the usual cylinder.
William Purdie at that time rented the Bolside-
water, which runs by Abbotsford, and in which I caught
this fish. His son, then a little boy, happened to pass
by when I landed him, and I sent him home to his
METROPOLITAN FLIES. 121
father with the salmon ; but it was with extreme dif-
ficulty that the little fellow got up the brae, as liis load,
which was hung over his shoulders, frequently made him
stagger back down the rocks which he had from time to
time ascended. That little boy came into my service
as fisherman some seasons afterwards, and has lived
with me now about eighteen years. He is a capital
fly-maker and boatman, and a most valuable servant.
Some of liis exploits appear in these pages, he being the
identical Charlie Purdie so repeatedly mentioned in
them.
A great deal of mystery is made on every river as to
the flies you should fish with. Thus when a novice ar-
rives at his fishing station, he sends for the oracle of the
river ; pulls out his book, crammed as closely as a pot of
pemmican, and displays before him the various devices
of an Eaton, an Ustonson, or a Chevalier. Kotliing
dazzled, Donald much admires what one may be, and
what the other ; this he rejects as useless, that he laughs
to scorn. At length, after having grinned extensively at
those tinselled animals called kill devils, he examines
some twenty dozen of your best flies ; and, pulUng out
one from the number, tells you that might serve well
enough if it had different wings, a different body, and
a yellow tail. Now all this is overdone ; but I would
advise you to acquiesce in the predictions of the said
oracle, simply to save the trouble of argument. One
thing you may be sure of; namely, that you may as well
attempt to make the Tweed run back to its source as
to shake his opinions.
Now, as there is no month in the year when salmon
122 SALMON FLIES.
flics arc made by nature, so no distinction of species
need be observed. My rule has been to adapt my fly,
both as to colour and size, to the state of the water : a
large fly with sober colours for deep and clear w^ater,
and a smaller one, equally unassuming, where it is
shallower ; in the throat of the cast, and as long as it
continues rough, a large fly also ; at the tail of it, where
the water runs more quietly and evenly, a smaller one
serves the purpose best. Thus you should change your
fly in every stream once or twice. A large and rather
gaudy fly is preferable when the river is full and dis-
coloured, that the salmon, which lie at great depths, may
see it ; but I never had any great success with very
gaudy flies, either in the Tweed or elsewhere, in clear
and low waters. Salmon will rise at them, it is true ;
but those that have been long in the w^ater will not take
them freely when the river is in the state I have spoken
of, though they excite their curiosity, and serve them
for playthings. I believe it is the fashion now to think
otherwise ; so that in these days a golden pheasant's
feathers are in as high estmiation in Scotland as they
always have been in Ireland.
In tying your flies, you may have some regard to
the harmonic colours, as less startling and more natural.
You may laugh, if you please, but I would fain think
there is something in this. If you know them not, con-
sult Sir David Brewster's table of spectral colours in
his distinguished " Philosophical Magazine."
I have said that there is no animal in nature re-
sembling our salmon flics ; but I once caught a fish who
was certainly persuaded that he was attacking an animal
CHANGE OF FLIES. 123
that he had previously seen flying. This event hap-
pened when I was a novice. Walter Ronaldson was
attending me, and we were walking by the side of the
Elm-icheel in the Pavilion-water. Walter was some
way in advance, when I saw a white butterfly fluttering
up and down over the water, and a salmon make a
fruitless dart at it. It chanced that I had made some
large salmon flies with white wings, in imitation
of a pattern that Avas formerly the fashion for trout
fishing, and was called, I know not why, the coach-
man. One of these I immediately looped to my line :
the fish, no doubt taking it for the butterfly that he saw
flitting above him, came at it at once, and I took him.
When he was landed, Walter's astonishment was great
when he saw the fly, and he made a dozen imitations of
it before he laid his head on the pillow. I should not
think that under other circumstances such a fly would
be alluring.
When a man toils a long time without success, he is
apt to attribute his faikire to the using an improper fly ;
so he changes his book through, till at last, perhaps, he
catches fish. The fly, with which he achieves this, is
naturally enough a favourite ever afterwards, and pro-
bably without reason : the cause of success might be in
the change of air and temperature of the water ; and the
same tiling would probably have occurred if he had
persevered with the same fly with which lie began.
When the night has been frosty, salmon will not stir
till the water has received the genial warmth of the day ;
and there are a thousand hidden causes of obstruction
which we, who are not fish, know notliing about.
124 POWDERED LAWYERS.
As an instance, I once fished over a short stream
above " The Webbs," in Mertoun-water, without having
an offer ; being convinced there were fish in it, I went
over it a second time with the same fiij immediately
afterwards, and caught two salmon and two gilse.
Now if I had changed my fly, as is usual, the success
would naturally have been attributed to such change.
But, observe, I do not mean to assert that all flies are
equally successful, for there must obviously be a pre-
ference, however slight ; but I mean merely to say that
a failure oftener occurs from atmospheric variations than
from the colour of the fly. Yet an occasional change is
always advisable, particularly if you have had any
offers ; since the fish in so rising, having, perhajis, dis-
covered the deception, will not be solicitous to renew
their acquaintance with a detected scamp. After all,
the great thing is to give the appearance and motion of
a living animal.
Once, when I was adjusting my tackle on Tweed side,
I was accosted by a native fisherman in these words, —
" Ye need na fash yersel the day wi' yer lang wand, for
I wud na gie a pinch o' snuff for a' that ye'U get ; there
are too many jmutliered Imoyrs aboot." Powdered
lawyers ! I gazed around me, and did not see a single
gentleman of the long robe. What on earth could the
man mean ? and what had a powdered lawyer to do with
ray sport ? Upon explanation, I found out that he alluded
to the numerous puffy white clouds above. Whether the
likeness of these to lawyers' wigs was appropriate or
not, I leave to those who are learned in similes to de-
termine ; but he certainly was right in his main position.
FAVOURITE FLIES. 125
If your fish misses the fly in making his offer, wait
awhile before you throw a second time ; and if he rises
at all, he will come more eagerly for this delay. When
he returns to his seat, after the unsuccessful sortie, he
will say mentally (for thus do fishes and novelists dis-
course), " "VYliat a donkey I was to be so awkward ! By
St. Antonio, if he comes again, I'll smash him ! " But if
you keep lasliing away at him immediately, as I have
seen many fishermen do, — ay, and practised hands too, —
he will probably treat you with contempt, and will have
no intercourse with your gay deluders for the rest of
the day. It is some time, perhaps, since he has taken
up his seat in the water, without ever having seen an
animal like that which you are so obliging as to tender
him : all of a sudden come a swarm of locusts, as it were,
one after another over his neb, which astonish and
alann him exceedingly. Thus it is apparent, my most
excellent, but too persevering friend, that you do not
do justice to his sagacity, or instinct, or whatever you
please to term it, if you set to work in such an intrusive
manner.
As in all other rivers, so there are various flies made
use of in the Tweed; but the variety consists more,
I think, in size than in colour. A large fly, as I have
said, for the heavy and deep waters, and a smaller one
for the upper part of the river. That is the general
system. More minute particulars I have already given.
Here are six flies, which I have always found the most
successful : I do not mean to say that they are the best
that can be used, but only that they are such as I have
most confidence in from experience. They were tried
126
FAVOURITE FLIES.
by my fisherman Charles Purdie, and in such a manner
as to make them cut their way steadily through the
water. They are known by different names ; so that
when I say to my fisherman give me this, or give me
that, mentioning the patronymic, forth it comes, with-
out the trouble of searching over the book myself.
Two of these flies are of the masculine gender, three
of the feminine, and one of the neuter. The masculine
are Michael Scott and Kinmont Willie; the feminine,
the Lady of Mertoun or the Flower of Yarrow, Meg
with the Muckle Mouth in her usual dress, and Meg in
her bravery — or, Scottice, braivs. The fly of the neuter
gender has been called Toppy from time immemorial.
No. 1.
Kinmont Willie.
Wings - - - Mottled feather from under the whig
of a male teal.
Head - - . Yellow wool.
Body - - - Fur of the hare's ear.
End of body - - Red wool.
Tail . - - Yellow wool.
Round the body - - Black-cock's hackle.
I found this fly very successful in the Annan when
I lived at Eanmont, from which place it derives its name.
No. 2.
The Lady of Mertoun.
Wings - - - Mottled feather from under the wings
of the male teal.
Head - . - Crimson wool.
Body - - - Water-rat's fur.
End of body - - Crimson wool.
Tail - - - Yellow wool.
Round the body - - Black-cock's hackle.
End of body - - A little red hackle.
FAVOURITE FLIES.
127
No. 3.
Toppij.
"\Vings -
- Black feather from a turkey
tipped with white.
Head -
- Crimson wool.
Body
- Black bullock's hair.
End of body
- Crimson wool.
Tail
- Yellow wool
Body -
- Black-cock's hackle.
End of body
- Small piece of red-cock's hackle.
tail
No. 4.
I will now describe Michael Scott, a most killing
wizard.
DeUe
magiche frodi seppe il gioco."
Wings -
-
-
Mottled feather from the back of a
drake.
Head -
-
-
Yellow wool, with a little hare's fur
next to it.
BtKly -
'^
-
Black wool.
EndoftKe*ody
-
Fur from the hare's ear ; next to the
hare's ear crimson wool.
Tail
-
-
Yellow wool.
Round the
body -
-
Black-cock's hackle.
End of the
body -
-
Red-cock's hackle.
Round the
body -
-
Gold twist, spirally.
No. 5.
Meg with the Muckle Mouth.
Wings - - - From the tail of a brown turkey.
Head - - . Crimson wool.
Body - - - Yello - sUk.
End of body - - Crimson wool.
Tail - . - YeUow or orange wool.
Round the tail - - Red-cock's hackle.
Round the body - - Gold twist ; over it hackle mixed with
coloui', as above.
^
128 A WORTHY PERSON EMBARRASSED.
No. 6.
Meg in her Braws.
Wings - - - Light brown, from the wing of a bit-
tern.
Head ... Yellow wool.
Next the head - - Mottled blue feather from a jay's
wing.
Body ... Brown wool mixed with bullock's hair.
Towards the end of body Green wool ; next to that crimson
wool.
Tail . - - Yellow wool.
Round the body - - Gold twist ; over that cock's hackle,
black at the roots and red at the
points.
Concerning these flies I will note one thing, which is,
that if you rise a fish with the Lady of Mertoun, and he
does not touch her, give him a rest, and come over him
with the Toppy, and you have him to a certainty, and
vice versa. This I hold to be an invaluable secret, and
is the only change that during my long practice I have
found eminently successful.
Having now named all things necessary for the sport,
I must now advise all fishermen, Cocknies in particular,
to provide themselves with plenty of spare tackle before
they go felicity hunting ; for in the wilds of Scotland it
is not easy to replace any loss that inexperience and ill
fortune may occasion.
A friend of mind told me a circumstance, by which it
appeared that a very worthy person was considerably
embarrassed for want of this due precaution. This said
friend had been fishing in the river Shiel in Inverness-
shire, and was seated on a bank with a large salmon be-
fore him that he had just caught. He was eyeing the fish
with complacency, and smoking a cigar in all the enjoy-
SAGACIOUS ANGLEPw 129
ment of success. Whilst in this tranquil mood, a man
suddenly vaulted over the wall of the Shiel bridge ;
" And when he had not the least suspicion,
Was with him like an apparition."
This man he described to me as fresh in his attire.
Thin and new were his shoes, — new also was his jacket,
new his waistcoat, and novel his pantaloons ; but newest
of all was his top-varnished salmon rod, turned out by
Eaton : but he was shabbily thatched, his hat being
worse than common. His flies, to all appearance, were
made by the Turks, — men forbidden by their religion
to imitate any of the Avorks of the Creation. As for the
man himself, no one could look at him without being
put in mind of jMantellini.
" Denmition fine pool, sir."
a Very fine indeed, sir ; but you will never catch a
fish where you are casting at present, because fish do
not lie in that bare water."
Upon this our man faced round, put his fore finger to
his nose, and, with an expression of sagacity and wisdom
that I should in vain attempt to describe, said,
" Do you see any tiling green in my eyes, sir ? "
It was evident such a person was not born to be in-
structed, but simply to be admired. My friend, there-
fore, left his rod upon the bank, and walked after liim,
cigar in mouth, to get some insight into his tactics.
Arrived at a better part of the pool, he hooked a fish ;
and here it was curious to see the difference of opinion
between a Cockney and one who had been bred to the
sport. The Cockney was of a yielding disposition, and
K
130 VANISHING OF A LINE.
judged it advisable to let the fish have his own way ;
the result of which was, that he ran out an exorbitant
length of line, and was going to a sort of whirlpool
amongst the rocks.
" Hold him in, hold him in ; if he gets to that eddy,
you are done."
" Fine fish, sir, fine fish ; fast hooked, sir. Do you
see any thing green in my eyes ? I have an opinion
of my own, sir."
" So has the fish. And now it is all over with you ;
for if you had nothing but a dried herring at the end of
your line, you would never get it out of that mess. I
hope you have another casting line, because you will
never see that again."
" Fine fish, sir ; fine rod, sir ; fine line, sir ; fast
hooked, sir, — fast hooked. Do you see any thing
green "
He was stopped short in the sentence by an alarming
rush of the salmon, who shot forward up the stream,
and took out the whole of the line of the consenting
party to the tune of 120 yards. Now it is a wholesome
rule to make fast the end of the line, by running it
through a hole in the cylinder of the reels, and tying
some knots at the extremity to secure it ; and as this
rule is wholesome, so it has been practised time imme-
morial by all sagacious persons, and even by some who
are not very sagacious. But there are exceptions to all
rules, and our man had neglected this caution ; con-
sequently, the line, being all run out, vanished at once
through the rings of the rod, and streamed fair and
ample below the surface of the Avater. The mermaid
may, but that line shall no terrestrial ever see again.
I
A SLIGHT EMBARKASSMENT.
131
" Demnition hard that, sir. What an extraordinary
incident ! Fish well managed, dexterously, artistically.
Very odd indeed, sir: beautifully played ; — fine rod,
fine hand. Demnition hard, I must say. Now how far
must I go to get a line ? "
" If you mean to get the same, probably to the middle
of the Irish Channel, or the mouth of the Shannon ;
but if you seek a new one, which I think would be the
most prudent course, walk up to the road, and you will
see a mile-stone, which says, * To Inverness 120 miles,'
— exactly a mile for every yard of line you have lost,
and I am sorry for it."
Casting the fly is a knack, and cannot well be taught
but by experience : the spring of the rod should do the
chief work, and not the labour of your arm. To effect
K 2
132 INSTRUCTIONS.
this, you should lay the stress as near the hand as pos-
sible, and make the wood undulate from that point;
which is done by keeping your elbow in advance, and
doing something* with your wrist, Avhich, as Mr. Pcnn
says, is not very easy to explain. Thus the exertion
should be chiefly from the elbow and wrist, and not
from the shoulders. You should throw clear beyond
the spot where the salmon lie, so that they may not sec
the fly light upon the water ; then you should bring the
said fly round the stream, describing the segment of a
circle taking one step in advance at every throw. In
this manner the fish see your fly only, and not the line.
It is customary to give short jerks with the fly as you
bring it round, something in the manner of minnow
fishing, but in a more gentle and easy way ; and I think
this manner is the most seducing you can adopt : it sets
the wings in a state of alternate expansion and con-
traction that is extremely captivating.
Salmon will often take your fly on one side of the
river when they will not touch it on the other. In high
water, the channel side, as a general rule, is the best, and
at the cheek of the current ; and you should not be in a
hurry to pull your fly into the more bare and still parts
of the channel, where the fish will come more cautiously
and lazily. In low water it is best to throw over the
channel from the rocky side, drawing at first rather
quickly, that your fish may take your fly in the current,
which is material. In very low water, indeed, when the
fish may be said to give over rising, you may try your
luck in the rapids by hanging your fly on them ; indeed,
you should always let your fly dwell on this sort of water,
MATHEMATICA.L ANGLING. 133
or the fish will either lose sight of it, or not choose to
follow where you may wish him. All these things are
not easily explained in writing, nor, I believe, in con-
versation, as will appear from the following example.
A friend of mine went with two companions to fish in
the river Mora, on the coast of Inverness-shire. One of
these two comrades was a young Oxonian, and a novice ;
the other was an experienced fisherman. They were
all three in one of those Higliland shielings, redolent of
peat smoke and whiskey, which is absolute luxury to
a thorough-bred sportsman, as being in keeping and
character with the nature of his piu'suit. The Oxonian
was an excellent person, but, as I have hinted, knew
nothing upon earth about sahnon fishing ; so Mr. E.
C., who was an adept in the said art, set al30ut in-
structing him by word of mouth. The third person of
the party happened not to coincide with the excellence
of the simple instructions he was giving, and laid it
down as an axiom, that it was unpossible to catch a fish,
unless your fly was at right angles to your rod. Tliis
seemed not at all to be comprehended; and after a little
arguing, the said oracle, by way of illustration, took a
stick, tied his handkerchief to it, and gave a few throws on
the table. " Now," said he, "these are very bad throws,
and would never catch a fish." This assertion was ap-
plauded, and immediately carried by acclamation. To
make a good cast, and keep your fly in the rectangular
position," continued the maestro, " you must furl your
line thus." So saying, he gave the handkerchief a knowing
whisk, which extinguished both the candles. Thus he
argued with all his might, feeding the young Oxonian
K 3
134 RAISON DEMONSTRATIVE.
with scientific maxims, who promised that he would
fiirl his line, and fish mathematically.
The next morning no one could start with a fairer
prospect of sport than the said novice. He was accom-
panied by Allan Beg, or Little Allan, because he was
told it was quite impossible for him to catch a salmon
without his assistance; and he was taught how to kill
his fish "par raison demonstrative." But throw as he
would, furl as he might, he could by no means manage
to keep his fly always at right angles to his rod, al-
though he was a most excellent mathematician. At
length, after having lost seven favourite flies, and two
casting lines, he broke out in unqualified abuse of the
system; which so enraged his "gentle brother of the
angle," that high words arose, and they were on the
point of committing the duello on those very sands
where it is said Prince Charles drew up his forces.
My friend was asked to act as impartial second to both
parties, wliich he consented to, on condition only that
they should stand and fire so that the balls might cross
at right angles to each other. But " Etes-vous fou," said
he to the Oxonian; "de Taller quereller, lui qui entend
les angles, et qui sait tuer un saumon par raison de-
monstrative ? " At this good humour returned, and each
party fished the rest of the day according to the angles
that best suited his fancy, without let or argument.
Now in holding your fly on a rough stream you must
advance your arms, and bring your rod straight across
the river, consequently your line hanging straight down
the stream may form a right angle at the point of your
rod, and so you should work it in this instance ; but in
A SPRING SALMON. 135
most other cases I prefer the obtuse angle. As to the
argument, " lis avoient ralson tous deux."
In hooking a rising fish, it is best to strike a little
sideways, that the hook may fasten in the fleshy part
of the mouth ; whereas, if you pull straight up, you
are apt to encounter the upper or bony part ; or if the
fish has not closed his jaws, and fairly turned off, you
may pull the fly away from him too soon, to the dis-
appointment of both parties. As a proof of this, if it
does not appear sufficiently obvious, I ajipeal to any
one, who has tried it, to say whether or not it is an
easy matter to hook a rising fish, the experimentalist
being stationed on a high bridge.
Sometimes, however, when a salmon is clean run,
and in high glee, you can scarcely miss him, strike
which way you will.
I remember fishing at the Troughs, under the aus-
pices of Rob Kerse, early in the spring, before a clean
fish had been caught there that season. I stood over
one of those gorges where an immense volume of water,
pent up in a narrow passage, rolls furiously between
its rocky barriers. Here I fixed myself for a few casts
— the rocks being of such a nature that I could not go
lower down the river either in a boat or by wading.
This cast is called the Clippers, and is In IVIackerston-
water.
Here, with a line not given out above my rod's length,
I hooked a clean salmon that rose close under me. I
struck him as he was at the surface of the water : as soon
as he felt the hook, he endeavoured to dig downwards.
I gave him the butt of my rod, and he bent the whole of
K 4
136 TAKEN BY SURPRISE.
it in a way that I never saw before, making it in shape,
with a slight exaggeration, nearly two thirds of a circle.
" Gie him line, gie him line," roared out Kerse and
Charlie Purdie, — " od but he'll break ye, mon." Now I
knew that if he went down the Clippers amongst the
rocks, I should be cut in a moment to a dead certainty;
for, as I noted before, I could not follow. So I was
determined not to yield at all events, and I held him
firm at the surface of the water. In this position he
had not half liis natural power, and in less than a
minute Charlie cleiked him, and brought him out before
he could dig down. Thus he was taken by surprise. He
proved to be a clean salmon of ten pounds, and the
first that had been caught that season. Now this could
not have been done, had not the line been short and the
fish almost immediately under me. I remember Kerse
(who had before been pressing the necessity of using
double or triple gut in such dangerous water) saying,
" Ay, that was canny enough ; but if you had not been
advised by me, it could not have been done at ony
gait." I showed him my casting line, however, which,
excepting the first length next the line, was of strong
single gut. But he was certainly right in his assertion
as to the necessity of very strong tackle in such a sin-
gular cast, especially as the river was very full, and the
torrent so impetuous that nice tackle was by no means
requisite.
In a low clear water you must be somewhat dilatory
in striking : you often see the heave of the water and
a break before the fish has actually seized your fly. Give
him tune to turn his head in his way Imck to his seat.
TOM PURDIE. 137
to which a salmon always returns after rising at the fly.
Tom Purdie gave me an account of a fish that had
perplexed him greatly by his non-observance of this
rule, as nearly as possible in the following words. He
might have used fewer certainly, but Tom was not
laconic.
" I had," said he, " risen a sawmon three successive
days at the throat of Caddon-water fut, and on the
fourth day I was determined to bring him to book ; and
when he rose as usual, I went up to Caddon Wa's,
namely, the pool opposite the ruins of Caddon Lee, where
there had been a terrace garden facing the soutli ; and
on returning I tried my old friend, when he rose again
without touching the heuck : but I got a glimpse o' him,
and saw he was a sawmon o' the biggest sort. I then
went down the river to a lower pool, and in half an
hour came up again and changed my heuck. I began
to suspect that having raised the fish so often, I had
become too anxious, and given him too little law, —
or jerked the heuck away before he had closed his mouth
upon it. And as I had a heavy rod and good line, and
the castin' line, which I had gotten thrae the Sherra,
had three fadom o' pleit gut at the end of it, and the
Jlee was buskit on a three plies o' sawmon gut, sae I Avas
na feard for my tackle. I had putten a cockle-stane at
the side o' the water foment the place where he raise ;
forbye I kend fu' weel where he was lyin' : it was at
the side o' a muckle blue clint that made a clour i' the
rough throat, e'en when the Queed was in a brown flood,
as she had been for twa days afore. Aweel, I thought
I wad try a plan o' auld Junijierhanli s when he had
138 SALMON CASTING HIS CANTRIPS.
raised a sawmon mair nor ance. I keeplt my eyne hard
closed when the heuck was commhi owre the place. Peace
be here ! I fund as gif I had catched the branch o' an
aik tree swingin' and sabbin' in a storm o' wind. Ye
needna doobt I opened my eyne ! An' what think ye was
the sawmon aboot ? — turnin' and roAvin' doon the tap
o' the water owre him and owre him (as ye hae seen a
hempie o' a callant row down a green brae side) at great
speed, makin' afearfu'jumblin' and splashin', and shakin'
the tap o' the wand at sic a rate, that deil hae me but
I thocht he wad hae shaken my arms afF at the
shouther joints, tho' I said to mysel' they Averc guy
firm putten on. I never saw a fish do the like but ane
i' the Auld Brig pool in the Darn wick-water. Ijalouse
they want to unspin the line ; for a fish has far mair
cunnin' and wiles aboot him than mony ane wad think.
At ony rate it was a fashions plan this I fell on ; for or
he war to the fut o' the pool I was tired o' him and his
wark, and sae was he, Ise warrant ye. For when he
fand the water turnin' shallow, he wheeled aboot, and
I ran up the pool as fast as I could follow him, gien him
a' the line I could at the same time ; and when it was just
about a' off the pirn, and he was commin into the
throat, he wheeled again in a jiffy, and cam straight for
my feet as if he had been shot out o' a cannon ! I
thocht it was a' owre atween us, for I fand naething at
the wand as the line was soommin i' the pool a' the
way doon. I was deed sure I had lost him after a' my
quirks ; for whan they cast a cantrip o' that kind, it's
done to slacken the line to let them draw the heuck out
o' their mouths wi' their teethy toung — an' they arc
ROBIN HOPE. 139
amalst sure to do sae. But he was owre weel lieuckit,
this ane, to work his purpose in that gyse, as ye sal
hear ; for when by dint o^ runnin' back thrae the
water as fast as I could, and windin' up the line I had
brought a bow on the tap o' the rod, I fand the fish
had riestit in the deepest part o' the pool, trying a' that
teeth an' toung could do to get haud o' the heuck ; and
there did he lie for nearly an hour, for I had plenty o'
time to look at my watch, and now and then to tak'
mony a snuff too. But I was certain by this time that
he was fast heuckit, and I raised him again by cloddin
stanes afore liim as near as I durst for hittin' the line.
But when I got liim up at last there was mickle mair
to do than I thocht of; for he ran up the pool and
doon the pool I dar' say fifty times, till my feet wur
dour sair wi' gangin sae lang on the channel : then he
gaed owre the stream a'thegither. I was glad to let him
change his gait ony way ; and he gaed down to Glen-
benna, that was in "VYhitebank's water, and I wrocht
him lang there. To mak' a lang tale short, before I could
get at him wi' the gaff, I was baith hungry an' tyrt ;
an' after a' he was firm heuckit, in the teughest part o'
the body, at the outside o' the edge o' the wick bane.
He was a clean sawmon, an' three an' twenty meal
pounds."
No creature is more capricious than a salmon. One
of the Lairds of Makerstoun, many years ago, had a
fisherman named Robin Hope, who, like many of his
brethren on the Tweed, was an original. Attending his
master on a day that was considered quite a killing one,
not a fish would stir. " What is the meaning of this.
140 A SALMON SNARED.
Robin?" said the Lainl. " Deed, sir, I dinna ken,"
said Kobin ; " for sometimes they will tak' the thoom
o' ycre mitten, if yc would throw it in, and at ithers
they wad na look at the Lady o' Makerstoun and a' her
braws."
Salmon never take well when the weather is about to
change ; it is therefore useless to go out when the mer-
cury remains at this point. Wlien it first sets in for a
continuance of dry weather the fish will rise about your
hook, and only break the surface of the water ; but
before a flood they will spring clean out of it, for
the purpose, perhaps, of filling their air-bladder before
travelling.
These sportive fellows, however, sometimes get into
a scrape l)y being hooked outside. A salmon of ten pounds
was caught in the Skurry-wheel, at Sprouston, in the
following curious manner. The fish were rising wantonly,
but not taking the fly ; in striking at one of them the line
looped over its tail, and the hook catching the line on
the upper side the fish was fairly snared, and at length
killed, after showing extraordinary sport.
Sometimes, also, they will leap out for pastime, and at
others from fear. Thus if a salmon has been once touched
sharply with the hook, when he sees the fly above him
on some future day he will often vault into the air. I
once saw a marked instance of this.
A very young friend who was fishing with me saw
a fish spring over his line in this manner, and he kept
flinging at him with the same result, the salmon always
moving forward, till he fairly chased him up the water
some hundred yards ; tliat is to say, from " The Webbs,"
NOVEL METHOD OF FISHING. 141
above Craigover Boat Hole in the Mertoim-water, half
Avay up to Maxwell Burn foot. Believe me, it was a
pleasant thing to behold. INIy friend would not be
denied. Master Sahno Salar, and he was a lusty one,
would not accept, but acknowledged the courteous
tender of Michael Scott at every cast, in the manner I
have described. Thus, they held correspondence with
each other a considerable time without coming in con-
tact. At length piscator began to suspect that the
repulsive qualities w^ere on his side, and the atti'active
ones only on the part of the fugitive, who knew,
" but how it mattered not,
It was the wizard Michael Scott."
So he tiu'ned his back upon him reluctantly; but, casting
a lingering look behind, he could not forbear returning
and doubling liis defeat. This fish had probably been
touched by a fly before.
That night, the hostel being fidl, we slept in a double-
bedded room. At the dead hour of twelve I was
awakened by loud cries of " I have him, I have him ! "
— " Hold him fast then," said I, for I thought he had
collared a thief; but in truth he had not : he had only
got hold of the bell-rope, and was fisliing away with it
in liis dreams, with a salmon, of course, at the end of it.
Luckily he did not arouse the Maritornes of the inn : no
bell having ever been attached to the pull, which was a
mere matter of ornament.
The first thing to be considered in rod fisliing is
the state of the water proper for the sport ; and I
beg that it may all along be borne in mind that my
142 DISCOLOURED STATE OF WATER.
observations relate to the river TAveed only : for it must
be obvious that as rivers vary in their depth and volume
of water, no general rule for their being in proper order
for the fly can he laid down.
The waxing, as it is called, and the progress of a
flood, has been already explained in a former part of
these pages.
When the Tweed is not clear, but, as it is termed,
drumhj, salmon that have been some time in the river never
take well ; in such case, when there were no clean fish
in the water, I have sometimes had fourteen or fifteen
offers without taking above one or two fish. They do
not see the fly distinctly, and therefore come at it slowly
and with hesitation. One would think they had some
particular method of holding it awhile by way of ex-
periment, just within the point of their noses ; for I
have often struck a salmon sharply, and felt as if my
hook was firmly fixed in him, Avhen in a moment after-
wards it has come away quite easily ; and this has hap-
pened two or three times in succession, the water being
in the foul state I have mentioned. It must be noted
also, that when the river is swoln and discoloured,
salmon travel in the daytime, particularly Avhen there
is a fresh wind to ruffle the surface of the water ; and as
they are intent on their journey, they are not apt to
pay much attention to such food as we Avorthies offer
them. Now as this uncertainty of hooking a fish that
offers happens to me or to you, so the same thing Avill
occur to CA^ery other fisherman that is out on the same
day, these animals being all of the same mind ; but I
have heard good fishermen in the North say, that they
DISCOLOURED STATE OF AVATER. 143
always had the best sport before the river cleared. I
suppose it was in shallow streams ; because it is evident
that salmon, who always lie at the bottom of the river,
or on the edge of a rock near it, coidd not see the fly
at any great depth when the waters were turbid. It
must be observed, however, that in more shallow places,
where they can distinguish it, there is a great difi'erence
between a newly run fish and one that has been some
time in the river ; the new one being wild and gamesome,
and ignorant of the Avays of the world, and the other
the very emblem of prudence, and an admirer of the
old adage, " Alicays look before you leapJ''' It is difiicult
to express by words the exact state of the water I wish
to allude to : if it is only moss-stained good sport may be
had with clean fish, but there must be a certain degree
of transparency.
The upper parts of the Tweed come into order for
being fished much sooner than those below, and this in
proportion to the depth and volume of water.
It must be owned that fish may occasionally be
caught in turbid, and CA'en fidl water; but then it must
be by a perfect change of system. At such a tune the
strong streams and usual salmon casts are useless ; and
you must throw in the easy cheeks near the land, and in
the tails of the streams, where the fish rest in travellino;.
In this way I once caught five salmon in the Pavilion-
water from off the shore, unattended even by a man
with a cleik; whilst my friend, Avho fished above me in
the finest streams in the water, with a boat and all
appliances and means to boot, did not rise a single fish ;
not from want of skill — for it was Lord SomerviUe — but
i
144 A CONFIDENT FRIEND.
simply because the salmon did not lie in their usual
scats.
A word or two I will now say about the management
of the cleik, which, although it seems simple enough,
requires some address. Take care, most worthy attend-
ant — for it is to you I speak — that in the effervescence of
your zeal you steer clear of the line, and that after you
have struck the fish you tow him steadily to the shore ;
and I beg, sir, to caution you, and just merely to hint,
that if you attempt one of your flourishes, and try to do
all at one rapid jerk, you will have decidedly the worst
of it. There must be two motions, — a strike, and a
havil.
By way of illustration, I must tell you of a gentleman
who came to visit me whilst I lived on the banks of the
Tay, and was desirous of seeing a salmon caught before
he returned to the South ; so I launched my boat and
set to work. Now on these pressing occasions one has
commonly a blank day, instead of a show off: not so,
however, in the present instance, for in a short time I
killed six fish. "When I had subdued their strength, I
gave up the rod to my companion, who finished them
skilfully enough. These fish were from seven to twelve
pounds each, as well as I can recollect. I next hooked
a large and peremptory salmon ; and when he got weak I
could not land, on account of the alders which grew on
the margin of the river.
*' Give me the cleik," said my confident friend; " let me
come at him. I should like to try my hand at that, as
well as at the rod, though it is a savage aflau\ Do you
tliink I can manage it ?" " I have no doubt of it," said I,
A SLIGHT MISHAP. 145
— *' tam Marti, qiiam Mercurio." But pray let me
interrogate you a little. Can you swim ? "
" Swim ! no, not I ; why do you ask me that ? "
'^ Because assuredly, if you do not take care, that
salmon will pull you into the water ; so be canny."
There was an open laugh at this, and a look of defiance
at the fish. Rash youth ! you stretched forth your dex-
ter, and executed a well-directed stroke at the animal,
thinking to tuck him out of the water at one coup ;
but you had very considerably miscalculated your own
powers, and the weight you were to encounter. There
were two things decidedly against you ; one, that the
salmon Avas three feet long, and lay with his broadside
towards you, so that you had a heavy weight to lift, and
a considerable column of water to tlisjDlace ; the other,
that you were standing in a boat, and had an unstable
balance. Thus, you were tilted forward in a way with
which your will had nothing to do ; so that had not I,
even I, Harry Otter, laid hold of the skirts of your coat,
we should have been fishing with the long net for you :
as it was, the resistance only tlu'cw you prostrate in the
boat ; and I was sorry to see you so much incommoded
by the water which had not been ladled out of it :
inheriting all the valour of your ancestors, you still
grasped the cleik, and, as I pushed the boat ashore,
struggled your very best, tiU you dragged your prey to
firm land.
He was not a clean salmon, nor was he the cause of
cleanliness in others ; but, as you may remember, ex-
ceeded twenty pounds.
The success of a salmon fisher not only depends upon
L
146 IMPETUOUS FLOODS.
the weather, but upon the state of the river as it is
affected by the rains ; so that one may be weeks, and
even montlis, on the spot, without the possibility of
taking a fish with the rod. The water may be too low
to admit of fish coming up, or it may be too fuU in flood,
with diurnal waxings ; so that sportsmen Avho come from
a distance, and have not much time to spare, may be
grievously disappointed. In the upper part of the
Tweed, real good rod fishing lasts but a few days after
a spate : indeed, the water there is not properly supplied
with fish till there are two or three spates in succession.
The hills are now so well drained, that the flood runs
off rapidly ; and thus the river soon falls in, and becomes
too low for the fly, except in the strong streams.
Before these complete drainages took place, the Tweed
kept full a much longer time than it does at present; for
the rains which feU remained in the mosses, which gave
out the water gradually, like a sponge.
Now the hill sides are scored with innumerable little
drains, which empty themselves into the burns, which
burns soon become impetuous torrents ; thus suddenly
supplied, the Ettrick, the Yarrow, the Leader- water,
the Ale, the Tiviot, and the many other streams that
empty themselves into the Tweed, come raving down
from the mountains and from the lakes, and, with their
united volume, raise that river to an alarming height in
the space of a few hours, which then spreads over th
haughs, and sometimes sweeps off corn and cattle, and
levels the bridges in its irresistible course. In these
awful spates, the water is too strong and turbid for
fish to travel : the soil is washed away partially from
A GUDGEON-HUNTER. 147
the ploiiglicd lands ; and, as the practice of liming them
is very prevalent, the waters are obnoxious to the fish.
I have often wondered how the trout could possibly
survive this state of things ; but they do survive it, by
keeping at the eddies and close to the banks amongst
the grass, where the pout nets haul them out by dozens.
Though I have given the foregoing instructions with
much pleasure, I w^ould not advise any one Avho wishes
to stand well with society to utter a word about his
propensity for fishing. It is generally thought a poor,
inanimate occupation; and so, indeed, it is in some
cases ; and yet the passion is so strong, that I believe
the sedentary angler who catches a roach or dace, worth-
less though he be, and weak and diminutive withal, has
as much pleasure in his way, as the proud conqueror of
a twenty-pound salmon.
I was once rowing on the Thames when a friend
hailed me from afar, and beckoned with joyous and
eager solicitation. Though I was pressed for time,
I pulled up to him against the wind and stream, for I
thought he had something of great moment to impart ;
but it was only to say, " that I would be glad to hear he
had caught two dozen gudgeons that morning." But I
do not think I was glad, at least not particularly so,
though he was a very worthy man.
As for myself, if I am ever so indiscreet as to utter a
word about fishing, I am always asked, " if it does not
require a great deal of patience." Now, these sort of
interrogators are in Cimmerian darkness as to the real
thing. But I tell them, that to be a first-rate salmon
fisher requires such active properties as they never
L 2
148 EFFECTS OF A STORM.
dreamed of in their i)liilosophy. It demands (salmon
fishing at least) strength of arm and endurance of fatigue,
and a capability of walking in the sharp streams for
eight or ten hours together, with perfect satisfaction to
one's self; and that early in the spring season, when the
clean salmon first come forward. In after life, people
are considerably addicted to boats, and to go about at-
tended like admirals ; that is what we must all come to.
But your real professor, who has youth on his side,
should neither have boats nor boots, but be sufficient in
himself. No delay, no hauling the boat u]) the stream,
but in and out, like an otter ; even like we ourselves in
the time of our prime, Fahrenheit being below zero.
We then pitched our tent under Craigover rocks, on
Tweedside, and slept in it, that Ave might go forth, rod
in hand, at five o'clock each morning to our aqueous
pastime. It is true that the late John Lord Somer-
ville objected to our tent, as being a white object, and
therefore likely to j^revent the fish from passing by it to
his upper water. But we proved to him, by mathe-
matical lines adroitly drawn, that it was not within the
range of a salmon's optics. So our tent stood, till a
violent storm assailed us one night with barbarous fury,
tore up the pegs to which the ropes were fastened, and
gave up all our canvass to the winds. Thus, we got an
ample soaking in our bed, in which we cut a pretty
figure, no doubt, when disclosed to public gaze ; but we
were not blown into the Tweed; so that, upon the
whole, we were uncommonly fortunate. But we discard
ourselves for the present.
I say then, and will maintain it, that a salmon fisher
FERTILE IMAGINATION. 149
should be strong in the arms, or he will never be able
to keep on thrasbiug for ten or twelve hours together
with a rod eighteen or twenty feet long, with ever and
anon a lusty salmon at the end of his line, pulling like
a wild horse with the lasso about him. Now he is
obliged to keep his arms aloft, that the line may clear
the rocks, — now he must rush into the river, then back
out with nimble pastern, ahvays keeping a steady and
proper strain of line ; and he must preserve his self-
possession, " even in the very tempest and whirlwind of
the sport," when the salmon rushes like a rocket. This
is not moody work ; it keeps a man alive and stirring.
Patience indeed !
It is indispensable to have a quick eye, and a ready
hand : your fly, or its exact position, should never be
lost sight of; and you should imagine every moment of
the livelong day that an extraordinary large salmon is
coming at it. No man can do any thing properly unless
he is sanguine, and his whole heart and soul is in the
business. " Remember, my good people all, I do not wish
to press this laborious sport unfairly upon you : excuse
me, but it may be you are not exactly fit for it, — ' non
cuivis homini,^^^ &c. You may saunter about Avith a
gauze net and two sticks, if you prefer it, and catch
butterflies. Every man to his vocation ; but " what is
a gentleman without his recreations ? "
There is a speculation in angling that gives great
zest to the sport. You may catch a moderate-sized fish,
or a distinguished one ; or, mayhap, a monster of such
stupendous dimensions as will render your name im-
mortal ; and he may be painted, and adorn some fishing-
L 3
150 ENOKMOUS PIKE.
tackle shop in Loudon, like Colonel Thornton's pike,
which threw Neivmarket on his back as he was landing
him, — a lad, says the Colonel, so called from the place
of his nativity. Of course you expect the latter phe-
nomenon every cast. You see him in your mind's eye
eternally following your fly, and you are ready to strike
from second to second. It is true he does not actually
come, as experience teaches. But what of that ? he
may come in an hour — in a minute — in a moment ;
the thing is possible, and that is enough for an angler.
A friend of mine (sacred be his name !) of great repute
for his dexterity with the rod, and celebrated for his
agreeable and amiable qualities, as well as for his intel-
ligence and various accomplishments, had this poetical
facility of seeing what did not really exist in substance.
A curious instance of this popular talent occurred at a
friend's house in the country with whom he was staying.
There was a fine piece of water in the park, well stored
with fish, where he used to spend most part of the
morning, rod in hand ; so that his perseverance excited
considerable admu'ation from the host, as well as from
his guests. Not having been very successful, his ardour
at length began to flag. It Avas a pity, for it is a
pleasant thing to be excited. Wliat was to be done?
You shall see. A report Avas raised that there was an
enormous pike seen in the water, about the length of a
decent-sized alligator. He was said to have maimed a
full-grown swan, and destroyed two cygnets, besides
sundry ducks. At first he was no more believed in than
the great sea snake, which encloses at least half the
world in his folds. But after the lapse of a few days.
SPLENDID EYES. 151
the keeper came to the private ear of my friend, and
told huu that a mortal large pike was basking amongst
some weeds, and could be seen plainly. " You are sure
to cotch en, sir." He was rewarded for tliis intelli-
gence, and exliorted to keep the important secret from
the other visitors at the mansion.
When piscator, cunning fellow ! thought that all were
out of the way, employed in hunting, shooting, or some
other occupation, he and John Barnes the keeper glided
down secretly to the awful spot, and they there descried
the semblance of a fish so enormous that it was doubted
if any thing less than a small rope could hold him. The
sportsman was astounded — the keeper was not ; for the
said awfid animal was nothing more than a large painted
piece of wood, carved deftly by himself into the shape
of a pike, painted according to order, and stuck in the
natural position by means of a vertical prop, Avhich
could not be discovered amongst the weeds. It was too
bad, really a great deal too bad ; but tolerably ingenious,
and beautifully deceptive. The gentleman approached
with tact and caution, and the eyes of the fish glared
upon him ; as well they might, for they were very large
and dazzling, being made of glass, and originally de-
signed to be inserted in a great horned owl which the
keeper had stuffed.
" What a prodigious fish, John ! "
" Very perdigious indeed, sir."
" What eyes he has ! "
" So he has, sir."
" I'll try him Avitli a roach. — There, — it went in
beautifully, and he did not move."
L 4
152 A DISCOMFITURE.
" No, he Avont take it no how. Give him a frog ; he
seems a difficult fish."
Piscator did tender him a very lively one in vain ; in
short, he offered him every bait he could possibly thmk
of, running through all the devices and temptations he
was master of. Cautious in his approaches, that the
supposed fish might not see him, he always advanced to
make his cast upon his knees, to the no small merriment
of his friends, who were looking at him through a
telescojDC from the windows of the mansion.
Well, thus he spent the whole morning ; waiting,
however, at times, for a cloud to intercept the sun-
beams, and a breath of air to ruffle the surface of the
water. AVlien these came, he would set to work again
with renovated hopes ; till at last, tired and discomfited,
he bent his steps homewards. On his arrival there, he
was accosted on the very threshold by some of the
guests.
" Oh ! you have been fishing all the morning, I see ;
but what could make you stay out so long, and get
away so cunningly with the keeper ? "
" Why, to tell you the truth, Barnes (you know
what a good creature he is) told me of an inuuense pike
that was lying amongst the weeds at the end of the
lake ; he must be the same that swallowed the cygnets.
T never saw so enormous a monster in fresh water."
Omnes. — "Well, where is he — where is he? let us
look at him."
Host. — " John, tell the cook we will have him for
dinner to-day. — Dutch sauce, remember."
Piscator. — " You need not be in such a hurry to
THE KIVER TAY. 153
send to the cook, for I am sorry to say I did not catch
him."
Host. — " Not catch hun — not catch him ! Impossible,
with all your skill, armed as you are to the teeth, with
roach, bleak, minnows, frogs, kill-devils, and the deuce
knows what. Not catch him ! Come, you're joking."
Piscator. — " Serious, I assure you. I never was so
beat before, and yet I never fished better ; but though
I did not absolutely hook him, he ran at me several
times. ^''
An universal shout of laughter followed this assertion,
which made my friend not a little suspicious ; but he
never again touched upon the subject. Some time
afterwards, wandering near the scene of his operations,
he saw an immense carving of a pike placed upon a pole
near the margin of the water, and painted beautifully :
he guessed he had seen liun before.
Let us now return to the Scotch rivers.
The Tay, which rises from, and is approximated by,
vast and desolate regions of moss and moor, preserves
its volume of water much longer than those rivers that
have their sources in a more pastoral and agricultural
country, and of course is much longer in good order for
fly fishing. But when the black clouds burst over the
vast wilderness of mountains, a hundred torrents gleam
on all sides, rush down the rocky ravines, and change
the bums into turbulent rivers, which pour their floods
into the mighty channel of the Tay : thus this river
probably carries more water to the ocean than any other
in Great Britain.
I have read much of the rapids of the great rivers in
154 THE TAY IN A HIGH FLOOD.
America, and the difficulty of steering and shooting
down them in safety ; and the accompaniments of the
scenery, and the descriptions of these cataracts, have
always apj)eared to me singularly wild and picturesque.
They made so great an impression upon my mind that,
to form a more correct idea of the sort of thing, I
meditated a voyage down the Tay when, filled with her
countless tributaries, she goes raging to the ocean.
Besides this inducement, I had some small boats which
I wished to take to Perth by water, instead of land
carriage; for I was changing my quarters from Meik-
leour on the banks of the Tay to the Pavilion on those of
the Tweed. These boats were built on Tweedside for fly
fishing in small waters, and in warm weather were held
for the fisherman by a man Avho waded in the water,
lest the salmon should be scared away by the motion or
ap23earance of the oars, or canting pole, as it might be.
Being, therefore, of a very light and duninutive con-
struction, they were not exactly calculated to endure
the buffets of large and tempestuous waters : one is not
apt, however, to be over nice about such things, and
accordingly I resolved to put them to the proof. Nor
was an opportunity long wanting. After a night of
heavy rain, the Tay, wliich flowed through the park of
Meikleour, rose to a fearful extent. Tliis was exactly
the sort of thing to suit me ; so I proposed to my fisher-
man, Charles Purdie, to go down the flood to Perth, a
distance of about twelve miles by water. We did so ;
and I here insert the particulars of our voyage, as they
may serve to give an idea of a Scottish spate.
We were standing at the foot of the sloping lawn
LINN OF CAMPSIE. 155
before my house ; and as Charlie Purdie bent his regards
on the frightful violence of the flood, I thought he did
not half lilie to embark on it. In fact, he did not only
disapprove of the general conduct of the river, but also
of the j)eculiar rocky nature of the channel in wliicli it
was its pleasure to gallop along to the ocean. Moreover,
he knpw there was an obstruction in the river at a place
called the Linn of Campsie, about four miles below the
proposed starting-place, where at the arrival of his little
boat he did not anticipate mvich pleasure. In fact,
neither Charlie or his master conceived it would be pos-
sible to pass the falls into the Linn, since no boat could
do so in the ordinary state of the water without being
upset, or dashed to shivers. They would see how
things looked, however, on their arrival at the spot, and
act accordingly.
" Now then, loosen my boat, Charlie : I will go first ;
and take care you do not run foul of me."
The boats being unmoored, we shot down the river
in a moment, and were soon at the end of the park,
where the Isla comes into the Tay. This additional
volume of water increased our velocity ; we guided our
boats into the main currents, and aAvay we went with
the swiftness of a steam-engine. Rocks and woods
opened to our view in an instant, and in an instant
vanished behind us. Thus we were driven along with
great fury till we came within the sound of the great
falls of the Linn of Campsie : soon we descried before
us the awful barrier of rocks which rose up right
athwart the stream, extending from bank to bank.
The waters had worn their way in some places through
156 EXPLORING THE LINN.
this barrier, and tumbled madly through the rocky
gorges ; down they went, thundering with stunning
sound into the enormous cauldron below. Then arose
the strife — the dashing of the spray — the buffeting
against the banks — the swirling of the eddies, crested
with laro;e masses of foam — all was in hideous com-
motion.
This state of things threatened to put an end to our
projected voyage. To go right onwards through the
centre gorge was to pass to certain destruction: as
well might one hope to shoot in safety down the falls
of Schaffhausen.
I was prepared for all this, and was quite aware of
the impediment before I began my voyage ; so I did as
I had made up my mind to do before I started. I
pulled towards some alder trees wliich grew on the bank
above the fall, and held my boat fast by the branches ;
I then told Charlie to secure his boat also with a rope,
and to land and reconnoitre. We were enabled to
do these things without much difficulty, as the water
was in some measure arrested in its course above the
fall, being slightly bayed back by the barrier of rocks.
Being on terra firma, my hero looked ruefully at the
torrents : one alone appeared something like being prac-
ticable ; and it was one that, in the mean state of the
river, was nothing but a dry channel. Whether our
small craft could shoot down it without foundering or
not was by no means evident to the eye, though a
practised one, of the explorer. He was, however, some-
what encouraged by two fishermen who were mending
their nets. They thought, they said, that Ave "might
SHOOTING DOWN THE LINN. 157
possibly descend in safety, if we managed our boats
well." Charlie looked, and sighed, and looked again :
the thing was evidently not in harmony with his ideas ;
for he could not swim himself, and he doubted whether
liis boat would either, when it arrived at the bottom of
the fall. However, I decided that I would try the thing
alone ; and if it should prove a failure, the example was
not, of course, to be followed. So I brought my little
boat some way above the cataract, with her head up the
stream, and by rowing against it let her fall by degrees
stern foremost, by which means I had a clear view
before me, and could therefore steer to a nicety.
She went down most agreeably, though in nearly a
vertical position, but pitched upon a rock below the
fall; but before any harm hajDpened, I swimg her off
by inclining my body to and fro. My fisherman fol-
lowed successfully ; and having passed the wide-spread-
ing Linn, the channel of the Tay became more con-
tracted, and we resumed our former pace, shooting
down the rapids like an arrow, and by occasional swift
snatches of the oars avoiding the breakers around us.
So we passed amongst the hanging woods and impend-
ing rocks of this romantic river, till we arrived at
Stanley, where groups of people were assembled on the
hill-top, who shouted to us with all their might, and
made signs and gestures, the meaning of which I could
not comprehend, but they seemed to be warning us of
some impending danger : I could not catch the import
of their words, as the sound was but faintly heard
amidst the din of the waves. So I did not perplex
myself with attending to them, but thought it wisest to
158 SAFFLY LANDED.
trust to my own discretion, whicli fortunately carried
the boats safely to their place of destination. I learned
afterwards, that seeing our boats were mere insignificant
cockle-shells borne down t>y the flood with great im-
petuosity, they were fearful that we should be carried
down the mill-dam, and come in contact with the ma-
chinery. But a better fate awaited us than such a
Quixotic one ; and after a little rough work, in which we
shipped a reasonable quantity of water, we at length
approached the vast bleaching grounds of Perth, where
the river swept swift and ample in an even channel
under a wooded bank studded with villas; we then
darted through the middle arch of the beautiful l^ridge
in the town, and hauled up our boats on a wharf
below it.
AN ANGLER ENTRANCED. 159
CHAP. VII.
Whate'er Lorraine light touched with softening hue,
Or savage Rosa dashed, or learned Poussin drew."
Exploring one morning the upper parts of the river,
with my trout rod in my hand, I came to a little meadow
in a vale where the stream played in mazes beneath
hanging coppices. In this sequestered spot, I espied a
gentle angler — I may say particularly gentle. His
mode of fishing appeared so novel, that I was induced
to pry a little into it ; so I ventured to approach him,
and asked what sport he had been having.
" Oh, glorious, glorious, — perfectly enchanting! All
Paradise is around me ! "
I took notice, however, that although he held his rod
pretty much in the usual piscatorial position of altitude,
his fly was by no means on the water, but lay very
comfortably dry u23on the furzes on the bank side, and
that, whatever his hand might pretend to be doing, his
mind was not at that moment particularly bent upon a
capture. Wliilst he stood entranced, I took the liberty
of lifting up the lid of his basket, in which I descried
nothing but a pair of gloves — not a fish reposed in it.
It was clean, new, and Cockney-like, and I ventured to
give him a hint to this effect.
" Well now I declare, sir, that is very singular ;
160 AN INNOCENT MISTAKE.
because I certainly caught two trout, and put them
into my creel. But I clare say you are a little absent,
and did not notice them ; I am somewhat absent myself
occasionally."
He examined the basket, and found only gloves by
themselves, — gloves.
" Where can I have put them ? "
" Indeed I can't guess, sir."
He then began to shuffle about and examine his
waistcoat pockets and those of his pantaloons, nay,
actually his fob.
" Perhaps, sir, you did not find quite room enough
in your fob, and put them into your coat pocket for
fear they should soil the basket."
" Bless me ! so I did ; and here they are, truly. I
see now how it is ; in a hurry, and whilst I was wrapt
in admiration of the scenery, I put the gloves where
the fish should have been, and vice versa, — nothing
could be more natural."
This he said with a simplicity worthy of the golden
age. But he declared that although he was not at that
moment very intent on the sport, he did like fishing
exceedingly. " Because," said he, " it requires no parade
of attendance, like other field sports ; it leads to the
most beautiful spots ; and I take up my rod and my
painting box at any hour I please, and saunter over
the flowery meads, in a state of tranquil enjoyment,
amidst all the most pleasing images of rural life."
I observed there was considerable excitement in fishing
occasionally, as well as tranquillity. " For instance,
now," said I, " there is a sea trout in that run of water
cow VERSUS FISH. 161
that will make your heart dance, if you should happen to
hook him ; I saw him put his head up at the cheek of
the current, and he had a wilful look, and is lil^ely
to make most pernicious runs when hooked ; for these
sort of fish are very active and strong. If you will
give me leave, I will change your trout fly for a
larger one, and instruct you how to proceed, as from
the natm'e of your tackle I conclude you are not ac-
customed to fish of this description. There now —
go a little higher up the stream ; throw above liim,
and bring the fly gently round ; and if he comes at it,
do not strike liim too hard, or you Avill break your
slender tackle. If you get hold of him, we shall see
how he is to be managed ; he will ymt your tranquillity
to the test, I promise you."
He grasped the rod, and held it aloft ; then, after a
considerable pause, " He is exactly in the right spot,"
said he. " Precisely," I replied.
" What a rich red tone of colour he has, — how well it
tells in the shadow ! He will come in capitally."
" He is not red, I assure you, but clear as silver, and
I wish he ma7/ come in capitally."
" Bless me ! he looks red to me, and I must take him
immediately ; he is exactly the thing I wanted."
So saying, to my amazement, he dropped the rod, and
pulled out a sketch book, in which he began painting a
red cow in water colours that was reposing under a
hawthorn bush on the opposite bank, just beyond the
stream where the fish was lying, and which had been the
real object of his remarks. When he had done with
M
162 TRANQUILLITY.
the cow, however, I put the rod once more into his
hands, and reminded him of the fish.
" Now throw a few yards above the spot where you
see the water boiling around that large blue stone.
Very well; advance a step every time you throw.
Capital ! Now you are precisely at the fish. Strike him
gently if he rises. Well done ! — by Paul Potter you
have him ! Hold up the top of your rod, and keep an
even steady pull upon him."
" Plow can I keep a steady pull upon such a wild
animal ? AVhy he springs out of the water, and whizzes
about in it, like that fire-work called a seriDcnt,"
" Be steady — be steady, or he will whiz you about
with a witness. Shorten your line ; get into the water,
and follow him."
" What a cruel speech ! Why I never learned to swim.
You are exceedingly inconsiderate indeed, sir."
" Swim ! why the water on this channel is scarcely
over your ankles, and I will help you if you should hap-
pen to stumble."
" Then we should both meet a watery grave to-
gether. I have often read of such calamities."
" In with you, — in with you, I say, or he will be
off*. There, I told you so ; he has broke your line ; and,
pray pardon me, but pretty work yovi have made of it
with your tranquillity."
" Well, as it seems to make you so uneasy, I will go
a little way into the water, though I shall not enjoy it."
" Why, what is the use of wetting yourself, now you
have lost the fish ? "
" True, true, — I did not sufficiently consider that;
VIEW-TAKING. 163
SO now I will go back, and see if I can improve my
cow."
This was abundantly philosophical ; but intelligible
enough to me, who being very much addicted to paint-
ing myself, know hoAv absorbing a passion it is.
The cow was a good cow, — drawn in a clean and de-
cisive manner, with a correct knowledge of the anatomy
of the animal. I j^raised accordingly, and we began
naturally enough to talk upon the principles of land-
scape painting ; and as w^e both agreed pretty well as to
those principles, so we both laid down the law with as
much confidence as if we w^ere the lineal descendants of
Zeuxis or Apelles, — a fashion, I must observe, most par-
ticularly prevalent at the present day. I fear it is not
worth while to notice our remarks. I wiU write them
down, however, at a venture ; and here they follow.
*' View-taking," said the cow limner, " I consider as
of a distinct character from landscape painting. The
interest of the first, as a work of art, in all highly cul-
tivated countries, must in a great measure depend upon
accidental causes. Trees in hedge-rows, and most other
positions, have been planted or removed by the hand of
man for profit or convenience, so that they are rarely
found in the most natural or efifective situations ; other
objects share the same fate, and even the vivid verdure
is produced by artificial means. Still it is right for the
view-taker to copy every thing before him just as it
really presents itself. This may be desirable as a remem-
brance, or an exact illustration of the scenery of a
country, and indeed occasionally, by some happy ac-
cident, as a work of art ; it may also have great interest
M 2
164 LANDSCAPE TAINTING.
as representing passages in rural life. But it is obvious
that, in a country highly cultivated, a scene very ac-
curately delineated represents the materials only, and
not the composition of nature, strictly so called.
" On the other hand, the landscape painter should aim
much higher ; he should get all his materials from the
most striking and characteristic specimens in nature,
and study such forms and combinations as may make an
interesting impression on the mind. Trees, rocks,
water, mountains, — all his materials he should arrange
upon the same principle that an historical painter ob-
serves in composing from living models. He should
address the imagination rather than the eye, and en-
deavour to convey to his work some prevailing character,
which may awaken a corresponding sympathy and in-
terest in the contemplative beholder.
" As to colour and effect, every tinge of light that is
beautiful and striking, every varied appearance that the
change of the hour and the seasons may bring forth,
should l>e marked down and coloured on the spot. This
should be the unremitting practice of the artist, that
his works may bear the impress and truth of nature.
" Taking care to lay his emj)hasis upon those domi-
nant objects that give beauty, character, or sublimity
to the landscape, he should keep all the rest subordinate,
though intelligible; always bearing in mind that the
eye sees those objects only in detail upon which it is
immediately fixed. If, on the other hand, he copies
from nature every individual thing before him exactly
as he sees it, when his eye rests upon that individual
object alone, he docs not represent the scene such as he
CLAUDE, AND SALVATOR ROSA. 165
saw it in nature at one general and comprehensive view,
but as it appeared to him by examining separate parts
one after the other, each part having a distinct focus.
If then he adopts this method of proceeding, he will
paint upon a false, though a very prevalent principle,
and his picture cannot fail to have an unpleasant and
irritating effect.
" Infelix opens summa, quia ponere totum
Nesciet."
He paused a little to take breath, as well indeed he
might ; so I took the opportunity to lay down the law
also, and to remark that he must have arrived at his
conclusions from a study of the paintings of those emi-
nent masters whose works are sealed with perfection,
and sanctified by time, — productions that elevate us
above the level of common thought, and carry us into
the regions of poetry and romance.
" In the pictures of Claude, by a happy treatment of
his subject you see more than the bare materials of
common nature. There the glow of Italy lies radiant
before you : the eye passes from the flowery fore-ground,
with its tall trees just moved by the zephyr, and wanders
from distance to distance over clustering groves, and
classical ruins, amidst the quiet lapse of waters, and all
the pastoral beauty that poets have delighted to feign.
" Directly opposite to the blandishments of this great
master, but true to itself, is the genius of Salvator Rosa.
Little recked he of Arcadian scenes. Mysterious and
elevated in thought, he delighted to stalk over the wilds
of Calabria ; and there, in regions desolate and do-
M 3
166 POUSSiN.
loroiis, by the side of some impending rock, amidst tlie
din of torrents plunging down to the horrid gulf be-
low him, he formed a style original, savage, and in-
domitable. Nothing entered into his pictures that was
commonplace or mean. His figures were banditti, for-
lorn travellers, or wrecked mariners. His trees the mo-
narch chestnut, forming impenetrable forests, or blasted
and riven by the thunderbolt. All his forms were
grand ; even his winged clouds had a stern aspect, and
partook of the general character. Titian, Claude,
Poussin, Salvator Rosa, — these, and some others of the
good old times, drew the poetry and soul of landscape,
and not its mere dead image — and this is the triumph
of art."
I fancy my new friend the artist paid very little
attention to my remarks, which I am not at all sur-
prised at ; for he began to soliloquise in an absent man-
ner about Poussin, whom he said I should have
placed between Claude and Rosa ; and as he seemed to
threaten rather a long encomium, I pretended to see
a fish rise, and glided away qviietly : for I thought
enough had been said on the subject of painting
already. As I stole off, however, I caught a few un-
connected expressions ; such as " dark groves and
solitude — storms, — tempests, — and alpine ridges."
Then he grew somewhat classical, and began to recite
from Virgil —
" Tot congcsta manu praeruptis oppida saxis,
Fluminaque antiques subterlabcntia muros."
At this I walked faster and faster, till I got totally
out of hearing. Not through dislike of the subject did
I
THE GREY SCULL. 167
I make my escape, for it was one after my own heart ;
but my rod was in my hand, and " hoc afje " has always
been my maxim. Besides the day began to alter, and
a fine fresh breeze arose, which came up the river ;
clouds appeared over the horizon, Avhich kept gathering,
and brought on slight showers and passing shadows,
with occasional bursts of sunshine that glittered on the
curl of the water. Now, as far as my experience goes,
this is the best sort of weather for sport. The pre-
judice, notwithstanding, I believe, runs in favour of a
grey day ; but such a one has often deluded my ex-
pectations : at which time I have found the fish dull and
sulky, when I was in hopes they would be up and
stirring. It is not meet that they should study Zim-
merman.
It was now the month of September, and I was ex-
pecting to catch some of the grey scull that come for-
ward at that season. These fish are of a goodly shape ;
but though fresh from the sea are not quite so glossy
in their scales, or so rich in flavour, as your brown -
backed salmon that comes up early in the spring. They
are altogether of a greyer colour than that beautiful
fish, and derive their name from that circumstance.
So soon as I had changed my tackle, my enthusiastic
companion came sauntering up to me. I am not quite
clear that he Avas fully sensible of my presence, for his
heart seemed still to be amongst the Apennines with
Poussin. I made an attempt to dislodge him, and
bring him down to the level of my own ideas.
" You know," said I, " that Gaspar was a great
sportsman, though it is not probable that he ever caught
M 4
1 68 KOSLIN.
a salmon, which is a northern fish ; but if you will con-
descend to transport yourself from the banks of the
Arno to those of the Tweed, and to walk an hour or
two with me, I think I can promise that you shall see
such a feat performed."
Stranger (abstractedly) :
" riuminaque antiques subterlabentia muros."
" Come now, sink Vu'gil and the artist a little ; put
your sketch-book in your pocket, and let us see what
can be done with the salmon. Your quotations, my dear
sir, with your permission, will keep, as they have kept,
for ages —
' Adde tot egregias urbes.'
No, no ; there are no eminent cities or towns here, only
Melrose and Gattonside ; and if you call these * egregias
urbes,' you are egregiously mistaken."
He made no reply, but looked at me with a smile
that seemed directed at the simplicity and absence of
his own character.
" Now," said I, " as you seem to have descended
from your stilts, which I beg to say are very becoming,
though somewhat out of season, I will tell you how all
people are not exactly of our way of thinking, as to the
triumph of art and these classical illusions ; imagining,
on the contrary, that painting is a sleight of hand, and
comes by intuition.
" I was lately sauntering with my painting-box in the
romantic glen beneath the towers
' Where Roslin's chiefs uncoffined lie ;
Each baron, for a sable shroud,
Sheathed in his iron panoply.'
PURE GENIUS. 169
As I went along I traced the mazes of the river, in
some places brawling among the rocks, and at others
gliding silently through the mossy stones. I was thus
endeavouring to find out such points of view as had
most interest, and to investigate the peculiar character
in which the charm of the scene consisted.
" Having at length settled all this to my satisfaction,
and marked in the outline of a scene with a piece of
white crayon, preparatory to colouring it in oil, a very
respectable-looking lady came sailing up to me, and
begged to look at my canvass. The day being some-
what advanced, she asked me how many sketches I had
made that morning ; and upon my telling her that the
one she was looking at was the first, she replied with
very perfect exultation that her daughters had not
been half an hour in the gLen before they made nearly
a bookfull of drawings ; but then, indeed, there were
very few people so gifted as her daughters. I acquiesced
in good faith ; for I really knew no human beings that
could do the same thing in the same time, and j^erhaps
I might add in the same manner ; so I concluded that
the talent of these young ladies, like Madame Laffarge's
genius for pastry, was ' colossal.'
" ' Then they never learned,' continued the lady ; ' it
was all pure genius. Indeed Maria showed a singular
facility for taking likenesses at three years old. Sir
Thomas Lawrence had admired them very much.'
" I bowed, and did not doubt it. In a short time the
young ladies themselves, and very pretty and sprightly
ones they were, came tripping up.
■ " ' Oh, mamma, we have been here only an hour, and
have brought away all the scenery of the glen ! '
170 TWOS ANi) THREES.
" ' Only forty minutes, upon honour, Maria.'
" ' There, sir, you see ray daughters do not throw
away their time like some people.'
" I was not quite so sure of this ; but a look of admir-
ation on my part followed of course. The young ladies
then began to discourse on art, and to ask what was my
pecvdiar method of getting up sketches.
" ' Pray, sir,' said the accomplished Maria, ' do you
make your trees in twos, or in threes ? '
" As I did not comprehend the exact meaning of these
terms of art, she was pleased to illustrate by favouring
me with a sight of one of her recent performances. The
trees she particularly alluded to, I found, were those
which represented a distant mass of wood. In executing
a tree in such situations I was instructed that a sort of
flourish should be made, consisting of two segments of
a circle, just as birds are drawn in prints; and this is
doing trees in hcos — in threes, another segment was
added; and thus the mystery was solved, — the whole
was executed in a running flourish with admirable
facility. I cannot conscientiously aver that any one of
the leaves of the sketch books of these intelligent young
ladies contained what might be termed a di-awing, but
still there was something about them that might put a
person of imagination very much in mind of drawings."
Thus, having beguiled the attention of Mr. Tintern
(for that was the stranger's name) from the summits
in which he had been soaring, I found him quite
ready to receive an impression of a more humble kind,
and he attended me in my walk, nothing loth. I
was very much gratified with his company ; for, besides
his talent and simplicity of character, there was such an
A VORACIOUS SALMON. 171
appearance of benevolent feeling in much of his con-
versation, which I have not thought it necessary to
mention, that no one could avoid being taken with him.
I commenced operations at the Carry-wheel, which is
nearly at the head of the Pavilion-water, and had not
made four casts before I hooked a fish. He was evi-
dently diminutive ; but, dwarf as he was, he thought a
good deal of himself, and was prodigal of the little
strength which nature had given him. I thought him
conceited, and so hauled him on shore at once without
any ceremony. _ He proved to be a river trout of four
pounds, — a silly-looking creature enough.
Well, I went forward and caught a few gilses and
salmon in the upper Pavilion-water, not worth men-
tioning, except as the sport had the effect of rousing
my new friend from his abstraction ; indeed I met with
nothing remarkable till I came to the Kingswell Lees.
Now every one knows that the Kingswell Lees, in
fisherman's phrase, fishes off land ; so there I stood on
terra dura amongst the rocks that dip down to the
water's edge. Having executed one or two throws,
there comes me a voracious fish, and makes a startling
dash at " Meg with the muckle mouth." Sharply did I
strike the caitiff; whereat he rolled round disdainful,
making a whirl in the Avater of prodigious circum-
ference : it was not exactly Charybdis, or the Maelstrom,
but rather more like the wave occasioned by the sudden
turning of a man-of-war's boat. Being hooked, and
having by this turn set his nose peremptorily down the
stream, he flashed and whizzed away like a rocket. My
situation partook of the nature of a surprise. Being on
a rocky shore, and having a bad start, I lost ground
172 MELROSE BRIDGE.
at first considerably ; but the reel sang out joyously,
and yielded a liberal length of line, that saved me from
the disgrace of being broke. I got on the best pace I
was able, and was on good ground just as my line was
nearly all run out. As the powerful animal darted
through Me(fs Hole, I was just able to step back and
wind up a few yards of line ; but he still went a killing
pace, and when he came near Melrose Bridge he
evinced a distressing preference for passing tlu'ough the
farther arch, in which case my line would have been
cut by the pier. My heart sunk with apprehension,
for he was near the opposite bank. Purdie seeing this,
with great presence of mind took up some stones from
the channel, and threw them one by one betAveen the
fish and the said opposite bank. This naturally brought
Master Salmo somewhat nearer; but still for a few
moments we had a doubtful struggle for it. At length,
l)y lowering the head of the rod, and thus not having
so much of the ponderous weight of the fish to en-
counter, I towed him a little sideways; and so advancing
towards me with propitious fin, he shot through the
arch nearest me.
Deeply immersed, I dashed after hun as best I
might ; and arriving on the other side of the bridge
I floundered out upon dry land, and continued the
chase. The sahnon, " right orgillous and presump-
tive," still kept tlie strength of the stream, and,
abating nothing of his vigour, went swiftly down the
Whirls ; then through the Boat shicl, and over the shal-
lows, till he came to the throat of the Elm-wheel, down
which he darted amain. Owing to the bad ground, the
pace here became exceedingly distressing. I contrived.
THE CAULD POOL. 173
however, to keep company with my fish, still doubtful
of the result, till I came to the bottom of the long cast
in question, when he still showed fight, and sought the
shallows below. Unhappily the alders prevented my
following by land, and I was compelled to take water
again, which slackened my speed. But the stream soon
expanding, and the current diminishing, my fish likewise
travelled more slowly ; so I gave a few sobs and re-
covered my wind a little, gathered up my Hue, and
tried to bring him to terms. But he derided my efforts,
and dashed off for another burst, triumphant. Not far
below lay the rapids of the Saughterford : he would soon
gain them at the pace he was going, that was certain ;
— see, he is there already ! But I back out again on
dry land, nothing loth, and have a fair race with him.
Sore work it is. I am a pretty fair runner, as has
often been testified ; but his velocity is surprising. On,
on, — still on he goes, ploughing up the water like a
steamer. " Away with you, Charlie ! Quick, quick,
man, — quick for your life ! Loosen the boat at the Cauld
Pool, where we shall soon be." And so indeed we
were, when I jumped into the said craft, still having
good hold of my fish.
The Tweed is here broad and deep, and the salmon
at length had become somewhat exhausted; he still
kept in the strength of the stream, however, with
his nose seawards, and hung hea\41y. At last he
comes near the siu'face of the water. See how he
shakes his tail and digs downwards, seeking the deep
profound — that he will never gain. His motions be-
come more short and feeble; he is evidently doomed.
174 THE COUP DE GRACE.
and his race well nigh finished. Drawn into the l)arc
water, and not approving of the extended clcik, he
makes another swift rush, and repeats this effort each
time that he is towed to the shallows. At length he is
cleiked in earnest, and hauled to shore : he proves one
of the grey scull, newly run, and weighs somewhat
above twenty pounds. The hook is not in his mouth,
hut in the outside of it ; in which case a fish being able
to respire freely, always shows extraordinary vigour,
and generally sets his head down the stream.
During the whole period of my experience in fishing,
though I have had some sharp encounters, yet I never
knew any sport equal to this. I am out of breath
even now whenever I think of it. I will trouble any
surveyor to measure the distance from the Kingswell
Lees, the starting spot, above Melrose Bridge, to the
end of the Cauld Pool, the death place, by Melrose
Church, and to tell me how much less it is than a mile
and three quarters, — I say I will trouble him to do so ;
and let him be a lover of the angle, that he may rather
increase than diminish the distance, as in good feeling
and respect for the craft it behoves him to do. I will
likewise thank my contemporaries and posterity to bear
in mind that the distance about to be measured by this
able surveyor was run at an eclipse pace, always allowing
for some slight abatement in speed pending our im-
mersion.
Whilst I was taking a rest on the greensward, the
heated face of my excellent new friend appeared through
the alders. He could not, however, be fairly said to be
in at the death ; the coup tie f/race having been already
MONSTRUM HORRENDUM. 175
given about five minutes. He expressed the greatest
astonishment at the swiftness and result of the race,
and at the power of the fish, who had been able to
distress two full-grown men so completely. He owned
he was much excited, but thought fishing for salmon
would be too turbulent an amusement for him ; though
perhaps he might have kept up with a good pony, had
the ground been passable by such a beast. Poussin,
Virgil, the Apennines, all were forgotten ; and he began
to enter warmly into the spirit of the present, and was
curious to know by what particular tactics one can con-
trive to get the better of such a large furious monster,
as he expressed it, with such apparently inadequate
means, when a small sea trout broke him with all the
ease imaginable. As I now reckoned upon his atten-
tion, I told him, as follows — how to manage a large
sahnon, and how a large salmon may manage us : —
" When you get hold of a monstnim horrendum, ingens
of a fish, say of some five and forty pounds, you must
anticipate a very long and severe battle. If, therefore,
you have a disposable Gilly with you, despatch him in-
stantly for some skilful fisherman, as well to assist you
when you are exhausted with fatigue, as to bring your
dinner and supper ; not forgetting a dark lantern, that
you may not be beaten by the shades of night, — a cir-
cumstance by no means improbable. At the first onset
you will probably be obliged to keep your arms and
rod aloft, in order to steer clear of the rocks. This
action, with a heavy rod and large fish on your line, is
very distressing, if continued even for a short time ; and
it will be necessary to repeat it often, if the channel is
176 DUNCAN GRANT.
not very favourable ; and in that case your muscles will
ache insupportably, if they at all resemble those of other
men. The easiest position, when it is safe to use it, is
to place the butt of your rod against the stomach as a
rest, and to bring the upper part of the arm and the
elbow in close contact with the sides, putting on at the
same time an air of determination.
If your leviathan should be superlatively boisterous,
no one knows what may happen. For instance, should
you be in a boat, and he should shoot away down the
river, you must follow rapidly ; then, when he again
turns upwards, what a clever fellow your fisherman
must be, to stop a boat that has been going down a rapid
stream at the rate of eight miles an hour, and bring it
round all of a sudden in time to keep company with
the fish, who has taken an upward direction ! And what
a clever fellow a piscator must be, if he can prevent
twenty yards of his line, or more, from hanging loose in
the stream ! These sort of things will happen, and
they are ticklish concerns. All I can do is to recom-
mend caution and patience ; and the better to encourage
you in the exercise of these virtues, I will recount
what happened to Duncan Grant in days of yore.
" First, you must understand that what is called ' pre-
serving the river' was formerly imknown, and every
one who chose to take a cast did so without let or
hinderance
" In pursuance of this custom, in the month of July,
some thirty years ago, one Duncan Grant, a shoemaker
by profession, who was more addicted to fishing than to
his craft, went up the way from the village of Aberlour,
A COMFORTABLE EXPEDIENT. 177
in the north, to take a cast in some of the pools above
Elchies Water. He had no great choice of tackle, as
may be conceived; nothing, in fact, but what was
useful, and scant supply of that.
" Duncan tried one or two pools without success, till
he arrived at a very deep and rapid stream, facetiously
termed ' the Mountebank : ' here he paused, as if medi-
tating whether he should throw his line or not. ' She
is veiy big,' said he to himself, ' but I'll try her ; if I
grij) him he'll be worth the handing.' He then fished
it, a step and a throw, about half way down, when
a heavy splash proclaimed that he had raised him, though
he missed the fly. Going back a few paces, he came
over him again, and hooked liim. The first tug verified
to Duncan liis prognostication, that if he was there ' he
would be worth the haudmg ; ' but his tackle had thirty
plies of hair next the fly, and he held fast, nothing
daunted. Give and take went on with dubious ad-
vantage, the fish occasionally sulking. The thing at
length became serious ; and, after a succession of the
same tactics, Duncan found himself at the Boat of
Aberlour, seven hours after he had hooked his fish,
the said fish fast under a stone, and himself completely
tired. He had some thoughts of breaking his tackle
and giving the thing up; but he finally hit upon an
expedient to rest himself, and at the same time to guard
against the surprise and consequence of a sudden move-
ment of the fish.
" He laid himself down comfortably on the banks, the
butt end of his rod in front ; and most ingeniously drew
out part of his line, which he held in his teeth. ' If
N
178 CLEAN DUNE OUT.
he rugs when I'm sleeping,' said he, ' I think I'll
find him noo ; ' and no doubt it is probable that he
would. Accordingly, after a comfortable nap of three
or four hours, Duncan was awoke by a most uncere-
monious tug at his jaws. In a moment he was on his
feet, his rod well up, and the fish swattering down the
stream. He followed as best he could, and was be-
ginning to think of the rock at Craigellachie, when he
found to his great relief that he could ' get a pull on
him.' He had now comparatively easy work; and
exactly twelve hours after hooking him, he cleicked him
at the head of Lord Fife's water : he weighed fifty-four
pounds, Dutch, and had the tide lice upon him."
Thus Duncan Grant has instructed us how to manage
a large Salmon. Let us now see how a large Salmon
may manage us.
In the year 1815, Robert Kerse hooked a clean
Salmon of about forty pounds in the Makerstoun Water,
the largest, he says, he ever encountered : sair work
he had with him for some hours ; till at last Rob, to use
his own expression, was " clean dune out." He landed
the fish, however, in the end, and laid him on the channel;
astonished, and rejoicing at his prodigious size, he called
out to a man on the opposite bank of the river, who
had been watching him for some time.
" Hey, mon, sic a fish ! "
He then went for a stone to fell him with ; but as
soon as his back was turned, the fish began to wamble
towards the water, and Kerse turned, and jumped upon
it ; over they both tumbled, and they, line, hook, and
all went into the Tweed. The fish was too much for
ROB OF THE TROUGHS. 179
Rob, having broke the Hue, which got twisted round
his leg, and made his escape, to his great disappoint-
ment and loss, for at the price clean salmon were then
selling, he could have got five pounds for it.
Thus you see how a large fish may manage us.
I must tell you that the above-mentioned Robert
Kerse has long been a distinguished character on the
Tweed. At a secluded spot, where the woods and
rocks dip down to the margin of the river, and where
its current is opposed by a rocky barrier through which
it has worn its way in frightful gorges, the gaunt figure
of auld Rob of the Troughs has been seen any time these
forty years. He is very tall and bony, and when work-
ing his boat with the canting pole amongst the rapids, or
lookmg down on the water from a jutting rock with his
leister aloft ready to strike, he cuts a most formidable
Salvator Rosa-like appearance. Rob is now highly sea-
soned with the saltness of time, being nearer eighty than
seventy years old ; drinks whiskey like water, his native
element ; and to this day runs after the hounds, when
they come near, like a boy of fifteen. He is a genuine
lover of all sports, and has begot numerous sons and
daughters : of the former four are game keepers, and
fishermen on Tweed, Tiviot, and Ettrick, to the Duke of
Buccleuch, Lord Lothian, and Lord Home. They are
remarkable as claiming a regular descent from Saxon
ancestors in the most remote times, and are an active,
athletic, clean-limbed race of men, keen of eye, and
swift of foot, of good pluck, and altogether amphibious,
loving the heather and mountain flood better than the
street and servants' hall. Stalwart men would they
N 2
180 KOB AT BAY.
have been in a Border Foray had they lived in the time
of" Johnny Armstrong. Such and so great are the
Kerses ; but they will not go down to posterity like the
Purdies, " carent quia, Vate sacro : " neither could
the old river god Eob himself contend with the otter
so valiantly as Charlie Purdie. Whether it was that
he had a sort of fellow-feeling for an animal that was
amphibious like himself, and followed the same pro-
fession, or from what other cause I cannot say, but
Rob did not particularly shine in a fair stand-up otter
fight, as you shall hear.
In the latter end of September, 1839, Kerse had set
a cairn net at the Clippers, " a little below Makerstoun
House, but on the bank of the river opposite to it ; and
on going to the cairn to examine the net, he saw a
young otter sitting on, and entangled in it ; he threw
more of the net over it, whilst drawing it to the land,
and when he had caught hold of the tail, and was
carrying it off, a large otter, wdiich he described " as a
she ane," five feet in length, jumped out of the water,
ran up the bank after him, to use his own words, " like
a mad bear," and commenced a furious attack upon him.
Rob had nothing to defend himself with but his hat ;
and as he Avas holding the young one with one hand, he
found he was likely to have the worst of it, and to be
Ijitten by the one animal or the other. So he threw
the whelp to the old one, saying, " Aye, ye she devil, he
may get her, twae to ane is odds." They both swam
away ; that is, the two otters, not Kerse.
On looking after them he saAv two other young ones
trying to make past the point of the cairn, which, owing
ROB BREAKS THE BAY. 181
to the sti'engtli of the current, they seemed unable to
eftect : Kerse thought he would try the thing again, so
he laid hold of one of them, and pulled it out also by
the tail ; scarce had he done this, and had begun to take
to his heels, ere out again jumped the old one, and at-
tacked him ; but this time Rob had provided himself
with a large stone, and hit the old beast on the back,
when he again set off, and carried the young one with
him, which was afterwards given to Lord John Scott.
During the whole contest, says Rob, " the auld beast
keepit squeeling, and makin' a noise something like a
horse, when he gies a snore."
How Charles Purdie contended with an otter, will
be seen hereafter.
N 8
182 GLAMOUTJ.
CHAP. VIII.
" Of Scotland well, the friers of Faill,
The liminory laiig hes lastit ;
The monks of Melros' made gude kaill
On Fridays when they fastit."
Spec. Godly So7tgs, page 87.
In rambling by Tweedside one never loses sight of the
Eildon hills within many mUes of Mekose, which, to-
gether with the river and abbey, are the dominant
features of the country.
Of the legend touching them there are two versions ;
the poetical one given us in " the Lay of the Last Min-
strel,"
" And, warrior, I could say to thee
The words that clove Eildon hills in three,"
comes, as all the world knows, from a very high au-
thority ; and, besides being extremely probable in itself,
has good classical conformity to the magician in Ariosto,
who produced marvellous visions in the air which, as-
tounded the beholder ; but he having a glass given him
by a more powerful enchanter, which enabled him to
see things in their true semblance, saw only the
magician sitting on a cloud, reading his book ; thus in
both these cases wonderful things were done by caba-
listical words, wliich art is called Glamour.
MICHAEL SCOTT. 183
Now as to the Eildons, I do not exactly see what
motive the wizard could have in cleaving them in three ;
I therefore rather lean to the story, which is still cur-
rent in the country, especially as it is very circumstan-
tial, and most agreeable to sober reason. It runs as
follows : —
Old Michael Scott the wizard, whose fame as a
powerful magician had spread over most part of
Europe* (the same alluded to as having cleft the Eildon
hills in three), was at continual feud with the holy
monks of Old Meh^ose, and constantly playing his
cantrips on them : they on then- part w^ere assiduous in
using exorcisms, and such means as put Michael Scott's
power in some danger ; so the wizard resolved that they
should not have the light of the sun during vespers, but
that they should either abstain from them altogether,
or be put to the expense of oil or candles.
To effect his puqiose he summoned a spirit or imp,
or something very like a real devil, who was subject to
his bidding, and for whom he was obliged to find con-
stant employment.
Hun he commanded to place a mountain to the west
of the monastry, so as to intercept from it the rays of
the setting sun. The imp being ingenious, and strong
wathal, looked around him, and found his affair in the
Cheviot hills. Tliither he hied, and with an iron
shovel, he took away from them at one scoop a quantity
sufficient to form one of the hills, which he deposited
* " Quel' altro Michele Scoto fu, clii verainente
Delle luagiche Frodi seppe U. GIoco." Dante.
N 4
184 Michael's imp.
where he was commanded, and in two more journeys
formed the other two hills, just as we see them now,
only that they were bare of verdure. In his passage
a part fell out of the shovel, which is now called
Ruberslaw, which slovenly slip accounts for the in-
equality in point of size of the Eildons. At this slip
Michael was exceeding wrath, and pursued his imp
towards Tweedside to punish him. The imp had a
good start, and Michael lay rather out of his ground :
Avhen the evil spirit came to old Melrose, he saw a
l>rave company of monks in the haugh, who had made
a kettle of Jish*, and were carousing with goodly
flagons of ale. It is said Thomas the Rhymer of
Ercildoune was with them, and that the prior, who
threw a long line, had been very successful Avith it
that morning, having had good sport in the Gateheugh
streams, and caught two clean fish in the Holy-wheel,
now called the Hally-wheel, a stream which he himself
tabooed upon the same principle that the Italians write
" Rispetto " on the walls, namely, to keep off intruders.
At the sight of so many pious men, the little imp
skulked behind a tree, and INIichael himself was taken
aback, and ran cunning, making a cross cut over the
peninsula, in order to come in upon the imp below ;
the latter being hardly pressed, made for the river, well
knowing that his task-master was not only a bad boat-
man, but that no enchantment could subsist in a run-
ning stream. Arrived there he formed the scoop of
* It is still a custom to make parties and dress the salmon on
the spot immediately after their capture, which is called having a
lipttle offiili.
THOMAS OF ERCILDOUNE. 185
liis shovel into an iron boat, in which lie sat and
launched himself, using the handle as a rudder, round
which he twisted his tail that he might steer with the
greater nicety — tali auxilio — Michael, forgetting, in
the heat of his wrath, his impotence of enchantment in
a river, got into a fisherman's boat above Dryburgh,
and gave chase. Now this boat being more buoyant
than the imp's iron one, he gained fast upon him, and
just got hold of his tail in a long reach above Mertoun,
called ever after from that event " the Doiip Roads.'''' As
to whether the said usual appendage to a devil was
greased or not, tradition has left us in ignorance ; but it
eluded the grip, and the imp shot down a cauld,
through so rapid a gorge, that the warlock hesitated to
follow.
And now a new scene presented itself; a third boat
came sweeping under the scaurs in their rear, and joined
the chase, its crew consisting of Thomas the Rhymer,
and two zealous fathers, who pursued the wnzard with
bell, book, and candle ; and they would have ran into
him a little below Craigover, but that he shot ashore ;
and then being on dry land, threw up by his art a bay
behind him to obstruct their passage, and thus jocky *
them ; but Thomas of Ercildoune, who was also a
powerful magician, opened a passage on the south side
of the river, and the monks only received a slight check.
In the meantime Michael launched again ; but tlic
devil beat them all hollow at Little-Dean stream, which,
* This spot still goes by the name of Jocky Bay, and is a good
salmon cast.
186 IMPEKFECT INCANTATION.
being swift, rocky, and shallow, suited his style of
navigation admirably. Now there was, and still is, a
witch dwelling on the craigs near Makerstoun, at the
Corbie's Nest, who, by a deception in magic called
glamour, assumes the semblance of a crow. She was a
sort of ally of Michael Scott, and flew forth, croaking
her hoarsest and best upon the occasion. How far her
power extended, and what she did, I have never heard ;
but certain it is that the wizard landed, that his magic
might have effect, and, with or without her assistance,
endeavoured to " bridle the Tweed with a curb of
stone ; " but his left foot insensibly touching the running
stream, the work was imperfect and disunited, so that the
whole volume of the river gushed through the rocks in
gorges with such ai:)palling violence, that neither he of
Ercildoune or the Frati thought it prudent to follow.*
Michael now, seeing the pursuit after his familiar
was vain on the water, remained ashore, and summoned
another spirit, who was subservient to him, in the shape
of a coal-black horse, and springing on him, said, as was
Ills custom, "Mount, Diabolus, and fly;" but he was
scarcely firm in his seat, before the little devil got down
to sea, Avhere he sunk his boat, and vanished to the
bad jDlace from whence he came. There is still a dan-
gerous sandbank over the spot where this curious iron
boat is deposited ; and, as the mode of dissipating shoals
* These rocks are called the troughs, or in Scotch, trows, and
are under the beautiful grounds of Makerstoun. A very active
gentleman, who resides a few miles higher up the river, has in very
low water leaped froni rock to rock, and thus crossed the Tweed
without wetting his feet.
THE IMP VICTORIOUS. 187
and blowing up sunken vessels is now well known, I
trust some effort will be made, either by government
or a joint-stock company, to recover this valuable cu-
riosity.
Thus terminated a race, singular for the skill that
was displayed under embarrassing circumstances, and
wonderful as to the persons and powers that were en-
gaged in it.
" When next these wights go forth to sail.
May I be there to see ! "
CHAR IX.
Dinna let tlie Sherra' ken
Donald Caird is come ajjain."
Scott.
If I were to write an account of lialf tlic poaching
tricks that are common to all Salmon rivers, I should
j>roduce a book, the dimensions of which Avoidd terrify
the public, even in this pen-compelling age.
CONSCIENTIOUS WATER BAILIFF. 189
In times when water bailiffs in Tweed had veiy
small salaries, they themselves were by no means scru-
pulous about the observance of close time, but j)artook
of the good things of the river In aU seasons, lawful or
unlawfid. There is a man now, I believe, living at
Selkirk, who in times of yore used certain little free-
doms with the Tweed Act, which did not become the
virtue of his office. As a water bailiff he was sworn to
tell of all he saw ; and indeed, as he said, it could not
be expected that he should tell of what he did not see.
When his dinner was served up during close tune,
his wife usually brought to the table in the first place a
platter of potatoes and a napkin ; she then bound the
latter over his eyes that nothing might offend his sight.
This being done, the illegal salmon was brought in
smoking hot, and he fell to, blindfolded as he was, like
a conscientious water bailiff, — if you know what that
is ; nor was the napkin taken from his eyes till the fins
and bones were removed from the room, and every
visible evidence of a salmon having been there had
completely vanished : thus he saw no illegal act com-
mitted, and went to give in his annual report at Com-
hill with his idea of a clear conscience. This was going
too near the wind, or rather the water ; but what would
you have? — the man was literal, and a great eater of
Salmon from his youth.
People who are not water bailiffs have not always so
delicate a conscience. Let us examine the style and
bearing of such marauders as have fallen under our
notice.
In the first place, there is your man with a pout net,
which resembles a landing net, only that it is very con-
190 BLACK FISHERS.
siderably larger, and Is in shape only half of a circle ; with
this he scoops out foul salmon during floods, when, from
weakness, they are miable to stem the current, and get
close under the banks. This he transacts very snugly,
under pretence of taking trouts ; so indeed he does, and
welcome too, if he would stop there ; but this he is per-
fectly averse from.
Next in consequence comes your Triton, who walks
the waters with a long implement in his hands, namely
a leister, alias a waster ; with this weapon, " quocunque
nomine gaudet," the said deity, quick of eye and ready
of hand, forks out the poor fish that are spawning on
the streams ; and this in close time. Vile, vile Triton !
Then comes yoiu' lawless band of black fishers, so
called from their masks of black crape with which they
disguise themselves : these men come forth in the dark-
ness of the night to burn for salmon. When the winds
are hushed, you may sometimes hear the dipping of
oars and the clanking of a boat chain, and see at a
distance a small light, like a glow-worm. In a little
while the light blazes forth, and up rise a set of Othellos
who are about to take a private benefit. These
minions of the night are generally men of a desperate
character, and it is not easy to collect water bailiffs
sufficient in number or willing to encounter them ; but
if water bailiffs would fight, how very picturesque the
attack would be ! The rapids, — the blazing, — the
leisterSj — the combatants driven headlong into the
river. Why, the battle of Constantino and ISIaxentius,
and the affair of the bridge, as seen in the famous
fresco, would be nothing to it. The only tiling I should
KIYER SNEAK. 191
apprehend would be, that the bailiffs would eventually
sport Marc Antony and run.
In contradistinction to these illuminati comes your
plausible poacher, a sort of river sneak. This man
sallies forth with apparent innocence of purpose ; he
switches the water with a trout-rod, and ambulates the
shore with a small basket at his back, indicative of
humble pretensions ; but has a pocket in his jacket that
extends the Avhole breadth of the skirts. He is trout-
ing, forsooth; but ever and anon, as he comes to a
salmon-cast, he changes his fly, and has a go at the
nobler animal. If he hooks a salmon, he looks on each
side with the tail of his eye to guard against a surprise ;
and if he sees any danger of discovery from the ad-
vance of the foeman, he breaks his line, leaves the fly
in the fish's mouth, and substitutes a trout one ; — said
fish swims away, and does not appear in evidence.
I once came upon one of these innocents, who had
hold of a salmon with his trout-rod in a cast a little
above Melrose bridge, called " the Quarry Stream.^'' He
did not see me, for I was in the copsewood on the
summit of the bank immediately behind him. I could
have pounced upon hun at once, I and my fisherman.
Did I do so ? I tell you, no. He would have broken
his line as above, and have lost the fish ; and I wanted
a sahiion, for it is a delicate animal, and was particularly
scarce at that time.
So I desired Charlie to lie down amongst the bushes,
and not to stir till the fish was fairly landed, and was
in the capacious pocket, which has already been de-
scribed. Then I counselled him to give chase, and liarrie
192 A CHASE.
the possessor. Judging, however, that if the man crossed
the river at the ford a little below, which he was very
likely to do, that he would have so much law of Charlie
before he could descend the steep brae, that he might
escape : I drew back cautiously, got into the road out
of sight, and passed over Melrose bridge, taking care to
bend my body so as to keep it out of sight behind the
parapet ; I then lay concealed amongst the firs in the
opposite bank. Thus we had Master Sneak between
us. I was at some distance from the scene of action to
be sure, and somewhat in the rear, as I could advance
no further under cover ; but I had the upper ground, and
was tolerably swift of foot in those days, which gave me
confidence. I took out my pocket glass, and eyed my
man. He was no novice : but worked his fish with
great skill. At length he drew him on the shore, and
gave him a settler with a rap of a stone on the back of
his head ; he then, honest man, pryed around him with
great circumspection, and seeing no one, he took the
salmon by the tail, and, full of internal contentment,
deposited it in his well-contrived pocket : he then waded
across to the south side of the river, with an intention,
as it seemed, of revisiting his household gods and having
a broil.
Charlie now arose from his lair, and scrambled down
the steep. The alarm was given, but he of the salmon
had a good start, with the river between him and his
pursuer. So he stopped for a moment on the haugh
to make out what was going forward on all sides, much
after the fashion of an old hare, who runs a certain
distance when she apprehends any thing personal, then
GRANTING A FAVOUR. 193
rests for a moment or two, and shifts her ears in order
to collect the news from all quarters of the compass.
Even so did our friend, and having satisfied himself
that he was a favoured object of attraction, he was
coy and took to flight incontinently ; I now sprang up
from the firs, the game being fairly afoot, and kept the
upper ground. The pursuit became close and hot, but
as the fugitive, like Johnny Gili)in, carried weight, I
soon closed with him.
" You seem in a hurry, my good friend ; your busi-
ness must be pressing. What makes you run so ? "
" Did ye no see that bogle there by the quarry
stream, that garred me rin this gait, haud on for yer
lives, sirs, for if he overtakes us, Ave are deid men."
" Why the truth is, Sandy, that I do not choose to
haud on at present, because I came forth in quest of a
bonny salmon, and cannot go home without one ; could
you not help me to such a thing ? "
At this Sandy took a pinch of snuif from his mull,
and seeing my eyes fixed upon the length and pro-
tuberance of his pocket, answered quaintly enough, —
" Aye, that can I, and right glad am I to do ye a fa-
vour, ye shall no want for a salmon whilst I have one."
So saying, he pulled forth a ten pounder, which oc-
cupied all the lower regions of his jacket. " How the
beast got here," said he, as he extracted him gradually,
" I dinna ken, but I am thinking that he must have
louped intill my pocket, as I war wading the river."
" Nothing more likely, and I will admit him to have
done so for once, but, mark me, I will not admit of any
salmon doing so in future without my permission in
o
194 THE souter's retreat.
writing. You have been trouting, it seems, pray what
sort of a fly do you use ? "
" Whiles I use a wee aue, and whiles a uiuckle
flie, ane for rough and deep water, and the ither for
shallow streams. " That is the way to trout, both in
loch and river."
" True ! I see you have some bonny little flies in
your hat ; take it off" carefully, Purdie — you understand
me, — and let me admire them."
Charlie advances, and taking off* the man's hat with
great care so as to keep the crown undermost, he pulls
out from the inside six well tied salmon flies of the
most approved colours, which he transferred to his own
pocket. I actually saw " Meg with the muckle mouth "
amongst them.
" Aye, ye are as welcome to the flees as ye are to the
sawmont, and I am proud to do ye a good turn at ony
gait."
" Well now, bear in mind, that I will never permit
you to throw a fly wee or muckle in the Pavilion water
again ; and if you darken the shores with your presence
a second time, I will have you up at Melrose."
" I'm thinking I shall tak' your advice, for ye seem
a sensible chiel. Will ye accept of a pinch of snuff*? "
'' Good morning, good morning, get thence to Sel-
kirk as quick as ye can, we know ye well for a souter of
that town. Run, run, the bogle is after you ! "
" Run, aye that will I, and the deil tak' the hind-
most," said he, and off* he went at his best pace;
leaving this blessing and the salmon to solace us.
Perhaps I shall best give a general idea of what Avas
THE CLODDING LEISTER. 195
going on formerly in close time by a recitation of the
confessions of my departed friend Thomas Purdie ; and
let it be borne in mind in his behalf, that at the time of
his cantrips salmon were not valuable, and, consequently,
little cared for, so no great harm was done ; but it is
clear from liis own showing that Tom in his early days
was a sort of Donald Caii'cl, for he had no right to be
" Ijleezing up," where he did.
For the better understanding of his narrative, I shall
give a description of the clodding, or throwing leister,
or waster, as he was used to term it, the instrument
with which he perfoiined his sleights. It differs ma-
terially from the one in common use ; a description of
which latter will be given hereafter.
This throwing leister is used chiefly on the upjDer
parts of the Tweed, and its tributary streams, where
the water is not deep. The spear has five prongs of
unequal, but regularly graduated, length. Those which
are nearest the fisherman, and which come to the ground
first in throwino" beins; the shortest. The entire iron
frame of the spear is double the weight of that in com-
mon use. An iron hoop is bound round the top of the
pole, as a counterbalancing weight ; and the pole itself
has a slight curve, the convex part being the outermost
in throwing : a rope made of goats' hair, called " the
lyams," is fastened to the top bar of the spear just above
the shortest prong; this rope is about twelve yards
long, and is tied to the arm of the thrower. The spear
is cast like a javelin ; and, if thrown by a skilful hand,
the top of the shaft, after it has pierced the fish, faUs
beyond the vertical point towai'ds the opposite bank of
o 2
196
THE CLODDING LEISTER.
the river ; then the fish is pulled to land by means of
tlie aforesaid rope or lyams, so that there is little
chance of his escaping in his struggles for freedom.
The accompanying engraving represents the iron of
the clodding waster ; that in general use will be given
hereafter.
Now for Tom Purdie. I should miss the nice points
of his character were I to deprive him of his own peculiar
way of communicating his feats, though it is but too
true, that when he got upon a favourite subject, he was
most mhumanly elastic.
TOM PURDIE'S MUCKLE FISH.
" AVliile I was with Mr. Anderson, and shepherd at
West Bold, one Sunday," says Tom, " I did na go up
TOM PURDIE's MUCKLE FISH. 197
to Traquair to the kirk, but took a walk by the river
side ; there were a vast o' fish in the water, and I saw
ane or twae great roeners turning, a sure sign there
were mickle kippers too. I had dandered down to near
the burn fit, and had a pair of good stilts aye lying
there. My first wife was then a lass, and lived at
Caberston; and the stilts were ready to cross the
water at an orra time. I took a thought that I would
like to see what was steering on Caberston throat;
and sae I lap on the stUts and went through at the rack;
and when I was on the other side, I thought I might as
weel tak a keek at the throat. I keepit weel off the
water-side, until I was down aneth where the fish
began to work. I kend by a clour in the water a gay
bit afore me, that there was a big redd there, and
drew cannily forrit. 'Odd, sir ! my verra heart lap to
my mouth when I gat the glisk o' something mair like
a red stirk than ought else muve oif the redd, and
hallans doVvn the water and make for the south side. I
fand my hair creep on my head. I minded it was the
Sabbath, and I should not hae been there. It might be a
delusion o' the enemy, if it was na the deil himsel'. I
stude and consider'd. I had never seen the deil i' day-
light, and forbye there was just then a great brown
rowaner slade off the redd after him. If it was the deil,
what could he be doin' Avi' the rowaner? The water
was breast deep at the least ; it might be a fish after a',
and I had heard the auld folk speak o' vera muckle anes.
I lookit up the brae to the toon. Peggy aiblins hadna
likit my hankering about the tlu*oat on sic a day^ and
she had slippit in to the house, and didna come out
o 3
198 A DEVIL OF A FISn.
again. Sae when I saw it was sae, I held up the water
side for my stilts, keepin', for aw that, an ee to the
redds. Heaven forgie me ! I neuer saw sic a water o'
fish ! If it was na the deil I had seen, I was sure he
was na far off. I saw eneugh to temp a better man
than me ; and I began to think I had better be at hame
reading a chapter o' the gude book, if no a leaf or twae
o' " the Fourfold State ; " sae I took the stilts and came
through again by the rack, and wan hame just a wee
thought afore the master and the mistress, honest
woman ! came hame thrae the kirk. I haflins wist I
had been there too ; — but yet I was only lookin' at the
warks o' the creation, and couldna say I had done ony
great wrang ; an' if I hadna seen Peggy come out o' the
byre at Caberston, I ablins hadna stillit the water after
a'. But I fand I could na read a styme ; for, do as I
might, I could na get the appearance that I had seen
out o' my mind ; and yet whan I consider'd about the
micMe roioaner, that I was sure eneugh was a yeithly
thing, I could na help believing that it was, after a', a
fish I had seen ; but I never saw sic another.
" Weel, a' the time the master was at the readin', I
could na keep the glisk o' the aw some mickle fish out
o' my head, and whan we raise thrae the prayers, I
popit the shouther o' the nowtherd callant, and said
quietly, ' Sandy, if I raise ye about twal o'clock ye
needna wonder ; sleep as fast as ye can till than, and
tak' nae notice to Jamie when ye rise.' I had aft ta'en
this lad wi' me afore to baud the light ; for he was a
stout loon o' his age, and could hand a light weel
enough ; having a natural cast rather bye common for
HEATHER LIGHTS. 199
a kin-kind o' mischief and ploys, and, I believe, was
sound asleep in five minutes.
" As for mysel', I need hardly say I never steekit an
e'e. I kend fu' weel that if we war na at Queedside by
the first o' the Monanday morning, the hempies out o'
twae or three o' the touns o' the north side o' the water
wad be bleezin' up afore us ; and some devihie came
o'er the cock that sat on the Byre balks aside us, for
he never mist to skirl every ten minutes thrae the time
I lay doon ; sae I was as often grapin the hands o' my
watch, which I had gotten in a coup thi-ae Geordie
Matheson three weeks afore.
** At last, whan I had a gude guess it was drawing-
near to twal o'clock, and nae fear o' Ijreaking the
Sabath, I gat up and shook Sandy by the shouther,
who was out o' bed in a giffy. We went to the barn,
and tyed up tAvae prime heather lights, thrae a bunch
or twae, which I had gae'd the miller lad dry on the
killn ten days afore. They may talk o' ruffies and birk
bark baith ; but gie me a good heather light, weel dried
on the killn, for a throat o' the Queed. However, I
got the lights on my back, Sandie carried a weel dried
bairdie^ and I took in my hand my clodding wastei'. I
had gi'en the Runchies o' Yarrowford seven white sliil-
lino's for her: but nane could make a waster wi' the
Runches*, nor track an otter either; they had clean
* The Runches (Runcimans) of Yarrowford were two celebrated
smiths, probably brought to Selkirkshire by Murray of Phillip-
liaugh. They were fomous for a peculiar art in tempering edge
tools. Their otter hounds and terriers also were capital. Singidar
stories were told of their sagacity. Rob Runchy, as a forlorn hope,
O 4
200 AN UNSONSIE GALLANT.
the best terriers in the hale country side ; and they had
an art o' tlieir ain in tempering the taes o' a waster that
they took to the grave wi' them. I could hae thrawn
mine off the head of a scaur ; and if she had stracken a
whinstane rock she wad hae been nae mare blunted than
gif I had thrawn her on a haystack.
" On our Avay to the water, I was nae little fashed
wi' the unsonsie callant blowing up the bairdie every
now and than, to mak sure that it was na out, and I
had ance or twice to shake him by the neck ; for I was
na sure that the Gabberston folk, who were aye devilash
yaap when there Avar mony fish in the water, might na
be lying at the side o' the throat ready to blaw up
when it past twal o'clock ; and gude truly, if they had
gotten a blink o' our bairdie, they wad hae ta'en that
instead o' the hour. At any rate there was little use in
warning aw the north side o' the water that Tarn
Purdie was ga'n out to the fishing; and, to tell the
truth, the Sabbath day was little mair than o'er.
" But some had clippit the wings o' the Sabath closer
than us after a' ; I saw the twinkle of a coal every now
and than commin down Caberston peat-road; and I
weel kend it was just the Sandersons o' Priesthope
bent for the same place wi' oursels. It was ill bein'
afore them on a Monanday morning wi' fair play, when
the water was in good trim. Faith I lost nae time
when I saw the twinkle o' their peat-coal (there was nae
strae for bairdies at Priesthope) in tying the lights on
once throw his clodding leister at a drowning man floating down the
YaiTOw in a high flood, and hauled him out with the Ijams un-
harmed.
TOM PURDIE GETS A FLEG. 201
the callant's back and thrawing him and the clod-
waster on my shouther and stilting the water as I had
done in the daylight. I kent fu' weel the place where
the big redd was, and blew up about thirty step below,
sae that the light might be at the best when we came
foment it. Sandy held the light weel ; his eyn were
glenting in his head wi' eagerness ; and just when we
cam to the tail o' the redd, I saw the muckle kipper
lyin' like a flain wedder. I had, as I thought, the ad-
vantage on my side, for the brae was three or four feet
aboon the water, and I strack him wi' a' my pith.
Whither the mid grain had stracken him on the back
fin, I took nae time then to consider ; but the fourteen
pund waster stottit off his back as if he had been a bag
o' wool.
" A cauld sweet cam' owre me, an' I believe every hair
on my body crap. I was dead sure it was the deil liim-
seV that had been permitted to throw himsel' in my way
for breaking the Sabath ! For I had begun to tye up
the lights as soon as I shook up the callant ; an' it was
hardly twal o'clock. I pu'd the burnin' light out o' his
hand, and dash'd it in the Queed, threw him on my
back as fast as I could, an' was hardly able to stilt the
water again for vera dread.
" I needna' say we were soon in our beds ; and I took
the callant in aside me, for he was to the full as feard,
poor fellow, as I was, • — an' mair. For when I got
time, an' turn'd calm eneugh to consider, I began to see
it could na weel be auld clutie, for I could mind o'
seein' the verra een, an' gib an' teeth and the gapin'
mouth o' the kipper. And by and by, I cam' to be
202 KINDLING UP HEATHER AND COURAGE.
certain sure it was neither mair nor less than the big
monster I had seen i' daylight. Sae wi' that settle-
ment there cam' the question ; how could I get another
chance? a weel, I lay still till just afore skye-break,
which I kend baith by my watch, and the cock that had
been through the night as quiet as the kye aneatli him.
I waken'd Sandie wi' muckle ado this time, and he
had nae grit broo' o' the business : but, however, be that
as it may, we tyed up another light an' set off again.
But there was still a hankering i' the callant's mind
anent ga'an back to the same place, where he had gotten
sic a fleg. He was like a colt that has been scar'd wi' a
gray stane, an's no willing to venture back to see that
its nae bogle. ' But is ye sure, Tam, it was na the
deil ? ' ' Deil a bit o' Satan it was Sandie, ma man,'
says I, ' for I saw him afore you ; an' the deil dare na
show himsel' in daylight on sic a day.' Weel, we gat
through the Queed again, an' kindled up the auld place.
When we cam' up to the muckle redd, the fiend a haed
was there but twae or three rowangatherers whidden
about ; sae we cam' up the water-side for the light was
only at the best, when, gonshens ! there was the great
brute o' a kipper, that, Avhen he had gotten a glint o'
the light had minded the dunt he got on the back, an'
was glidin' up the side o' the water within three step o'
the channel. I scraucht to Sandie to hand up the light,
and keepin' clear o' the back fin this time, I strack him
atween the back fin an' the gills, at the same time
shakin' the lyams off my arm. Peace be here ! if he
didna stem the throat four feet deep wi' the waster
sticking straight up in his back as if he never fand it.
PEREMPTORY KIPPER. 203
wi' the lyams about him ! I durst na draw however.
I had nae fear o' their breaking, for they were spun of
the hair o' the grey auld buck that gaed for mouy years
on the Flora craig * ; but had I pu'd at the lyams,
the kipper behooved to turn, an' he might ha' taen
down the throat tap water, an' I wad ha' lost my
waster an' lyams, or pu'd it out o' his back. That I had
nae mind to do.
" I never was feard for drownin' in my life ; at ony
rate never in the Queed. I strack into the water
breast deep, an' wonder sin syne how I keepit my feet ;
but I had on a pair o' gude clouted shoon. The kipper
tired o' the trade o' gaun against the strength o' the
throat, an' tralin' the lyams, turned down the deep side
of the water 'atween me an' the brae. I got hand o' the
shaft o' the waster, but to try to grund him was need-
less, sae I keepit down the shank, an' that made the
force o' the water raise the fish to the tap, an' I push'd
him to the side, following as I best could, an' pressed
him to the brae, when I lifted him out. Wi' the help
o' Sandie (who had, when he saw the blood, gotten rid
o' his fear o' the deil,) I carried him to the head o' the
rack, and when I got him on my back, my certie I was
a massy man ! I was aye vext I didna' weigh him, but
my belief was he was forty gude pounds, Dutch weight.
* I know not the derivation of lyams; the word is only used, as
far as I know, to denote a small twisted rope usually made of goats'
hair, for the sake of elasticity, and fastened to the bow of the
clodding leister : it is coiled on the left arm at the other end in
such a manner as to go freely off when the leister is thrown.
Jamieson in his Dictionary derives the word from the French lien.
204 GLOSSARY.
As I waded the water wi' him, leadin' Sandie by the hand,
his neb was above my head, an' his tail plash'd in the
water on my heels.
*' My father was than miller o' Bold Milln, an' I took
him down to be reisted in the kiln ; but we were a' sae
thrang wi' talkin' about his size, that we forgot to lay
him on the broads, and that, as I was sayin', vexes me
to this day."
GLOSSARY.
Clour — a heaving up of the water.
Hallans — slanting.
Thrae — from.
Haflins — partly.
Sty me — none at all, In the least.
Popit — tapped.
Steekit — closed.
Hempies — scamps — rogues ,
Balks — cross beams.
Skirl — crow.
Coup — a swap.
Ruffies — old pieces of tarred sacking.
Bairdie — a straw rope to keep the light in.
Yaap — alert.
Plain — flayed.
Br 00 — liking.
Roioangatherers — meaning trout.
Massy — proud.
Meal stone — containing 16 pounds.
Reisted — dried.
Broads — scales.
Lyams — rope of horse-hair used with the throwing leister.
SUNLIGHT. 205
CHAP. X.
" And doun the stream, like Levin's gleam,
The fleggit salmond flew ;
The ottar yaap his pray let drap.
And to his hiddils drew."
Border Minstrehy.
Whilst the Pavilion* was getting ready for my re-
ception, I took up my quarters at an inn at Melrose,
and, at my instigation, ]\Ir. Tintern came there also, and
thus we soon got intimate. The river had been falling
in for some time, and was now too low for fly-fishing ;
and as the sky had lately been pretty clear, and as the
evening promised a calm and sunny day for the morrow,
I promised to show him the manner in which we speared
salmon by the light of the sun, should the weather prove
as good as I anticipated.
My expectations for the time, at least, were fulfilled;
for on waking I found the whole expanse of heaven
serene and glowing ; not a cloud to be seen, not a
breath of air to rufllc the water; so I sent to awaken
my companion. Breakfast was prepared, but no Mr.
* Having often mentioned the Pavilion Water, I should have
explained before that it belongs to Lord Somerville ; and I have
thus called it from the name of his house, which I rented for some
years, and which is about two miles up the river from Melrose.
The chief scene of ray operations, however, was some miles lower
down the river from Dryburgh, as far as Makerstouu.
206 MR. tintern's partiality.
Tintern. A little while after I heard a languid voice
say, " Want some hot water." A quarter of an hour
elapsed, when I heard the same words again ; after
about a similar interval of time I heard, " Want a
stocking ; " and then, after a long pause, " Want a
stocking " again. I was out of all patience ; so I went
up to entreat the man of wants to use more expedition,
as we were losing a very fine morning.
I did not find him in his room, but sitting down half
dressed on the upper stair near it, looking at his sketch-
book. He had not shaved, as his hint for hot water,
having been uttered in a mild tone, had not been taken.
He did not so much care about shaving, he said, but he
could not go out with only one stocking on, and he
could not find the other, and unluckily he had sent his
dirty ones to be washed. It certainly was true that
one of his legs was bare; and, after a fruitless hunt,
we had nothing left for it but to send into the town
and buy a fresh pair. After they arrived, however, he
discovered that there was no particular necessity for
such a step, as he had favoured one leg at the expense
of the other, by putting both stockings on it.
I had already breakfasted, and my impatience in-
creased; so it was agreed that my friend should take
our host's little pony, and join me above Melrose Bridge.
Wlien I got to the spot, Tom Purdie, who was usually
very forward on these occasions, was not arrived ; but
I descried Mr. Tintern at a distance, not upon the inn-
keeper's pony, but walking down hill; and I went to
meet him that he might not miss us at the river. I
came up to him precisely at the turnpike by Newton,
PONY AHINT. 207
and overheard the following little dialogue between him
and the turnpike woman : — •
" Here's twopence for you, good woman."
" What for do ye gie me tliis ? "
" Wliy, for my horse, to be sure."
" And Avhar may your horse be ? "
" Where ? why here, behind me, my good dame."
** It must be a gay piece ahint then, I'm thinking,
for I canna see the beast."
At this he began to pull the bridle rein which he
had in his hand ; and, upon finding it very particularly
obedient, he looked round and found, true enough, that
the pony whom he fancied he had been leading down
hill, and was at the end of the said bridle, had slipped
out his head, and trotted back the way he came. At
this incident, he seemed almost as much amused as we
were ; though I thought I saw a lurking appearance of
distress in his countenance, too, as having further to
walk than he had bargained for.
Let us now see what the fishermen were doing.
Charles Purdie and Thomas Jamieson, whilst sitting on
a rock by the water-side, at length descried Tom
Purdie making up to them with his leister.
" Well, Tom," said Jamieson, " I never knew ye
keep ahmt afore, when there was any wark for the
leister. What makes ye so late, mon?"
" Why, I cudna get awa' from Abbotsford ; there
was a gentleman wi' Sir Walter; but wha he was I
dunna ken, but I think he was English. Sir AValter
gaed out to tak a walk, and cried to me to follow him.
When we war joost gaen up near to the turn before we
208 OCCURRENCE AT ABBOTSFORD.
cum to the Boor *, Pepper and Finnet were hunting the
woods, and INIaida was gacn ahhit us ; and, to my great
astonishment, when I lukit a wee piece among the
the trees, Di, who was wi' me, war standing, and pit
out her muckle tail like the handle of a cleik. Or ever
I wishes, out gets a dirty beast of a hare, and bangs
right on to the walk afore us. Sir Walter and the
other man war going side by side ; or ever I kent,
Maida pit his muckle nose past me, when Pepper barkit,
and set up his great lugs ; and as the gentleman Avalked
rather wide at the knee, he saAv the hare through atwcen
his legs, and made a great brush all at aince, and lifted
him off his feet. The gentleman, thinking he was going
to fa', cotched a firm grip o' INIaida's rough hair as he
sat strid legs on his back. Maida wanted to follow
Pepper, and rin awa wi' him aboot thirty yards, when
he coupit him off, and he fell owr the brae among the
bushes on the under side o' the walk ; and Sir Walter
gie a laugh ; and I cudna behave mysel ava, for I was
nearly fawd doon wi' laughing too. Hey, mon, I never
was so takken by the face in aw my life ; and when the
gentleman got up, his breeks were riven at the knee ;
and when he cam out from among the bushes, he
lookit sae soor, that Sir Walter turned round and flate
on me for laughing ; but if I was to dee for it, I cudna
help it ; and Sir Walter turned his back to the gentle-
man and laughed himsel, joost as bad as me ; but the
gentleman never laughed a bit. Aweel, we turned to
gang hame again, and a' the way doon the walk tlie
* A moss house or rustic seat.
SUNNING. 209
gentleman he keepit looking at Maida, and when he
got to Abbotsford, he ordered his carriage and gied
aw a."
" Well, that was better sj)ort than we are likely to
have to-day, Tom, for the cluds are beginning to rise,
and the wind is getting up ; more's the pity, for it was
the finest morning I ever saw, and now we are late,
and have lost twae hours. But here comes the maister
and the strange gentleman with him, he that does not
know a fish from a cow, and who was broke by ane of
thae whitlings."
The little party being now entirely assembled, agreed
that, as the day was beginning to alter, it was a pity to
disturb the water till they saw clearly how it would
turn out ; so the fishermen remained with the boats
and leisters at Craigover boat-hole ; and, in the mean-
time, I, Harry Otter, thought I could not do better than
explain the operation of sunning to my friend Mr. Tin-
tern, as there was now some chance of gaining his
attention ; so we sat down, and I commenced as fol-
lows : —
Sunning, as I have told you, is a mode of taking
salmon with a spear by sun light ; and vast numbers are
captured in this manner, particularly in the upper part
of the Tweed, where fish are more easily seen than in
the lower, from the comparative shallowness of the
water in which they lie.
This sport does not begin till the river is quite low
and clean, and useless for the fly. To succeed perfectly
requires a bright and calm day. You cannot see a fish
lying even at a very moderate depth when the surface
p
210 INSTEUCTIONS.
of the water is ruffled by the wind. As soon as the
river is thus fairly in order, take the first good day that
occurs ; you may not have many more ; and if you have,
you will not mend the matter by waiting too long, as
after a continuance of hot weather a green vesietable
substance rises from the bottom, which lessens the
transparency of the water.
If you have a man sufficiently clever with the leister,
let him stand in the water at the head of the stream
whilst you ai'e trying below, that he may strike the
fish which endeavour to pass out of it into another cast.
If you have no such man, and there are very few who
can see a fish pass up a rapid gorge, you may hang a
net in the stream ; but you must not bar the river by
stretching it quite across, as that is illegal. If you sun
a large pool where there is deep water, and various runs
and eddies in it, it is advisable to jDlace nets in such
situations as are most favourable for fish to strike into
when they are disturbed by the boats, and the other
means in use for frightening them. The pass being
thus in part secured and all prepared, the next thing is
to rout about, and endeavour to frighten the fish by
every means in your power, so that they may hide
themselves under the rocks and stones, or even lay, as
they sometimes do, half stupified beside them, when
you may strike them with the leister. To effect tliis, it
is usual to begin by rowing your boat or boats over the
pool with some white object hanging in the water from
the stern: the sculls of horses are in high repute for
this service ; and I dare say a stuffed otter would be
excellent, though I never tried it.
A TRUE HIGHLANDER. 211
^VTien jou tliiiik you have created sufficient terror by
these means, you may look about for the fish, and the
sport begins. You may manage your boat with the
leister, as in burning by night, of which hereafter : but
you do not, as in that case, necessarily work her broad-
side in front ; and one artist is sufficient for the amuse-
ment, though more may partake of it. If the leisterer
knows the water well, he puts the l^oat gently over the
rocks and stones, where the fish endeavour to conceal
themselves. Sometimes they get under a large stone
and are entirely hidden ; generally they are partially
concealed under smaller stones, part of the body and tail
only being seen ; so that it requires some dexterity to
strike them properly, or indeed at all. Some will lie
under the shelf of a rock quite open to the view ; in
which case you must be careful, when you strike, that a
prong of the leister does not rest upon the ledge of a
rock above, instead of on the salmon. Others I have
seen lying fair and open in the bare channel ; but these
wiU not lie to the leister so well as those in the situations
I have mentioned. If you do not strike a fish near the
centre of his body, you are never very sure of lifting
him. The late StafFa, before he came to his title, was
once sunning the Pavilion-water with John Lord
Somerville, and perceiving that the fisherman in their
boat had struck a salmon that was likely to get off the
spear when he might attempt to lift hmi ; in the true
spirit of a Highlander, and without saying a word to
any one, plunged at once into the Tweed with his
clothes on, dived down to the fish, and brought him
into the boat Avith his hands. '' A Highlander can
p 2
212 NET AND HARPOON.
never pass a seal, a deer, or a salmon, without having a
trial of skill with him."
To take a fish whose tail aloue is seen projecting from
the hiding place, provide yourself with a small steel
harpoon, the barbs of which shut into the shaft when
the point enters and makes the wound, but which sjDread
laterally when you pull it back; tie a line of small
whip-cord to this weapon, and fix the butt of the har-
poon itself in the point of a rude rod made for the pur-
pose. You may then push it into the tail of the fish,
when the little spear will come from the rod ; and you
may pull out your salmon with the line attached to it.
There are some very large stones in the Tweed, some-
times two or three lying together, under which salmon can
totally conceal themselves ; but you will easily discover
if there are any underneath them by the air-bubbles
which they cast up to the surface of the water when
you poke with your leister shaft. My method of taking
these fish was to throw a casting net over the stone or
stones that concealed them, and then to poke them out
with the pole of the leister. The net should be strong,
or they will swim clean through it, as if it were a cob-
Aveb ; in thx'owing the net, you must cast above the
hiding stone, allowing for the current, which will take
it down some little distance before it sinks to the bottom,
according to the depth and strength of the water. Of
course this method may also apply to fish 'partially con-
cealed.
In sunning, as in burning, begin at the lower part of
the river that belongs to you, so that you may again
come across those fish that escape upwards, and may not
VORACITY OF EELS. 213
go beyond your water ; and you will have a more
successful day of it, if you wait till your neighbour
beloAV has sunned his water. If the river continues
low for some time, disturbed fish will be continually
coming forward, and you may go over your water two
or three times at different periods, till you have caught
nearly every fish that takes up liis seat in it.
If a salmon gets off your leister wounded, being
weak, you may be sure he will go down the river;
and the eels will come out instantly, if it be hot
weather, and follow the blood : if the fish is badly
Avounded, although not dead, the said eels will soon
settle the matter, and eat out his flesh, leaving the skin
alone for speculators to make mermaids with.* You will
see the eels by dozens hanging thick on him like the
sticks in a bundle of faggots ; but they are too small to
be taken with a salmon spear, and do not resemble the
fine silver eels in the Kennet and some of our English
streams, but are browner in colour, and have large
heads. The Scotch have a strong antipathy to them,
and never use them for food. But they should be re-
moved from the river if possible, as they make great
havoc in the spawning beds.
This information having been briefly given, Mr.
Tintem went up the river with his fishing rod, as the
sky was not yet clear enough for the main sport : after
* Some people will remember an exhibition of this sort many
years ago in St. James's Street, in London. It was very inge-
niously constructed, though far from alluring. It was placed under
a glass, and created some sensation amongst the naturalists, as
mermaids ought to do.
p 3
214 TOM purdie's sarcasm.
having absented himself for a considerable time, he
returned to the party with a fish, which, being too large
for his basket, he held with his handkerchief, a corner of
which he had passed through the gills. This fish he
lifted up before Tom Purdie, with an air of success
that I never saw him assume before, saying, " Now, Mr.
Purdie, I have conquered a sea trout at last, and here
he is ! "
Tom was aU aghast, for before the fish was laid on
the ground he thought he saw what he called " a very
nice new-swoomed gilse ; " but, upon a closer inspection,
his practised eye soon descried the difference ; for it was
a real river trout, of above four pounds weight, and
unusually bright in colour. Tom turned him over and
viewed the other side, then turned him over again, and
viewed both sides with great seeming interest ; he then
examined his teeth and gills, and uttered a short groan ;
pulling out his snuff-box from his pocket, and having
solaced himself with a pinch, he took a still more
minute survey, looking alternately at the fish and
Mr. Tintern : at length, casting a reproachful glance at
the animal, he said pithily, " Od, and to be taen by the
like o' him ! "
The sky was now clear again, and the wind, whicli
had only been brought on by a few rising clouds, had
subsided. Mr. Tintern, however, being too good-
humoured to take Purdie's sarcasm to heart, was so
charmed with his success that he would not join the
leisterers, but preferred fishing with the fly ; at the same
time he delicately hinted to me, that he thought there
was something a little sanguinary in the use of such a
MR. TINTERN. 215
weapon, though he owned that the invariable custom of
knocking the fish on the head immediately they were
lifted made their sufferings very short, and certainly, he
thought, not exceeding those of sheep and other animals
in the way they are commonly killed for the table.
He then seceded, and I promised to join liini at
Melrose. We went over the Webbs, and Craigover
boat-hole, setting nets and using various devices to
make the fish conceal themselves, in the way that has
been mentioned above. Upon the whole, we were
tolerably successful ; but having already described the
process of sunning, and being of a compassionate dis-
position, I will trouble no one with a relation of the
particulars of our transactions, especially as I mean to
give a flaming description of what is called " burning
the water," towards the end of these pages.
I went home from Mertoun by Melrose Abbey, to
take Mr. Tintern along with me, according to agree-
ment. As he was in the habit of fishing; and sketchino;
alternately, I surmised he would establish himself in the
church-yard, and fall to work with his crayons : nor was
I deceived ; for when I came to the wicket gate, I
descried him very busy indeed ; whilst a corpulent little
gentleman in a snuff-coloured coat, with a cane in his
hand, was looking over his shoulder. As I thought some
amusing contrast of character would take place, I
listened to what was going on ; in fact, the little man's
gestures were so grotesque that I was willing to enjoy
them as long as possible. He would stand still and
look over the artist's paper with a scrutinising expres-
sion ; then he would draw back a little, and stamp his
p 4
216 SUSPECTED OF HOWKING TRICKS.
cane on the ground with all the force and dignity of a
baillie. In the meantime our friend was so absorbed in
liis work that he seemed wholly unconscious of this
person's presence, till he was aroused by the little man
himself, who said, in a loud tone, and with an air of
consummate consequence, stamping a tombstone at the
same time with his stalF of office, —
" Weel, friend, what may ye be doing here ? "
Tintern, looking back over his shoulder, said, in his
absent manner, — "I think he must have been buried
at the eastern end of the Abbey ; am I right, my good
sir?"
"Aye, aye — I thought so, — I ken weel eneuch
what ye're after ; ye are ane o' thae chiels that gang
aboot to raise the dead bodies o' the departed corpses ; —
Od, that's a gude yane !"
Tintern {still sketchinfj, and speaking abstractedly,^
" I'd give something to see old Michael Scott's tomb."
" Nae dout ye would ; but I '11 tak' gude tent to hae
a sure hand or twae to watch yer howking tricks the
night."
So saying, " the little round fat oily man " marched
off with great dignity, muttering, " Od, that's a gude
yane ! disturbing the dead bodies o' the corpses ! He
shall gang afore the Sherra'."
It seems my unlucky friend was doomed to a continued
interruption of his studies ; for no sooner had the man in
office departed, than some old women came and stood
over him for a very considerable time, and occasionally
interrupted his view ; one of them at length said pithily
to her companions, — " Hech, sirs, this is idle wark !
let's awa to the praaties."
TROLLING. 217
Such interruptions, though trivial in themselves, are
sometimes a little troublesome to a studious man, and
happy had it been for Mr. Tintern had he met with no
other ; but in a short time afterwards the church-yard
was fidl of all the idle boys in the town, who fairly
hooted him, and compelled him to leave the place, which
he did under the best protection I was able to afford
him. He called them " naughty boys," and they
shouted amain, " Corpse lifter ! corpse lifter ! " having
been previously so instructed, as may readily be guessed.
This disagreeable attack annoyed Mr. Tintern so
seriously, that he resolved to leave Mebose the next day,
which I was sincerely sorry for. I could not, however,
change his resolution, as he seemed to think that he was
a marked man, and that he should enjoy tranquillity no
longer in that country.
I got up early the following morning to bid him
farewell, and just in time to prevent his going into the
Glasgow coach instead of the London mail. He seemed
sorry to part with me ; and, as he was getting into the
carriage, he begged the mail-coachman not to drive fast,
or to whip his horses.
I felt a blank at his departure ; for he was a most
agreeable and clever gentleman, and not the less en-
tertaining for his eccentricities, which appeared only
from time to time, and interfered with no one's humour.
TROLLING.
In the Tweed, and indeed in some other rivers, they
have a method of fishing which is called TroUhif) in
218 SHY OF THE HOOK.
Scotland, but Cross Angling in England, where it is
practised with the natural May-fly for catching trout.
In trolling for salmon, two men stand opposite to one
another on either side of the stream, each with a rod in
hand ; their lines are joined together, and from the bow
which this junction creates about half-a-dozen flies are
suspended vertically. Of course there can be no casting
of the line ; but the flies are hung in the stream, and
passed over it, the fishermen trailing them, and acting in
concert ; thus, by means of the number of flies, and the
saving of time by not having the line to throw, a great
quantity of water is gone over in a short space of time.
But this sweeping method has its drawbacks, and very
serious ones they are. Out of the number of fish that
offer, very few are taken ; many get only a touch of
tlie hook, and escape, and are thus entirely lost to the
proprietor of the part of the river where this occurs ;
for, generally speaking, fish so alarmed quit the water
the same night, and travel upwards. I remember a
singular instance of this occurred to me in the Pavilion-
water.
The river was very low and clear at the time ; so
much so, that it was in good order for sunning, and
therefore in no state for fish to travel in. I chanced,
however, to hook a salmon with a fly, which, after
being played a little, got off" the hook : there was a cairn
just above the spot where this occurred, and I told
my fisherman to set the net belonging to it that night ;
he did so with a very bad grace, assuring me that it
Avas perfectly useless ; or, as he was pleased to express
himself, " just perfect nonsense." Nevertheless the fish.
A CURIOUS OCCURRENCE. 219
having started from his stream, was caught in it that
night.
John Crerar mentioned to me another instance where
a salmon, having broken a fisherman's line, went down
the Tay for a mile, and then up the Tummel tlu'ee
miles, and was there caught the day following by the
same fisherman, who thus regained his fly with two or
three fathoms of line attached to it.
On the other hand, I know of three well-attested
instances of salmon having been caught almost im-
mediately after they had broken the fisherman's line ;
but I conclude these fish were touched at first in a j)art
that was scarcely sensitive. A very curious circum-
stance of this sort occurred in Isle Isla, where a gen-
tleman was broken by a salmon, which he caught im-
mediately afterwards ; upon landing it, he found, to his
amazement, that he had not touched the fish itself the
second time, but that his hook was linked in the one left
in his mouth previously. This was a very delicate affair ;
for had not the pull upon the fish been moderate and
even, he must inevitably have escaped. As for my own
practice, I never recollect having risen a fish a second
time that had touched my hook previously.
"What I have said regarding the number of fish lost
or set down in trolling is so universally acknowledged,
that this style of angling is seldom practised, except,
indeed, in fishing for kelts in very fidl waters, when no
one can throw completely over the casts without the use
of a boat. In this state of the river the flies are drawn
down the stream ; but when the water subsides, they
are trailed up it. It is practised also a day or tAvo
220 HAKLING.
before close time, when the loss of fish off the hook is
immaterial, as far as regards future sport.
Ill the Tay, and some other large rivers, there is
another method of fishing with a fly in full water, which
is called Harling. Two rods are laid in the bottom of
a boat, and hang over the stern, with a large fly attached
to each line. The boatman then rows against the
stream to the right and left of the river in a zigzag
direction, but still letting the boat fall gradually down
the river, so that he passes over no fish that have not
previously seen the flies. The rower judges his pace by
the objects on the banks. When fish rise they hook
themselves. Those who practise this method are ge-
nerally fishermen who have been working the previous
night, and like it because they have not the fatigue of
holding or throwing the rod. They fancy, also, that
having two flies, they have a double advantage ; but
this is a deception, because both flies follow each other
in the same direction. Without much fear of contra-
diction, I pronounce this same harling to be a most
prodigiously stupid method of proceeding, and little su-
perior to setting night lines. I tried it once in the Tay,
but no more harlins; for me. To do the Tweed folks
justice, I never saw it practised there ; and I can only
recommend it to those liberal persons who wish to drive
the salmon from their own waters to those of theu' neigh-
bours above.
What, alas ! becomes of the beautiful wielding of the
rod, thrown (albeit heavy, and difficult to manage) with
a grace and dexterity that indicates no exertion, the fly
not falling like a four-and-twenty pounder, but just
BAIT FISHING. 221
kissing the surface of the water, and moving to and
fro in a manner so seducing as to beguile the most wary
salmon of every atom of prudence !
FISHING WITH BAIT, MINNOW, AND PARRS TAIL.
When the water is too low for the fly, and quite clear,
then begins the bait or worm fishing in Tweed. The
tackle consists of a large hook at the end of your line,
and a smaller one above it, placed like the lip-hook in
minnow tackle. These are threaded with worms. The
manner of putting them on will be better learnt from
the fisherman on the river side, than it can be explained
in writing. When the water is in right order, that is,
low and clear, as I have said above, and the weather
fresh, a clever fisherman may glean the river of almost
all the fish that are left in the streams. Tolerably large
shot beino- fixed towards the end of the line, and the
worms themselves being heavy, it requires some dex-
terity to throw a good distance without accidents. To
obviate these, and to effect your purpose, begin with a
line of a moderate length, and tuck out a few folds of
the reel, holding them fast with your hand when you
bring your rod back, but letting them go just as you
have discharged your throw. Thus the line is short at
first, but the weight of the shot and worms carry out
the folds to the extent required. Having thus cast
beyond the run of the salmon, let the stream carry
round your bait easily, without any jerk on your part
whatever, or any further motion than humouring it
towards the shore. Contract the line as the bait comes
222 INSTRUCTIONS.
near you, by gathering it up in folds witli your left
hand, and holding them fast against the rod with the
fingers of your right, letting them go again at the proper
time when you cast, in the manner I have before de-
scribed. Thus you may throw a very long line Avithout
endangering its safety by coming in contact with the
ground or any objects in your rear.
You may fish to any depth you please merely by
elevating and lowering the point of your rod, according
to the run of the water. When the weathei' and water are
quite fit for the sport, the fish seizes the bait briskly, and
returns with it to its seat or elsewhere : you must give
him the line by pulling from the reel with your left hand,
and letting it run smoothly between the fingers of your
right. A check at this time may lose him ; but let him
alone a few seconds, and he will have gorged the hook ;
then strike and kill him as soon as you can : he is safe
enough. Fresh open weather is the best for this sport ;
but fish will sometimes take well even in a frost.
Many excellent and credible fishermen have informed
me that they have had good sport with the worm in
northern rivers, and in those of Ireland, when the water
was thick. Their testimony I do not doubt ; I only say
fish are not caught with the worm, or bait, as it is called,
when the water is in a foul state in Tweed. I remember
a gentleman applying to me for leave to take a day's sal-
mon fishing, which I granted. There had been rain the
day before, and a spate came down in the morning. I
thought this unlucky; but he was of the contrary opinion,
and rejoiced in the change ; " For," said he, " if I sit on
the i^oint of a cairn, I shall catch every travelling fish that
MINNOW AND PARR'S TAIL. 223
passes with a worm, as I have often done in Ireland."
This was a new light to Charles Purdie and myself.
Worms were given him in abundance; an excellent
cairn selected for the sport ; and there my gentleman sat
the livelong day without having an offer. Old Richard
Wilson could have introduced him into the landscape
with effect, for he was picturesque and well placed;
but as a fisherman, says Charlie, " he is useless a' thc-
gither." However, the cairn is a laudable monument
of his patience and perseverance.
FISHING WITH MINNOW AND PARR S TAIL.
Salmon do not take the minnow or the parr's tail so
well in the Tweed as they do in the Tay, nor so well
in the upper parts of Tweed as they do in the lower.
The minnow, in low water, is preferable to the parr's
tail ; and it should be worked in the same manner as in
trout fishing, only not quite with so quick a motion.
It is not necessary to use more than two hooks ; namely,
the large hook that passess through the minnow, and
the lip hook. Shot should be put on the casting line
about a foot and a half from the bait — fewer or inore
according to the strength of the stream.
What is called the parr's tail is a pretty liberal
allowance of the said little fish, consisting of a diagonal
cut from the shoulder to the anal fin ; so that in fact
you have all the firm part of the fish, discarding the
head and the stomach. In full water I think this bait
is preferable to the minnow ; and it has the advantage of
224 MINNOW AND PARK.
a much firmer hold of the hook, not breaking like the
soft parts of the minnow.
Clean salmon will take this bait whenever the river
is in order for the fly, or perhaps a little before it is so,
even when the water is slightly discoloured, or, as the
fishermen call it, drumly. But foul fish, including
kelts, never take it Avell in the upj^er parts of the Tweed,
unless the water is clear, though they Avill take it in a
drumly water in the Tay ; nor can any sport be expected
with it in very warm weather.
The best state of the water, and the most convenient
time, is between the fly and bait fishing ; that is, when it
is rather too low for the one, but not low enough for the
other. The best weather is a fresh day, with wind to
act upon the surface of the deep pools. In summer the
proper hour is early in the morning. After a night's
burning, salmon take the minnow, small parr, or parr's
tail, particularly well in the streams.
The best way of casting the minnow is precisely that
which I have indicated in my instructions for fishing
with the worm.
As in a deer forest, however extensive, every burn,
rock, glen, moss, and mountain has its distinct appel-
lation, so that you can describe with the greatest accu-
racy where a hart has been slain, or any signal event has
happened ; so in a salmon river, every stream and pool
in which these delectable fish lie is called by a name
that either distinguishes its character, or relates to some
event or circumstance which tradition has not always
preserved. Some casts are called after the names of
persons who were drowned in them : there is one such,
BLACK MEG OF DARNWICK. 225
yclept " Meg's Hole," some little distance above the
Melrose bridge. I wonder who Meg was ; but Charles
Purdie, who is coming up the river, is right sure to tell
me some nonsense or another anent it, so I will sound
him.
" Well, CharHe, I see you have been putting all the
boats in place, so sit down upon the bank here and rest
yourself: pulling a boat up a strong stream is hard
work, and pulling several over is harder. Now, tell me
why the pool I fished the other day is called Meg's
Hole ; but stick to truth, mind, and do not let me hear
any of your foolish tales."
" Aweel, then, I'll tell ye the hale truth. Ye'll hae
heard o' Thomas the Rymer, him that in days long
gaen by lived at Erlston *, and was taen awa' by the
fairies, and is wi' them at this day ; we hae Sir Walter's
word for it. Black Meg of Darnwick lived wi' this
Thomas, who, ye ken, was an enchanter ; and Meg
learned some awfu' words of him, and also power as a
witch. Ae time she was seen sitting upon ane of the
towers, aboon the Elfin glen, in the shape of a raven ;
at anither, she came doon to the Tweed at the gloamin'
in the likeness of a lang-craiged heron, flaj)ping her
muckle wings, and uttering dreidfu' shrieks ; and again
she was a cormorant, perched upon a blastit tree on the
moor. I have seen her mysel' mair than ance."
" Seen her, man ! why you said she lived with
Thomas the Rymer ; and it is some centuries since he
was taken away by the fairies."
" Aweel, aweel, that may be ; but as sure as deid I
* Formerly Ercildonn.
Q
226 FIRING OF meg's TOWER.
aince saw her in her ain proper shape ; and she had a
long neb, and a muckle moutli, and a red petticoat on,
and she held a leister under her oxter, as if she war
gaen to the burning ; and wha kens but she may live
till this day ? for her deid body was never found, nor
the corj^se-light * seen. There are three towers on the
muir a long way aboon the Elfin glen ; ye'll hae seen
them yoursel' ; and Meg used to live in ane of these
towers by turns : no one kent in which she was, and
nobody cared to speer. At nightfall she woiUd come
doon the glen to seek thae grey stanes f that the
fairies cast their cantrips with, and muckle scaith she
wrought, — rotting the sheep of ae body, and takkin the
milk from the kye of anither ; so the lads waylaid her
wi' flails, and pitchforks, and sic- like gear. They chased
her aAV the night in the glen, up and doon the braes and
thickets, and through the water; but they could never
grip her, and they came back at skreigh o' day wi' torn
plaids and broken shins, all covered wi' mire ; and some
o' them had a sair sickness afterwards, and repentit that
they ever middled wi' her."
" Oh, of course ; but what became of her at last,
Charlie?"
* When a dead body was lost, it was supposed that a light ap-
peared over it at night, to indicate its position.
f These fairy stones, as they are called, are to be found in the
Elfin glen, where the maid of Avenel is said to have appeared.
This romantic spot belongs to Lord Somerville, and is in the orna-
mental grounds belonging to his house called the Pavilion. The
stones are of a grey colour, and of various curious shapes, sometimes
closely resembling articles in common use, such as tea cups, saucers,
&c. ; they are supposed to contain some charm, and are constantly
sought for to this day by all sorts of people.
meg's death. 227
" Why, then, when she persistit in her foul ways,
some o' thae freebooters, who feared neither witch, war-
lock, nor deil, made a raid into her country, and pit a
fire round each of the towers *, and made the ane she
was in too het to hand her, and out she ran wi' awfu'
yells, skelping owre the moor, and so doon to the Elfin
glen, where ane o' these same reivers, who had a flaming
firebrand in liis hond, wounded her ahint wi' it ; and
the deidly nightshade still grows in the place where
her blood was spilt. Then they drave her through the
glen, and so doon the brae above a deep pool in Tweed,
and pushed her in wi' a pole and a firebrand : so she
cam to her end by wood, fire, and water.
" The pool was draggit in the mornin', but her body
was never found ; and many people watched all night
for a lang time, and the corpse-light never appeared ;
nor was her wraith ever seen, except by mysel' and my
feyther at Trequair, and Walter of Darnwick, who saw
it howking a grave wi' many ither wicked spirits round
it on the tap of Eildon Hills.
" So the pool goes by the name of ' Meg's Hole ' to
this day ; and when ye liowkit the muckle sawmont
that ran ye doon to the Cauld pool, ye ken that her
spirit tried to drive him through the farther arch of
Melrose Bridge, but ye were owre canny for it."
The earliest method of taking fish, previous to the
invention of either hooks or nets, was that used by the
Egyptians, by means of a spear resembling a trident.
A sculptured stone, excavated at Chester in 1738, and
* The thi'ee towers are still standing in the place indicated.
Q 2
228
THE LEISTER.
engraved in Lyson's history of the county as a Roman
remain, represents a fisherman with his spear and
basket.
I will now describe the salmon spear at present in
use. It was formerly called waster ; but that term is
nearly out of use, except by the old fishermen, and it is
now better known by the name of leister. It resembles
a trident in its general appearance ; but has five prongs,
instead of three, made of very stout iron : there is only
one barb to each prong, as two would tear the fish too
much in extricating them. This weapon is fastened to
the end of a pole more or less long, according to the
depth of the water in which it is intended to be used ;
sixteen feet is the general length, and it is not easy to
CANTING THE BOAT. 229
see or strike a fish at a greater depth ; but in sunning
I have sometimes tied a light rope to the top of the
jDole, and gone deeper than this with success, but then
it was when the river was unusually clear. The op-
posite woodcut represents the cleik and the leister : the
latter is rather narrower, and altogether of a neater
make than those in general use.
In burning, the boat is managed with this leister ; but
no one can make use of it in this way who has not
learnt to work it with a pole, — which art is termed
canting, and is, I believe, little understood except in the
Tweed : in the Tay and the Annan they know nothing
of the matter. Now the pole is not used as in punting ;
but the man who manages the boat, instead of shifting
his place, stands up or sits down at the stern ; he keeps
his eye upon her head, and forces her straight up the
rapids, pressing the pole in the direction in which he
would steer with a rudder. This is in a great measure
effected with a twist of the body. If he does not keep
her straight in her course, the current takes her at the
side, whips her round in an instant, and down she goes,
the deuce knows where, head foremost; nor can you
resume your position till you again bring her head up
the stream.
In forcing your boat up very strong water, at every
fresh tlu'ust you must catch up the pole and put it in
again very quickly ; for when you are not pushing the
boat will recede if the rapids are heavy, and thus you
may lose way. This, I think, can be done better by sit-
ting than standing, as you are nearer your work. In
Q 3
230 STRENUOUS, BUT UNFORTUNATE.
this manner you may thrust your little craft where no
oars could take hold of the water.
To perform this requires vast practice, and accordingly
it was a considerable time before I mastered it com-
pletely, although I had been accustomed to punting on
the Isis in my younger days. The rapids had it all
their own way for months, or more. As you use the
canting pole, which is shod with a heavy iron spike, so
you must use the leister ; only with more caution, lest
you should injure the prongs.
As a proof of the difficulty of this operation, I will
mention that I once i^ut the canting pole into the hands
of an English gentleman, who was a good rower, and,
as he asserted, a good punter also. We were sunning a
strong stream called the Carrywheel, and I had placed
Charles Purdie at its gorge, to leister such fish as might
attempt to pass up it from the fright given by the dis-
turbance below. In a few seconds the head of the boat,
not being held straight up the stream, went round like
a shot, and so down the river. My friend was perfectly
confused, and did not know what on earth should be
done; so, as we were losing way rapidly, I took the
pole and brought her head up again. Still lie would
not give in, and was determined to have another trial.
Well, he pushed here, and he pushed there, and with
these strenuous efforts succeeded in describing pretty
accurately in his course what in Gothic architecture is
called the zigzag moulding, losing way, however, at
every angle.
Not having taken any notice of the objects on the
banks, he did not precisely know whereabouts he was ;
A STRIKING INCIDENT. 231
but his exertions, simply as exertions, were highly
laudable. AVTien he had permitted the boat to fall
down into easy water, he had some little command over
her, and of this he was right proud. As time was
precious, I resumed the command, and put the boat up
again with my leister. When we came up to the
fisherman, my novice said, with considerable exultation,
'' Charlie, did you see me cant ? "
" Houte, toute, mon, you canna cant ava ; she was
aye ganging doon," was the uncourteous response.
Having described our method of managing the boat,
I will endeavour to exj^lain the manner in which we
strike the salmon. The leister should not be held firm
in the grasp, but sent loosely through the hands, as its
own weight in falling will be more effective than any
force you can give it with a thrust.* You may think
otherwise, perhaps. Well, then, take your own way ;
hold the weapon firmly and determinedly ; you are
going to do great things, you fancy. But what happens ?
The water proves deeper than you had calculated upon,
and, not touching the bottom with your spear as a
support, in you go, your head taking the lead, and the
rest of your members following the playful example.
* The Droit lately contained the following: — " At the moment
that an omnibus was passing on Friday through the Rue Mont-
martre, under a house, No. 63., that was undergoing repairs, a pole
more than thirty feet in length slipped from the scaffolding at the
fourth story, and fell perpendicularly on the omnibus, passed right
through the body, and entered so deeply between the stones of the
pavement that the horses were stopped on the moment, the vehicle
being literally nailed to the ground ; by a providential chance none
of the passengers were injured ! ! ! "
Q 4
232 KAKE HOOKS.
Strike your fish over the shoulders if you can, and
bring your boat in such a position as to make the stroke
as vertical as possible. When you have fixed him, hold
him to the ground a space ; then run your hands down
the pole, making the distance between them and the
fish as short as you conveniently can ; lift the animal
with his head uj)permost, by which means he will come
out lighter, and such action as he may make with his
tail will assist you rather than himself.
If you do not bear in mind this instruction, and
choose to have a go at a salmon at a little distance from
you, as having a way of your own, I will tell you what
will probal)ly happen from this freak also. The stroke
will drive back the boat, and you and the fish will part
company. You may have struck him, perhaps, — not
impossible that ; but your intended victim twists off
in a moment, and says as plainly as a salmon can speak,
" levro I'incommodo."
I should observe, that in burning the water by night
there is no time to fix every fish to the ground, and
that they are then most visually lifted quickly ; indeed,
as the boat falls gradually down the stream, it generally
comes over them conveniently enough.
To these various methods of taking fish, I must add
the destruction by means of rake-hooks. The tackle is
very simple : it consists of two strong hooks, about two
or three inches long, tied back to back, and fastened to
twisted gut, on which are put five or six large shot, at
equal distances from each other. The fisherman, with a
strong rod, throws the line, with these bare hooks at-
tached to it, about a foot beyond any salmon that he may
RAKE HOOKS. 233
discover lying, and then with a sudden jerk draws the
hook into him if he can, and gets him to the land if he
is able.
Clean fish are sometimes taken in this manner, and
most fishermen are provided with the tackle. In a very-
low water in the summer, when fly-fishing might have
been said to be over, I once hooked a good salmon in
the Quarry stream above Melrose Bridge. As a fish
was at that time a great rarity, I was particularly
cautious in leading him ; nevertheless, with all my care,
the hook, not having a firm hold, came away from him
after I had played him a considerable time.
Purdie saw him lying in rather an exhausted state
in the same stream, which was shallow, and, without
saying any thing to me, to my great surprise, seized
hold of my casting line and broke off the lower end of
it ; opened my book ; took a pah* of rake-hooks from it ;
tied them on to the line, and, at the second throw,
tucked them into the salmon ; put the rod into my hands,
and I kiUed the fish after all.
All this to the Southern ear sounds like poaching of
the most flagitious description ; but a salmon is a fish of
passage, and if you do not get him to-day he wuU be
gone to-morrow. The Tweed used to let for above
12,000/. a year ; judge, then, in what a wholesale manner
these fish are caught by long nets and other sweeping
modes ; yet in what i^rofusion they continue to be
found ! You may just as well think of preserving
herrings or mackerel as these delicious creatures ; and
there would be no objection to your taking 3378 salmon
at one haul, if fortune would so favour you, as Com-
234 LIBERAL ADVICE.
mander Ross did at Boothia Felix on the 26th of July,
1831.
Keep Close time strictly ; kill no spawning fish ;
tamper not with foul ones of any sort; preserve the
fry ; send the black fishers to Iceland ; but catch as
many salmon as you can, i^ecte si possis (meaning with a
rod), si lion, quocunque modo, — that is, with a net or
leister, and so forth.
EFFECT OF CHANGE OF WATER. 235
CHAP. XI.
'Tis night, dread night, and weary Nature lies
So fast as if she never were to rise ;
Lean wolves forget to howl at night's pale noon ;
No wakeful dogs bark at the silent moon,
Nor bay the ghosts which glide in horror by
To view the caverns where their bodies lie ;
The ravens perch, and no presages give.
Nor to the windows of the dying cleave ;
In vaults the walking fires extinguish'd lie ;
The stars, heaven's sentry, wink and seem to die."
Lee.
Before I describe what is called " burning the water,"
I will make an observation that may be of service to
the rod fisher. It is, that salmon which have been dis-
turbed in the night with boats and lights wiU draw
into the streams above, and take the fly all the better
for this disturbance the following morning ; and as
bm-ning always takes place when the water is very low,
they probably will not be found far from the place of
the nocturnal operations.
Trout also wiU take better for having been routed
about, and for change of situation ; a remarkable in-
stance of which I witnessed a few years ago at Castle
Combe. A hole under some hatches by a mill was
emptied of its water, that the trout might be caught
and taken lower down the stream, more out of the way
of poachers. This was done by means of buckets,
and in doino- it the water became thick and white, and
'236 THE BUllNING.
the fish partook of the same colour. I sent thirty -five
brace of these fish, all similar in size, a considerable
distance lower down the stream, when they Avere put
under a bridge near my house. Many of them died.
But in three hours after the removal I caught eight of
the others with a fly without moving from the sjjot :
neither the size nor the colour of the fish could possibly
be mistaken.
THE BURNING.
" Charlie, Charlie," cried Thomas Jamieson, " there's
fine sport going on the night ; our maister's minded to
burn the water, for she is low enough, ye ken; so ane o'
us will hae to gang and split the twa auld tar barrels for
lights, an' the ither mun slidder up to Abbotsford and
tell your uncle Tam what's ganging forrat, and say that
he has to meet us at the Carrywheel at aight o'clock
preceesely. Charlie, ye'd best do the lights yoursel', and
I'll hae to win to Darnick, and get the wasters aw new
sharpened. Sandy and Rob will come nae doobt, and
we should hae auld Wat too ; but if he has been fou
yestreen, he'll no be worth a bawbee."
" Ye need na fash yoursel' aboot the like o' him, for
he had a wee drap. I saw him the morn riddling a cart
fu' o' sand lyin' again the house end, which he said he
was making ready for biggm ; and as I was coming
awa' auld Janet gie me a Avag Avi' her finger, and I gist
steppit in. ' What do ye think ? ' says she ; ' the auld
vagabun was fou yestreen, and he gaed out as he thought
unseen by ony ; a' watched him, and he hid his siller
amang the sand, for he aye thinks I grap his pouches
BOAT USED FOR BURNING. 237
for it. After lie was awa' I sliddered, out and fun' his
purse ; there war seeven shillings and a groat in it ; so
I gaed to auld Mary Butler's, and bought yetmeal for
the bairns' parritch wi' it, and ye see the auld cuffer is
riddling the sand, thinking to find his purse. He'll no
be worth a rigmaree the night for fishing.' "
" Aweel, Charlie, Janet says true ; but wha mun we
hae to lead hame the fish ? Tarn Hardy or Rob Colyard
would mak' good fun. Tarn, he'll tell us that lang
story aboot the scramidge, and the muckle fish he killed
in Leader-water, that misured nine inches atween the
een ; and if we hae Rob, he'll get a stick and be gaun
through his braidsword exercise, and tell us how he did
wi' the twa Frenchmen on the field of Waterloo ; so
Rob may meet us wi' his cart to tak' hame the fish,
when we come to Brig-end pool. We mun now tak' up
the twa boats to the Carrywheel, where they will bide
our coming at night; — and look here, mon: when we are
in a sweet wi' pooing them up, we will tak' a wee
drap out o' this black bottle."
The boat in general use for burning at night is larger
than the rod fishing boats, as more room and steadiness
is required. In the centre of it, close to the side on
which the leisterers strike the fish, is a pole fixed ver-
tically, with a frame at top of it formed of ribs of iron to
contain the combustibles. Tlu'ee men are sufficient to
man the boat ; one at the head, another at the stern, as
boatmen and leisterers, and the third at the centre to
kill the fish and trim the fire. But it will contain more
men, if necessary.
The remainder of the day having been spent in
238 A NIGHT SCENE.
making the arrangements, and the proper hour being
now come, Harry Otter and CharHe Purdie went out
from the Pavilion to meet the party, who were to as-
semble at eight o'clock about a mile and a half up the
river. The night was most favourable, it being utterly
dark, and not a sough of air stirring. With caution and
with difficulty they felt their way step by step at the
rocky base of the Scaur, where it dips into the river, till
they descried the boat which was to take them across it
at the Brig-end pool. The clanking of the chain as it
was loosened and flung on the planks sounded harshly
in the silence of night ; the oars dipped duly, and
they were soon on the opposite side of the river, by
which means they cut oiF a great sweep of the haugh,
*' a huge half moon, a monstrous cantle out," and pro-
ceeded in a more direct line to their mark. They went
on in darkness through the chilling dews, now and
then stumbling into the patches of furze which were
scattered over the haugh ; soon they begin to hear the
rushing of the waters through the gorge of the Carry-
wheel : now it breaks full and loud upon the ear, for
they are arrived at the base of the wooded brae that
overhangs the cast.
Two groups of men, but dimly seen, here await their
arrival ; one consists of spectators lying on the ground
with their plaids thrown athwart their bodies, and the
other of the heroes who were to figui'e in the grand
operation : these latter were sitting on the boats, and on
the masses of rock beside them on the water edge.
All being now ready, a light was struck ; and the
spark being applied to rags steeped in pitch, and to
THE BLAZING UP. 239
fragments of tar-barrels, they blazed up at once amid
the gloom, like the sudden flash from the crater of a
volcano. The ruddy light glared on the rough features
and dark dresses of the leisterers in cutting flames
directly met by black shadows, — an effect which those
will best understand who in the Eternal City have seen
the statues in the Vatican by torch-light. Extending
itself, it reddened the shelving rocks above, and glanced
upon the blasted arms of the trees, slowly perishing in
their struggle for existence amongst the stony crevices ;
it glowed upon the hanging wood, on fir, birch, broom,
and bracken, half veiled, or half revealed, as they were
more or less prominent. The form of things remote
from the concentrated light Avas dark and dubious ;
even the trees on the summit of the brae sank in ob-
scurity.
The principals now sprang into the boats. Harry
Otter stood at the head, and Charlie Purdie at the stern.
These men regulated the course of the craft with their
leisters ; the auxiliaries were stationed between them,
and the light was in the centre by the boat side. The
logs, steeped as they were in pitch, crackled and burned
fiercely, sending up a column of black smoke. As the
rude forms of the men rose up in their dark attire,
wielding their long lei- ters, with the streaks of light that
glared partially upon them, and surrounded as they were
by the shades of night, you might almost have fancied
yourself in the realms below, with Pluto and his grim
associates, embarked on the Stygian lake. But as the
sports began, and as the Scotch accent prevailed, the
illusion passed away ; for no poet, that I am aware of,
240 TOM rURDIE DIVERTS HIMSELF.
has made the above swarthy and mysterious personages
express themselves In the language of Tweedside ; nor
could one fancy salmon in the Styx, though they might
well disport in the streams of the happy fields beyond.
" Now, my lads," says the master, " take your
places. Tom, stand you next to me ; Sandy, go on the
other side of Tom ; and do you, Jamie, keep in the
middle, and take tent to cap the boats well over the
rapids. Rob, do you and Tom Purdie keep good lights
and fell the fish. Halloo, Tom, you have smuggled a
leister into the boat for your own use."
" Ay, ay, that have I, joust for mine ain de version,
ye ken."
" Well, well, you may just keep it, for you are a
stout chiel, and it would be hard work to get it from
you ; besides, no one can use it more dexterously than
yourself. Now, then, we will push the boat up the
cheek of the stream till we come to the head of it. That
will do. Now shoot her across the gorge, and down
she goes merrily, broadside foremost, according to rule.
Cap, Charlie, cap, man ; we are drifting down like
mad; keep back your end of the boat."
" Aweel, aweel, she gangs cannily now ; look, uncle, a
muckle fish before ye ; or ever ye kent, the maister's
leister gaed through him, and played auld dife. That
side, that side, Jamie ; — he's rinnin up to get past. Od,
ye have him; and I hae anither, and anither. Keep a
gude light, Tom. Now let us tak' up the boat to the
head of the stream, or ever we look the stanes, for there
war a muckle fish ganged by that none o' ye gomrells
ever saw. There, we are high eneuch now ; baud yer
STRIKING TROM AN EMINENCE. 241
hand, and let her faw doon again : hey, but I see him
the noo afore mc ; — on, what an awfu' beast "
So saying, Charlie drove his leister furiously at him ;
but whether one of the prongs struck against the edge
of the rock above him, which prevented its descent to
the bottom, or from whatever other cause, the stroke
was unsuccessful, and as he lifted the barren weapon
out of the water, there arose a merry shout and guffaw
from the spectators on the shore.
" Cap ! cap ! " cried Charlie, " now hand yer hand ;
gie me up the boat ; — od, but I'll hae him yet ; he's gone
amangst thae hiding stanes."
So saying, Charlie brought the head of the boat to
the stream, pushed her liigher up, and pulled her ashore ;
he then landed, and seizing a brand out of the fire, put
it into Jamieson's hand, who preceded his eager steps
like a male Thais, or one of the Eumenides in pantaloons.
He now stood upon a rock which hung over the river,
and from that eminence, and with the assistance of the
firebrand, examined the bottom of it carefully. His
body was bent over the water, and his ready leister
held almost vertically ; as the light glared on his face
you might see the keen glistening of his eye. In an
instant he raised up his leister, and down he sprang
from the rock right into the river, and with that wild
bound nailed the salmon to the channel. There was a
struggle with his arms for a few seconds ; he then passed
his hands down the pole of the weajDon a little way,
brought himself vertically over the fish, and lifted him
aloft cheered by shouts of applause from his friends on
the shore.
R
242 A REPREEF FROM SIR WALTER.
Two or three more fish were taken amongst the
stones at the tail of the cast, and the sport in the carry-
wheel being now ended, the fish Avere stowed in the
hold of the boat, the crew jumped ashore, and a right
hearty appeal was made to the whiskey bottle. It was
first tendered to the veteran Tom Purdie, to whom it
was always observed to have a natural gravitation, but
to the astonislunent of all, he barely put his lips to the
quaigh, and passed it to his nephew.
" Wliy, uncle mon, what the deil's come ower ye ? I
never kent ye refuse a drappie afore, no not sin I war
a callant ; I canna thole to see ye gang that gait."
" Why, I'll tell ye what it is, Charlie. I got a re-
preef from Sir Walter for being fou the ither nicht."
" Eh, uncle, how was that ? "
" ' Why,' says Sir Walter, * Tom,' says he, * I sent for
ye on Monday, and ye were not at hame at aight
o' clock ; I doubt ye were fou, Tom :' ' I'll joust tell ye the
hale truth,' says I, ' I gaed round by the men at wark
at Rymer's Glen, and cam in by Tarfield ; then I went
to Darnick, and had a glass o' whiskey wi' Sandy Trum-
mel at Susy's, and I war joust coming awa when Rob
steppit in, and cried for half a mutchkin. I was na
for takkin mair, but the glasses were fiUed, and I did
not like to be beat wi' them, so I tuk mine.' * And is
that all you had, Tom ? ' said Sir Walter. ' Aye, indeed
was it,' said I; 'but. Heaven have a care o' me, I never was
the war of it, till I was ganging up by Jemmy Mercer's
by Coat's Green ; and when I cam up by Kerr side I
wanted to see Maister Laidlaw, but I thoucht I durst
na gang in ; and how I got hame I dinna ken, for I never
purdie's embarrassment. 243
mindet it na mair ; but our wife war in a terrible bad
key the morning, because I war sail' wanted last niclit.
** ' Well,' said the maister, ' ye mun never do the like
again, Tom.' We then ganged to the woods, and thinned
the trees ; and I laboured with the axe at thae that Sir
Walter marked.
" ' Now Tom,' says he, * you will go home with me, for
you have been working very hard, and a glass of whis-
key will do you good ; ' and he cawed to Nicholson to
bring Tom a glass o' Glenlivet. I tuk it doon; and, mon,
if yee'd found it, it beat a' the whiskey I ever tasted in
my life. * Well, Tom,' said Sir Walter, ' how do ye
feel after it ? Do ye think another glass Avill do ye ony
harm ? ' I said naetliing, but I thoucht I wad like
anither, and Nicholson poured out ain, and I tuk it.
Then the maister said, ' Tom, do ye feel ony thing the
war o' it ? ' 'Nau, nau,' said I, 'but it's terrible powerfu',
and three times as Strang as ony whiskey I ever drank
in my life.' ' Then, Tom,' says Sir Walter, ' never tell me
that three glasses o' Susy's whiskey will fill ye fou, when
ye have drank twa of mine, which you say is three times
as strong, and you feel aU the better for it.' Hey, mon,
I never was so taen by the face in a' my life ! I didna
ken where to luk. The deil faw me if ever he cotch me
so again ! "
Tom Purdie's forbearance, however, was not of an
enduring quality ; liis eyes gHstened as he followed the
course of the bottle ; three times was his arm extended
to make a grap at it, and thrice did he draw it back
with modest confusion. At length when all were served
he could hold out no longer, but elongating his dexter,
R 2
244 BENIGN EXPLANATION.
he laid fast hold of the bottle, and filling the quaigh to
the brim, " Here goes," said he, " to the lousy stranger."
After he had drunk, and mended his draught, he kept the
bottle in his own custody with a pretty smart allowance
in it, in the character of residuary legatee. I had an
account, however, to settle with him ; for being the only
stranger in company, I fancied his toast meant a re-
flection upon my cleanliness. What did he mean by
the dirty and degrading epithet? This I demanded,
advancing with a warUke countenance, and leister in the
rest ; and had not Tom been in a very benign humour,
tliis book might never have been inflicted on the public,
for the man was well armed and resolute, and might
have leistered me according to art. But putting on his
sweetest smile, he assured me that by the " lousy
stranger " he meant a newly run fish with tide lice on
it, "which," said he, " are far the best, ye ken." This I
well knew, though the appUcation did not occur to me at
the moment. And here, by the way I beg to observe,
how^ever odd it may seem, that you may know the best
clean fish, by their having tide lice upon them.
" All hands to the boat again. Come, E-ob, give us a
merry blaze ; never spare the tar barrel : well done,
Vulcan ! Now we have a splendid light on the water,
and can see well enough to read small print at the bot-
tom of it."
" Sandy Trammel, ye great bear, what gars ye
stamp and scream at that rate ? "
Sandy in fact not only stamped and screamed, but
swore that he was dreadfully brunt with the pieces of
charcoal and drops of flaming pitch which insinuated
SANDY TRUMMEL'S MISHAP. 245
themselves between his shirt and cape of his jacket be-
hind ; whereat Tom Purdie, who was a considerate and
humane man, took up the scoop which was used for
ladling out the boat, and filling that capacious utensil
with water to the extent of its capacity, came behind
the aggrieved, and emptied the whole contents down his
back. " And now Sandy, mon," says he, " I hae made
ye quite comfortable, and ye owe me a gude turn." But,
who would have thought it ? The blood of the Trammels
was up ; and seizing a firebrand in a style that did little
honour to his gratitude, the diluted one rushed forward
intent on vengeance. Grim looked Tom Purdie, and
charging with his leister, he held the foeman at bay.
Who can say what Homeric deeds might not have been
done, had not Charlie, first whispering to the master
to stand fast, given the boat a sudden whirl round
with the stroke of an oar, which laid Tom Purdie flat
upon his back at the bottom of the boat, and canted
Sandy Trammel fairly overboard? He fell in rather
a picturesque attitude, for which I cannot in candour
give him much credit, as the affair seemed to be quite
involuntary and too sudden for him to study effect. His
right hand held the torch aloft for a moment, Marmion
fashion, which soon fell and hissed in the current with
a train of smoke which trailed along the surface of the
water. Sandy's feet were actively employed in kicking
his best, by which means he agitated the water in such
a manner that, with the assistance of the light, it made
a very brilliant and imposing appearance. The stream
here being very shallow, he soon began to emerge, and
about two thirds of his fair proportions rose up from
R 3
246 BRIG-END POOL.
the channel ; his mouth seemed full of water and abuse ;
he soon got rid of the one ; but before he could vent the
other, he was anticipated by the boat's crew, who all
shouted out shame upon him for his awkwardness, and
for having nearly upset the boat in his fall, and endan-
gered the lives of several worthy individuals. Thus a
sort of balance was struck between faults on both sides,
and Tom Purdie himself assisted him to regain the boat ;
" and Sandy mon," said he, as he lifted him in, " I shall
be always willing to do ye the same good service when
ye need it ; so yee'l let me ken when the burning pick
gets aboard ye again."
They now passed over some bare streams where no
salmon would lie ; the navigation amongst the rocks was
somewhat intricate, there being barely room for the width
of the boat in some of the rapids ; but Charles Purdie
hit the tiling off to a nicety. They then burned the
Glass-ivheel Pot, the Oak Tree, and the Noirs, in all
of which they got a few fish.
" Rob," said Charlie, " wail out some o' yer sticks
that they may be weel kinelt afore we get into Brig-end
Pule ; now, lads, ye mun cap well here, for she will gang
ower the stream wi' a terrible flee ; od, I see them glancing
down the pule as thick as herrin ; Sandy, mon, but ye 're
dancing again ; what's come ower ye ? ye'U be wanting
Tom Purdie's big ladle again, I'm thinkin."
" The deil may hae Tam Purdie and his muckle
ladle ; for as he nockit off a bit fish in the boat, he dung
yun o' the taes o' the waster intil ma leg, he is aye sae
camsterie."
" Ye canna blame me, Sandy, for the mischanter, for
COUNTING THE FISH. 247
ye are aye stammering among the fish like a haveril as
ye are, and half foil into the bargain. Halloo, Sandy,
ye'll no crack o' yer deeds the nicht, for yer waster's aye
clanking against the stanes, whilst the maister is striking
the fish afore ye by dizens ; and see, muckle Tarn has
lifted in yim amaist as lang as himsel."
" Come, come, lads," says the master, " hold your
clish-ma-clavers, for we are just going into Brig-end
Pool ; so keep back the boat as well as you can, or we
shall go fiery fast over the stream."
As the boat neared the pool, the men shouted out,
" Auld Michael ! auld Michael ! the charm for auld
Michael Scott : trim the boat, and take care the muckle
wizard does na loup intil her." " Od, lads," cries Tom
Purdie, " pit yer best fut foremost ; they are lying
afore us like sacks, and will be as thick as you can dab
them up. Mind the light, Sandy, and take care that
kipper does na wallop out o' the boat. See what a
muckle fish Charlie has got ! "
In fact the men were making a great slaughter ; and
when they had gone over the pool two or three times,
had half filled the boat with the spoil; so as they
found they were well laden, they called to Rob Colyard
to come forward with his cart and take them home.
" Shove the boat to the shore ; Colyard, come forrat
wi' yer cart ; that'll do, mon ; aw bonds to wark,
count the fish as ye pit them in ; Charlie, how many
hae ye coonted ? "
" There jest a hunder and twa, great and smaw,
wliitling, bull-trout, saumonts, and a'thegither."
The men passed round the whiskey bottle, and Ave
R 4
248 THE BOAT SUNK.
resumed our sport ; I, Harry Otter, stood as before at
the head of the boat, and the other men in their allotted
places ; we passed pretty swiftly down the streams,
broadside in front, striking many fish, till we came
near the Elfiin Burn, when, observing that the water-
break in the centre of the river, caused by a concealed
rock, was more gentle than usual, I thought the boat
would strike, so I called out to Charlie for caution.
" Houte, toute, he mun let her gang ; there is plenty
of water to take her over."
CharHe Purdic was never more mistaken in his life ;
the stream drove us downward at a rapid race, not-
withstanding Ave in some measure moderated it by
capping oiu' best with the leisters. Bang went the
boat's broadside right against the rock, to Avhich she
stuck fast till the stream above poured into her in the
most eflfective possible style, and down she went of
course. The water, however, was by no means deep ;
but those fish, which we had taken since the load went
home, found their way again into the river, and began
to vanish down the streams. Being deprived of life,
they went passively along, followed by aU the boat's
crew, who rushed about and charged with their leisters,
" hurry, hurry, spalsh, spalsh," tUl they fished out most
of them, the remainder being left to solace the eels. This
in common parlance would be called a disaster ; a sort of
shipwreck in miniature ; but judging from the merri-
ment it excited, it might be deemed the best sport of
the night.
Whilst these gambols were carrying on, and the men
were rolling about in the waters, after the guise of sea
MICHAEL SCOTT. 249
calves, Charlie Purdie and I had got the boat to the
shore, and heaving her upon her side, had poured the
water out: " And now, Purdie," said I, " wliilst these
clever fellows are catching dead fish, do tell me what you
all meant by shouting out ' auld Michael ! ' and calling
for the charm at the Brig-end Pool ? "
" Why ye mun ken that Michael Scott, who lived in
bygane times, was a warlock, and I cud tell ye mony
wonderfu' cracks aboot him, for the hale country rings
wi' his foul deeds. Mony years syne there was a brig at
yon cast, but the spate ran away a' foreby the middle
pillar, which stud up in the water as high as ever ; and
as the fishermen o' thae days were burning the Nbirs,
they saw a muckle man sitting a tap o' the pillar, wi' a
flaming brand in the tae hand, and a lang leister in
the tither ; he had a hairy cap on his head, made, per-
haps, o' the fiu' o' the tod, or some sic like beastie, and a
long gown on, wi' a linnen ch'ess aneath it, a' doon to his
knees, tied rimd wi' a queer girdle, which was written
aboot wi' magic words, and a lang whinger stuck intill
it; we hae Sh- Walter's word for it, ye ken. Aweel,
the fishermen who war in the boat were sair frightned,
and in ganging doon the water, got as far frae him as
they cud, and, as they thought, out o' reach o' him ;
but he louped fr?^ the pillar intill the boat from an
awfu' distance, and doon she went so soon as he set
fut or hoof in her ; and a' the men war drowned, and
left the bonny banks o' the Tweed wi' all their sins on
theu' heads. Then the foul wizard, JNIichael Scott, was
seen by some folks on shore, to rise up and loup on a
muckle black horse, that came doon frae the cluds, and
250 A HINT TO PROPRIETORS OF RIVERS.
he fleed awa on it till he became inveesable. The folk
at Darnick pu'd down the pillar ; they did na lave ae
stane on anither. Aye, aye, ye may laugh and call this
clish-ma-claver if ye please, but it's true what I tell ye ;
I have seen auld Michael mysel."
" Where, Charlie, where ? "
" Why aince on Cowden-knows I seed his wraith,
and liis torch a tap o' the hill, and his muckle black
horse feeding below on the moor, as plain as I see ye
the noo ; and though he is not in life at this day, for he
war killed by drinking the kail made o' a breme sow,
yet his spirit is abraid, ye ken, and it war that which
sent our boat to the bottom, for ye had na a fairy
stane* ; but ye'll be wiser, I'm thinkin, afore ye burn that
cast again."
" Aye, that will I ; but courage, man ; all is set to
rights, so let us have the whiskey, for with that and the
blazing brands we shall be warm both within and with-
out, and fear no wizards. But if wizards ever visit
rivers, I hope they will open a slap in every cauld where
there is no local act, so as to admit of the free run of
fish ; for there are many fine-looking streams that are
' bridled with a curb of stone.' I do not wish to hurt
the property of mill-owners ; but how easy it would be
in such cases to accommodate all parties by making an
opening at every barrier, and a proper sloj^e constructed
with rolling stones at the back of it ; a hatch to be put
in at the opening, and drawn only when there Avas a
superfluity of water for the mill. This plan would
* See note at page 226.
THE OTTEK. 251
answer perfectly; for in very low water fish do not
travel, and in a very high one, when they do, the miller
would suffer no loss."
" Well, I wad na say but ye are perfectly right, and
I am tliinking that a river, like a road, should be open
for all passengers."
Most of the dead salmon having been at length forked
out of the river, we aU got afloat again, and passed
down those rapids above Melrose Bridge, called " the
Quarry Stream,'''' " Back Brae^'' and *' Kingsivell Lees,^''
snatching out a fish occasionally in our course; then
the flame soon gleamed upon the bridge, struck upwards
on the roof of the vast arch as we shot thi'ough it, and
revealed the dark pines below, which shelved down to
the margin of the river.
We were now in a salmon cast called " the Whirls,^''
which runs deep and solemn, and we had scarcely set
our leisters in the rest, ere we found that a fisherman
had been to work before us, and an excellent hand he
was at the sport ; he had neither light nor boat, and,
being tolerably hungry, I suppose, was devouring a
tAvclve-pounder, all raw as it was, in the dry channel of
the river.
" See ! the otter, the otter ! he has got into the water.
Bring round the boat, — quick, quick. Now keep her
on the edge of the deep current, and we shall leister
hun to a certainty." No such thing. He had not yet
made up his mind to be leistered; and, being of a
solitary disposition, rather shunned our society than
otherwise; so, instead of attempting to gain the main
stream, he went insidiously down the shallows, where
252 TWAE CAN TLAY AT THAT.
no boat coidd swim. He was thus out of the reach of
being speared in the usual manner ; but Charlie Purdie
had a go at him by flinging his leister from a dis-
tance —
" Nequicquam patrias tentasti lubricus artes,
Vane Ligur."
It was a complete failure. Charlie followed up the
thing, however, by leaping out of the boat ; nothing
could be fairer or more honourable, as he thus gave the
amphibious animal the advantage of element. The men
were all eager and in commotion ; so what with boat
and lights, to say nothing of the dreadful tridents, the
beast was faii'ly confused, and almost surrounded.
Purdie, who had sent aAvay his leister upon a vain
errand, albeit unarmed, continued the chase on foot,
and at length gripped the brute by the tail ; there was
pulling and splashing, till at last he held the otter up
aloft triumphantly. Now as this position, though not
precisely vertical, did not hapj)en to suit the brute's
convenience, the subtle animal managed to twist round,
and to fix his teeth on the captor's arm. This was
rather disagreeable to Charlie, as the teeth of the otter
abound in practical experiments. The posture of
affairs then, you see, was as follows : — the tenacious
Purdie had hold of the vermin with his dexter, and was
loth to relinquish his grip ; the foe, nothing behind
in tenacity, fixed his teeth in Charlie's sinister with
equal perseverance ; thus both his arms were fully
occupied. Nothing daunted, Charlie cried out with
Spartan endurance, " Hey, lad, but twae can play at
that!" So, extending his jaws, he fixed his grinders in
THE KEEPER OF THE REGALIA. 253
the animal's throat and worried him exceedingly. In
fine, after a very ludicrous struggle, he shook off my
excellent namesake and flung him on the shore, where
he was despatched with the leisters before he could
regain the river. Thus ended " the battle of Otter-
bourne ; " and thus ended, also, our sport for the night ;
for the beast, no doubt, had disturbed that cast, which,
together with the lower water, was set apart for another
night's amusement.
We now marched home with our spoil, triumphant ;
— Sandy in front, with the blazing beacon over his
shoulder to light our steps, as has been practised from
time immemorial ; the others with the fish and leisters.
One of the sj)ectators began a concordia discors with his
bagpipe, but bad us adieu at Melrose Bridge, and the
dulcet sounds died away among the pine woods and
furze brakes of the Eildon Hills. Then it was that we
had the good fortune to meet my most humorous and
excellent friend Sir Adam Ferguson, who made rare
amends for the loss of our piper, by singing the follow-
ing strains in his richest style ; which, as they are not
very well known in the South, I venture to subscribe.
" The Laird o' Cockpon, he's proud and he's great ;
His mind's ta'en up wi' the things o' the state ;
He wanted a wife his braw house to keep,
But favor wi' wooing was fashous to seek.
" Down by the dyke-side a leddie did dwell,
At the head o' his table he thocht she 'd look well,
Macleish's ae dochter o' Claver's Ha' Lee,
A penniless lass, wi' a lang pedigree.
254 THE AUTHOR BACKS OUT.
" His wig was \yell pouthered, and maist gude as new ;
His waistcoat was red, his coat it was blue ;
A ring on his finger, his sword and cockt hat,
And wha could refuse the laird wi' aw that ?
" He mounted his meer, he rode cannilie,
And rapt at the yett o' Clavers Ha' Lee ;
' Gae tell Mrs. Jean to come speedilie ben.
She 's wanted to speak to the Laird o' Coekpen.'
" Mrs. Jean she was makin' the elder flower wine ;
' And what 'brings the laird at sic a like time ? '
She threw afF her apron, put on her silk gown.
Her mutch wi' red ribbons, and cam awa down.
" And whan she cam in he bowed fu' low.
And soon his errand he let her to know ;
Amazed was the laird whan the leddle said naw,
But wi' a laigh courtsy she turned awa.
" Dum-foundered he was, nae sicgh did he gie,
He mounted his meer, he rode cannilie ;
But said to himsel, as he gaed through the glen,
' She was daft to refuse the laird o' Coekpen ! ' "
It had been my intention to give an account of the
burning of the water from Melrose Bridge to the Cauld
Pool, and so on to Cow's Hole ; but the description, if
faithful, would be so similar to the one already given,
that it would be lamentably tiresome, and I have been
ultra-tedious already. Besides, it must be considered
that I have been out of my bed most part of the night ;
that I am to the full as sleepy as any of my readers can
possibly be ; and, moreover, that my back Is half frozen,
whilst my front is scorched with the firebrands.
Farewell, then, dear brothers of the angle ; and when
you go forth to take your pleasure, either in the moun-
FAREWELL. 255
tain stream that striio;o;les and roars throucrh the narrow
pass, or in the majestic salmon river that sweeps in
hicicl mazes through the vale, may your sport be ample,
and your hearts light ! But should the fish prove more
sagacious than yourselves, — a circumstance, excuse me,
that is by no means impossible ; should they, alas — but
fate avert it — reject your hooked gifts, the course of
the river will always lead you to pleasant places. In
these we leave you to the quiet enjoyment of the
glorious works of the Creation, whether it may be your
pleasure to go forth when the spring sheds its flowery
fragrance, or in the more advanced season, when the
sere leaf is shed incessantly and wafted on the surface
of the swoln river.
257
APPENDIX.
An act for the more effectual preservation and Increase
of the Breed of Sahnon^ and for better regulating the
Fisheries in the River Tweed, and the Rivers and
Streams running into the same, and also within the
mouth or entrance of the said River.
[Royal Assent, 29th May 1830.]
Whereas an act was passed in the eleventh year of the Preamble.
^ -^ 11 G.3. c 27.
reign of liis late Majesty King George HI., intituled, " An act
for regulating and improving the fisheries in the river Tweed,
and the rivers and streams running into the same, and also
within the mouth or entrance of the said river : " and whereas is g. 3. c. 46.
another act was made in the fifteenth year of the reign of his
said late Majesty, intituled, "An act for amending and ren-
dering more effectual an act passed in the eleventh year of
his px-esent Majesty's reign, intituled, ' An act for regulating
and improving the fisheries in the river Tweed, and the
rivers and streams running into the same, and also within
the mouth or entrance of the said river:'" and whereas 37G.3. c. 48.
another act was made in the thirty-seventh year of the reign
of his late Majesty, intituled, " An act for altering, amending,
and rendering more effectual two acts made in the eleventh
and fifteenth years of the reign of his present Majesty, for
the regulation and improvement of the fisheries in the river
Tweed, and the rivers and streams running into the same,
and also within the mouth or entrance of the said river : "
and whereas another act was made in the forty-seventh year ^^^^ ^-^ ^
of the reign of his said late Majesty, intitided, " An act to
S
258 APPENDIX.
amend and render more efi'ectual three acts made in the
eleventh, fifteenth, and thirty-seventh years of his present
majesty, for the regulation and improvement of the fisheries
in the river Tweed : " and whereas it has been found by
experience that the said recited acts have become inadequate
to the purposes intended, and that for several years past the
salmon have rapidly decreased in the said river Tweed, and
there is every reason to apprehend that a progressive de-
crease will continue to take place, unless effectual measures
be resorted to for the preservation of the breed of salmon,
and fish of the salmon kind, in the said river ; and it is
therefore expedient that the periods of the annual and weekly
close-time should be enlarged, and that the said recited acts
should be repealed, and that instead thereof further and other
regulations should be made in lieu thereof; but as these
purposes cannot be effected without the aid and authority of
Recited acts parliament: may it therefore please your Majesty, that it
'■^P'^''' ^ • ^^^y. ^g enacted, and be it enacted by the King's most ex-
cellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the
lords spiritual and temporal, and commons, in this present
parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, that
from and after the passing of this act, the said several recited
acts passed in the eleventh, fifteenth, thirty-seventh, and
forty-seventh years of the reign of his said late Majesty shall
Periods in be, and the same are hereby repealed ; and that from and
whicli salmon . n t • -in iipip
siiaii not be after the passing oi this act it shall not be lawtul lor any
person or persons to fish for or take in any way, except by
means of angling or rod fishing, any salmon, grilse, sea trout,
bull trout, whitling, or other fish of the salmon kind, in the
said river Tweed, or in any river, rivulet, brook, or
stream, or in any mill pool, mill lead, mill dam, sluice,
pond, or other pool or cut which runs into or otherwise
communicates with the said river Tweed, or within the
mouth or entrance of the said river Tweed, at any time or
times between the fifteenth day of October in any year and
the fifteenth day of February in the year following ; nor by
means of angling or rod fishing, at any time or times between
TWEED FISHERIES ACT. 259
the first day of November in any year and the fifteenth day
of February in the year following, nor in any way or by any
means between six of the clock on Satm-day night and two of
the clock on Monday morning, from the fifteenth day of
February till the first day of June, or between six of the clock
on Saturday night and six of the clock on Monday morning,
from the first day of June till the fifteenth day of October in
each year, any law, statute, or practice to the contrary not-
withstanding.
2. And be it further enacted, that if at any time between Penalty on
, fishing for
the fifteenth day of October in any year and the fifteenth day or taking
. salmon in the
of February then next following, except as to fishing by annual and
. , ^ . .p weekly
means of angling or rod fishing, and as to such fishing, if at ciose-time.
any time between the first day of November in any year and
the fifteenth day of February then next following, or if at
any time between six of the clock on Saturday night and two
of the clock on Monday morning, from the fifteenth day of
February to the first day of June, or between six of the clock
on Saturday night and six of the clock on Monday morning,
from the first day of June to the fifteenth day of October,
any person or persons shall wilfully take, or shall fish for, or
attempt to take, or aid or assist in taking, fishing for, or at-
tempting to take, in or from the said river Tweed, or any river,
rivulet, brook, or stream, or any mill pool, mill lead, mill dam,
sluice, pond, or other pool or cut which runs into or other-
wise communicates with the said river Tweed, or within the
mouth or entrance of the said river Tweed, any salmon, grilse,
sea trout, bull trout, whitling, or other fish of the salmon
kind, every such person shall forfeit and pay any sum not
less than 21. and not exceeding 201. for and in respect of
each and every such ofience, and shall also forfeit each and
every such fish so taken, and each and every boat, net, or
engine so vised, or by which any such fish has been taken,
or attempted to be taken, and also the further sum of 10*.
for each and every such fish so taken.
3. And be it further enacted, that it shall not be lawful Penalties not
_ ^ to be dirai-
to nor in the power of the justice or justices, or sherift' or nished to
s 2
APPENDIX.
less than 10/.
with regard
to weekly
close- time,
but under
certain cir-
cumstances.
No person
to sell or
knowingly
possess fish
caught in
close-time.
Stewart depute or substitute, before whom any conviction
with regard to the weekly close-time shall be made, to mi-
tigate the penalties herein contained in relation thereto to a
less sum than 10/., unless the offence shall have been com-
mitted within half an hour after six of the clock on Saturday
night, or within half an hour before two of the clock on
Monday morning, from the fifteenth day of February to the
first day of June, or within half an hour after six of the
clock on Saturday night, or within half an hour before six of
the clock on Monday morning, from the first day of June to
the fifteenth day of October, in which case the penalty may
be mitigated as herein-before mentioned.
4. And be it further enacted, that from and after the pass-
ing of this act, if any person or persons shall, between the
fifteenth day of October in any year and the fifteenth day of
February then next following, knowingly have in his, her, or
their possession, or carry about, sell, offer, cry, proclaim, or
expose to or for sale, or shall exchange for any goods, matter,
or thing, any salmon, grilse, sea trout, bull trout, whitling,
or other fish of the salmon kind caught at any time during
the said period in the said river Tweed, or in any I'iver,
rivulet, brook, stream, mill pool, mill lead, mill dam, sluice,
pond, or other pool or cut which runs into or otherwise com-
municates with the said river Tweed, or within the mouth or
entrance of the said river Tweed, except such fish as are
taken by means of angling or rod fishing, between the fifteenth
day of October and the first day of November in any year,
every such person shall forfeit and pay any sum not less than
1/. and not exceeding 21., for and in respect of each and
every salmon, grilse, sea trout, bull trout, whitling, or other
fish of the salmon kind so cried, offered for sale, sold, ex-
changed, purchased, or found in the possession or proved to
have been in the possession of axiy such person or persons as
aforesaid, over and above forfeiting each and every such fish
so sold, purchased, or found, and also over and above for-
feiting every boat, cart, basket, or package in which the
same may be found.
TWEED FISHERIES ACT. 261
5. And be it further enacted, that the proof that such Persons in
salmon, grilse, sea trout, bull trout, whitling, or other fish of FuchTs'h to°
the salmon kind was not taken or killed in the said river thrsame*
Tweed, or in any river, rivulet, brook, or stream, or in any taken in the
miU pool, mill lead, mill dam, sluice, pond, or other pool or
cut which runs into or otherwise communicates with the said
river Tweed, or within the mouth or entrance of the said
river Tweed, between the fifteenth day of October or the first
day of November respectively and the fifteenth day of Feb-
ruary, shall lie upon the person or persons in whose custody
or possession the same shall be found, or who shall cry, ex-
pose, offer for sale, exchange, or purchase the same as afore-
said.
6. And be it further enacted, that from and after the pas- To prevent
sing of this act, if any person or persons shall wilfully kill or tion of the
take, or aid or assist in killing or taking, by any means or ' "" ' '^^'
by any device, in or from the said river Tweed, or in or from
any river, rivulet, brook or stream, or in any mill pool, mill
lead, mill dam, sluice, pond, or other pool or cut, which runs
into or otherwise communicates with the said river Tweed,
or within the mouth or entrance thereof ; or sell, purchase,
or wilfully have in his, her, or their possession, any spawn,
smolts, fry, or young brood of salmon, or of any other fish of
the salmon kind ; or in any way, or by any device, wilfully
obstruct the passage of such smolts, fry, or young brood, or
injure or disturb any such spawn, smolts, or fry, or any
spawning bed, bank, or shallow where the same may be ;
every such person shall forfeit and pay a sum not less than
1/. and not exceeding 10/. for each and every such offence,
and shall also forfeit and pay the further sum of 2s. for each
of the smolts, fry, or young brood of the salmon kind so
taken, killed, or destroyed, or found in his, her, or their pos-
session, and shall also forfeit all nets and engines whereby
the same have been killed or taken, together with the ham-
pers, creels, or packages wherein the same may be found.
7. And be it further enacted, that if any person shall, after Penalty on
the expii'ation of two months from and after the passing of
S 3
262
APPENDIX.
Having nets
in possession
deemed evi-
dence of
intent to
trespass.
Limits of the
mouth of the
Tweed.
this act, trespass in or upon any ground adjacent or near to
the said river Tweed, or any river, rivulet, brook or stream,
mill pool, mill lead, mill dam, sluice, pond, or other pool or
cut which runs into or otherwise communicates with the said
river Tweed, or in or upon the said rivers and waters, or
within the mouth or entrance of the said river Tweed, with
intent to take or kill salmon, grilse, sea trout, bull trout,
whitling, or other fish of the salmon kind, or the smolts,
spawn, or fry of such salmon or other fish, every such person
shall forfeit and pay for every such oiFence not less than
10s. and not exceeding 5/.
8. And be it further enacted, that if any such trespasser
or trespassers shall have in his, her, or their possession, or in
the possession of any of them, (if more than one are together,)
any net or implement whatever, whereby or wherewith
salmon grilses, sea trouts, bull trouts, whitlings, or other
fish of the salmon kind, are usually taken or killed, the pos-
session thereof shall be deemed and taken to be suflftcient
evidence of the intent of such trespasser or trespassers to
commit such offence as aforesaid ; and in case such tres-
passer or trespassers shall not have in his, her, or their pos-
session any such net or implement as aforesaid, it shall in
such case be lawful to and for the justice or justices, sheriff
or Stewart depute or substitute, before whom the complaint
shall be heard, to infer, adjudge, and determine the intent of
the trespasser or trespassers to commit such offence as afore-
said, according to the evidence which may be adduced on the
hearing of any complaint that may be made against such
trespasser or trespassers, and to convict or discharge the
offender or offenders accordingly.
9. And be it further enacted, that for the purposes of this
act the limits of the mouth or entrance of the said river
Tweed shall be deemed to extend and shall extend from a
newly erected pier, lately and formerly called Queen Eliza-
beth's pier, along the sea coast on the south side of the said
pier, five miles, and along the sea coast on the north side of
the said pier, four miles, and shall also extend five miles in
TWEED EISHEKIES ACT. 263
front of the mouth of the said river, and of the several lines
of boundary herein -before mentioned, into the sea, such dis-
tance towards the sea to be computed by lines drawn the one
from the northern and the other from the southern extremity
of the aforesaid boundaries, at right angles to a line drawn
between the said northern and southern extremities.
10. And be it further enacted, that from and after the pas- To prevent
n I . . (, 1 n 1 1 beating the
smg 01 this act, it any person or persons shall beat the water, water, and
, , . , . , making ille-
or place or set any white object, or any bar net, or other net gai obstruc.
. tions to the
or nets, or other thing whatsoever, in, over, or across the runoffisii.
said river Tweed, or in, over, or across any river, rivulet,
brook or stream, miU pool, mill lead, mill dam, sluice, cut,
pond, or other pool which runs into or otherwise communi-
cates with the said river Tweed, or within the mouth or en-
trance of the said river Tweed, so as to prevent, or for the
purpose of preventing, the said fish from entering the said
river Tweed, or from going up and down the said river, or
any river, rivulet, brook or stream, mill pool, mill lead, mill
dam, sluice, cut, pond, or other pool which runs into or other-
wise communicates with the said river Tweed, or shall in any
other way or in any other manner prevent the said fish from
entering the said river, and going up and down the said
rivers and waters before described ; every person so ofiend-
ing shall for the first ofience forfeit and pay any sum not less
than 10/. and not exceeding 201. ; and any sum not less than
20/. and not exceeding 40/., for every subsequent ofience :
provided always, and be it further enacted, that nothing
herein contained shall be deemed or construed to alter or
afiect the modes or methods for taking and killing fish in the
said rivers and waters, other than such as are by this act
specially prohibited.
11. And be it further enacted, that every occupier of any Boats to be
f, , ., .I'rT^i • -I • 1 removed in
fishery in the said river 1 weed, or m the rivers and streams ciose-time.
and other waters running into or otherwise communicating
therewith, or in the mouth or entrance of the said river Tweed
shall, and they and each and every of them are hereby re-
quired to remove and carry away from their several and re-
s 4
\
264
Exceptions.
Boats not re-
moved may
be seized by
bailifTs, &c.
without any
warrant.
APPENDIX.
spective fisheries, fishing shields, and fishing grounds, all boats,
oars, nets, engines, and other tackle used and employed by
them, or any or either of them, in the taking and killing
such fish as aforesaid, excepting boats with their oars, used
for angling or rod fishing ; on or before the seventeenth day of
October in every year, to some place or places, to be named by
the commissioners or overseers by this act appointed, where the
same can be securely lodged and kept, so as to prevent their
being used in fishing, and there to remain until the thirteenth
day of February in the following year ; and each boat with
its oars, so retained for the purpose of angling or rod fishing,
shall be so removed and carried away on or before the third
day of November in every year, and shall be lodged and kept
and remain as aforesaid until the said thirteenth day of Feb-
ruary in the following year ; and in case any such occupier or
occupiers shall neglect or refuse to remove all and every such
boats, nets, oars, and other tackle as aforesaid, and the same,
so removed, to keep secured from the said fisheries and
premises during the time aforesaid, every such person so
refusing or neglecting, on being convicted thereof before any
one or more justice or justices in England, or justice or jus-
tices, or sheriff" or Stewart depute or substitute, in Scotland,
shall, for every such offence forfeit and pay any sum not less
than 51. and not exceeding 201. : provided always, that
nothing herein contained shall be construed or held to extend
to public ferry boats, nor to boats used by any propi'ietor or
occupier of land adjoining the said rivers, solely for the trans-
port of himself, or herself, or his or her family, but under
the regulations herein-after specified in regard to such boats.
12. And be it further enacted, that it shall be lawful for
any water bailiff" or water bailiff's, or other person or persons
employed in the execution of this act, without any other autho-
rity than this act, to seize all such fishing boats, oars, nets,
engines, and other tackle, which shall not have been so re-
moved as aforesaid (but excepting as aforesaid), and to convey
and carry the same to some place of security, and give in-
formation thereof to any justice or justices of the peace, or
TWEED FISHERIES ACT. 265
any sheriff or Stewart depute or substitute, within whose
jurisdiction the same shall be so seized, and such justice or
justices, or sheriff or Stewart depute or substitute, respectively
shall and may order all such boats, oars, nets, engines, and
other tackle, to be burnt, cut to pieces, or otherwise destroyed
or disposed of; and it shall and may also be lawful to and for
every such water bailiff or water bailiffs, or other person or
persons employed and acting under the authority of this act,
at any time during the annual close-time to enter into or
upon any fishery or fishing grounds, and without any war-
rant or wai'rants, to search all and every the fishing shields
and other premises belonging thereto, for any boats, oars,
nets, engines, and other tackle, that may be deposited or
concealed therein ; and in case any such shield is found to be
locked up, and upon request the occupier of such shield shall
refuse to open the door thereof, it shall be lawful for the
water bailiff or water bailiffs, or other person or persons
aforesaid to break open the door of such shield, and to search
for any such boats, oars, nets, engines, or other tackle as
aforesaid, and if found, to dispose of the same in like manner
as last herein-before directed, in regard to boats, oars, nets,
engines, and other tackle, when not removed as herein-before
directed.
13. And be it fiu'ther enacted, that it shall be lawful for sheriffs and
any such justice or justices, or sheriff or Stewart depute or powereVto
substitute as aforesaid, upon application to him or them, made fa'nts 7o7'
in writing, under the hands of any two or more of the pro- boatsy&f.
prietors or occupiers of fisheries, in the said river Tweed, and
he and they is and are hereby directed and required to autho-
rize and direct by warrant, under his or their hand and seal,
or hands and seals, in England, and under his or their hand
or hands in Scotland, any constable, peace ofiicer, or water
bailiff or water bailiffs, to be appointed under the authority
of this act, with such assistants as may be necessary, to search
between the seventeenth day of October and the third day
of November, respectively, as hei'ein-before mentioned, and
the thirteenth day of February in every year, all and every
266
APPENDIX.
Regulations
as to ferry
boats and
boats of pro-
prietors and
occupiers of
land.
Regulation
of private
boats.
Any water
bailiff may
destroy
nets, &c.
the fishery and fisheries, fishing shields, and tlie lands and
grounds adjoining thereto ; and all such boats, oars, nets,
engines, and other tackle, as they shall find contrary to the
regulations herein contained, upon such search, to remove
and carry away at the expence of the owner or owners
thereof.
14. And be it further enacted, that the tenant or occupier
of every established and accustomed ferry for the conveyance
of passengers, horses, and carriages across the said river
Tweed, or across any other river running into or otherwise
communicating therewith, shall have the name or names of
the proprietor, and of the ferry, and the number of each boat,
painted upon some conspicuous part of each and every boat
so used by him, her, or them, in letters of two inches in length,
and shall also keep the same locked up when not actually in
use ; upon failure wherein, the occupier or proprietor of every
such boat shall for every such offence forfeit and pay any sum
not less than 51. and not exceeding 10/. ; and every such oc-
cupier or proprietor who shall use, or permit or alloAV to be
used, his, her, or their boat during close-time, for the purpose
of fishing for salmon, grilse, or other fish of the salmon kind,
shall forfeit and pay for every such offence not less than 10/.
and not exceeding 30/., and the boat or boats shall be for-
feited in like manner as boats used in fishing dviring close-
time.
15. And be it further enacted, that each and every pro-
prietor and occupier of fisheries within, or of land adjoining
the said rivers and waters, who shall use any boat or boats
for the purpose of fishing, or for any purpose, upon any of
the said rivers or waters, shall have the name or names of
every such proprietor or occupier painted upon their respective
boats, with the number thereof, in like manner as is herein-
before directed with respect to ferry boats, and subject to the
like penalties and regulations as are herein-before declared as
to ferry boats.
16. And be it further enacted, tliat if any net or other
engine or device whatsoever, adapted for the taking or de-
TWEED FISHERIES ACT. 267
stroying of salmon or fish of the sahnou kind, the owners of "f^^'^.'^^^gg^
which shall not be known to the bailiff discovering the same,
shall be left or placed in the said river Tweed, or in any river,
rivulet, brook, stream, pond, pool or other water, mill lead,
miU dam, sluice or cut, which runs into or otherwise com-
municates with the said river Tweed, or within the mouth or
entrance of the said river, at any time during the annual or
weekly close-times, with the intent or for the purpose of fishing
for or taking any salmon or fish of the salmon kind during
the said close-times (which intention and piu-pose, with
respect to nets, shall be legally and sufiiciently implied from
their being left or placed, during the said close-times, in the
state in which such nets are ordinarily used in fishing for or
taking salmon or fish of the salmon kind,) it shall and may
be lawful for any water bailiff or water bailiffs, or other
person or persons, employed or acting under the authority of
this act, to seize and to burn, cut to pieces, or otherwise
destroy the same.
17. And be it fm'ther enacted, that in case any person or Penalty on
, 1, . 1 f •! 1 • • 1 resisting or
persons shall resist, or make forcible opposition to, or assault assaulting
any high or petty constable, or other peace officer, sheriflf's
officer, water bailiff, or any person employed in the due exe-
cution of this act, every such person shall for every such
offence forfeit and pay any sum not less than 51.
18. And whereas many idle and disorderly persons, who Penalty on
are not owners or occupiers of any fishery in the said river persons fish-
Ttveed, or within the limits of the mouth or entrance thereof, the mouth of
or otherwise entitled to fish for salmon, grilses, salmon trouts,
or whitlings, or other fish of the salmon kind in the said river,
have and keep in their possession nets, engines, and other
tackle adapted for the taking and killing such fish, and have
made a practice of fishing therewith, not only upon the fish-
eries in the said river Tweed, and the rivers therewith con-
nected, but also within the mouth or entrance of the said
river, and by such means not only take and destroy the said
fish, but drive many of them from the coast, to the manifest
loss and injury of the owners and occupiers of such fisheries ;
the river, &c.
268
APPENDIX.
Penalty on
improper per-
sons having
nets in their
possession
for taking
salmon, &c.
be it tlierefore enacted, that from and after the passing of this
act, if any such person or persons as aforesaid shall at any
time or times take, fish for, or attempt to take, or aid or assist
in taking, fishing for, or attempting to take, in or from the
said river Tweed, or any river, rivulet, brook, or stream, or
in any mill pool, mill lead, mill dam, sluice, pond, or cut,
which runs into or otherwise communicates with the said
river Tweed, or within the mouth or entrance of the said
river Tweed, any salmon, grilse, sea trout, bull trout, whitling,
or other fish of the salmon kind, every such person shall
forfeit and pay any sum not less than 21. and not exceeding
20/., for and in respect of each and every such offence, over
and above forfeiting each and every such fish so taken, and
each and every boat, net, or engine so used, or by which any
such fish hath been taken or attempted to be taken, and also
the further sum of 10*. for each and every such fish so taken.
19. And be it also enacted, that it shall not be lawful for
any person or persons within five miles of the said river
Tweed, or any river, rivulet, brook, or stream, which runs
into or otherwise communicates with the said river Tweed,
not duly authorized by licence, or leave in writing, under the
hand or hands of any owner or owners, occupier or occupiers
of any fishery in any of the said rivers, to have in his, her,
or their possession, except for the purpose of manufacturing
or selling the same, or repairing the same for some owner or
occupier of a fishery in one of the said rivers, any net, or
engine of the description of those used for the taking of
salmon, grilse, salmon trout, or whitling, or other fish of the
salmon kind, and the person or persons convicted of offending
herein shall for every such offence forfeit and pay any sum
not less than 10/. and not exceeding 20/., and shall besides
forfeit all and every the nets and engines so found in his,
her, or their possession ; and the justice or justices, sheriff
or Stewart depute or substitute, before whom such person or
persons shall be convicted, shall order and direct such nets
or engines to be burned, cut to pieces, or otherwise de-
stroyed.
TWEED FISHERIES ACT. 269
20, And be it further enacted, that upon information in ^^^''"g^
writing, upon oath, to any justice or justices, or sheriff or gg^^ch war-
stewai-t depute or substitute in Scotland, or any justice or fo"^\°i"n"'
justices of the peace in England, or within the town and JJ^fi^ropfrp^er-
liberties of the borough of Berwick-upon-Tweed, that the ^""j'^!'^'"!
informant hath probable cause to suspect and doth suspect gg^^foP"*"
that any person or persons residing within the jurisdiction
of the said justice, sheriff or Stewart depute or substitute
(not being an owner or occupier of any fishery in the river
Tweed, or otherwise entitled to fish in the said river, or in
any other river or water connected therewith) hath or have
in his, her, or their custody or possession, or have lodged,
placed, or concealed, or caused to be lodged, placed, or con-
cealed, any net or nets, engines, or other tackle adapted for
the taking or killing of salmon, grilses, or fish of the salmon
kind, in any dwelling house or outhouse, or in any boat,
coble, or other vessel, specifying the same, wherein the said
justice or justices, sheriff or stewart depute or substitute hath
or have jurisdiction respectively, it shall and may be lawful
to and for the said justice or justices, sheriff or stewart
depute or substitute, or any one or more of them, and he and
they are hereby required to grant warrant or warrants, under
his or their hand or hands in Scotland, or his or their hand
and seal or hands and seals in England, authorizing and em-
powering any constable or constables, sheriff's ofiicer or
officers, or other peace officers or water bailiffs, to be ap-
pointed under the authority of this act, conjunctly and
severally, to search, in the day time, the houses of persons
not duly authorized to use or have in their possession any of
the nets or engines herein-before mentioned, and the same
on discovery to seize and carry away.
21. And be it further enacted, that upon information in Magistrates
' ^ empowered
writing, upon oath, to any justice or justices, or sheriff or *« 's^ue
Stewart depute or substitute in Scotland, or any justice or r^P'^ upon
i 7 ./ J information
justices of the peace in England, that the informant hath offish being
probable cause to suspect and believe, and doth suspect and taken and
^ 1 7 ± concealed.
believe, that any salmon grilses^ salmon trouts, bull trouts,
270 APPENDIX.
or wliitlings, which have been illegally taken or caught
within the mouth or entrance of the said river Tweed, or
contrary to the provisions of this act, by any person or
persons not duly authorized, are concealed in some dwelling
house, outhouse, place or places (specifying the same), or in
some cart or other vehicle then being within the jurisdiction
of the said justice or justices, or sheriiF or stewart depute or
substitute in Scotland, or justice or justices of the peace in
England respectively, it shall be lawful for the said justice
or justices, or sheriff or stewart depute or substitute in
Scotland, or justices in England, or any one or more of them,
and he and they are hereby required to authorize and direct
by warrant vmder his or their hand or hands in Scotland, or
his or their hand and seal or hands and seals in England, any
high or petty constable or other peace officer, or any water
bailiff or water bailiffs, to be appointed under the authority
of this act, to search in the day time eveiy dwelling house,
outhouse, place or places, cart or other vehicle wherein they
have information that such fish as aforesaid are concealed ;
and if upon such search any salmon grilse, salmon trout,
bull trout, or Avhitling shall be there found, it shall be lawful
to and for the said peace officer and other persons authorized
as aforesaid, and he and they is and are hereby required to
seize the same, and to bring the body or bodies of the person
or persons in whose house, outhouse, or other place, or in
whose custody, cart, or other vehicle the same shall be found,
before the said justice or justices, sheriff or stewart depute
or substitute in Scotland, or justice or justices of the peace
in England, respectively, to answer and account for the
same ; and the proof that the fish so fovmd upon such search
was or were not taken or caught within the mouth or en-
trance of the said river Tweed, or contrary to the provisions
of this act, shall lie upon the person or persons in whose
custody, or in whose house, outhouse, or other place, cart, or
vehicle the same shall be found ; and if he or they shall fail
to make good the same to the satisfaction of the said justice
or justices, sheriff or stewart depute or substitute in Scotland,
TWEED FISHERIES ACT. 271
or justice oi' justices in England, before whom he, she, or
they shall be so brought as aforesaid, such person or persons
shall stand, and be convicted of having such salmon, grilse,
salmon trout, bull trout, or whitling in his, her, or their
dwelling house, outhouse, or other place or places, cart, or
other vehicle, knowing the same to have been taken or killed
within the mouth or entrance of the said river Tweed, or
contrary to the provisions of this act, and shall severally
forfeit for every such offence a sum not less than 21. and not
exceeding 201., and also 10*. for every such fish so found.
22. And be it further enacted, that if any person or per- Penalty rn
n ^ . f. , . destroyin.r
sons shall at any time or times, axter the passing ot this act, salmon, .\r.
. . by means of
endeavour to take, kill or destroy, pursue, hurt or injure, any iime, .'.c.
salmon, grilse, salmon trout, bull trout, or whitling, or other
fish of the salmon kind, in the said river Tweed ; or in any
river, rivulet, brook, stream, mill pool, mill lead, mill dam,
sluice, cut, pond or other pool, which runs into or otherwise
communicates with the said river Tweed, or in the mouth or
entrance of the said river Tweed, by laying or using any hot
lime or filth, refuse of gas, or any material or drug pernicious
to fish, or by using any water in which any green lint or
flax has been steeped, or letting off" stagnated water or any
water impregnated with any material or di'ug pernicious to
fish ; every such person, so offending, shall, for every such
first offence, forfeit and pay any sum not less than 21. and
not exceeding ol. ; and for every second and subsequent
offence, any sum not less than 5/. and not exceeding 10/.
23. And be it further enacted, that if any person or persons Penalty on
". 1 . ^ laying dirt,
whatsoever shall, at any time or times after the passing of &c. in the
this act, lay or place any coal cinders or coal ashes, lime,
refuse of gas works, or dirt or rubbish of any kind, or allow
the same to fall into the said river Tweed at or below high
water mark, every such person shall forfeit and pay the sum
of \l. for every such offence.
24. Provided always, and be it further enacted, that saying of
.' ' _ rights to
nothing herein contained shall in anywise preiudice or affect manors,
o ./ i J ^ seigniories,
the right of the owners or proprietors, tenants or occupiers ^"f,,i°yf,Jg "
272
APPENDIX.
mouth or
entrance of
the river
Tweed.
For regula-
tion of mill
dams, &c.
of fisheries, or the right of any other person or persons, who
now are or at any time or times hereafter shall or may be
seised, possessed of, or entitled to any manors, seigniories, or
royalties within the mouth or entrance of the said river
Tweed ; but that all and every such owners and proprietors,
tenants or occupiers, and other person or persons last men-
tioned, shall have and enjoy all such right of fishing within
the said mouth or entrance of the said river Tweed, as they
have hitherto lawfully exercised and enjoyed, or could or
might have lawfully enjoyed in case this act had not been
made, so as such right be used and exercised at such times
and seasons only, under such regulations and subject to
such penalties and forfeitures as are herein-before directed
concerning the fisheries in the said river Tweed, and within
the mouth or entrance thereof, any thing in this act con-
tained to the contrary in anywise notwithstanding.
25. And be it further enacted, that from and after the
passing of this act, all mill dams, dikes, wears, caulds, and
other permanent obstructions to the run of fish in the said
river Tweed, or in any river or rivulet, brook or stream,
running into the same, shall be so altered and constructed
as to permit and allow of the free run of the fish over or
through them in the main stream of the river, in the ordinary
and mean state of such river or rivulet, brook or stream ;
and in case the proprietors or occupiers of such mill dams,
dikes, wears, caulds, and other obstructions, shall neglect so
to alter and construct the same, it shall and may bo lawful to
the commissioners or overseers herein-after mentioned, or any
three or more of them, to send a requisition in writing to the
proprietors and occupiers of the same, so as to alter them
within six days after such requisition shall be made and served
upon the proprietors and occupiers of the same, or left for him,
her, or them, at his, her, or their usual place of residence ;
and in default thereof, it shall and may be lawful for any
justice or justices of the peace, or sheriff or Stewart depute
or substitute within whose jurisdiction the said mill dams,
dikes, wears, caulds, and other obstructions are situated, or
TWEED FISHERIES ACT. 273
where the propi'ietors or occupiers shall be or reside, upon the
application or information of anj one or more of the commis-
sioners or persons hereinafter named, and on due proof being
adduced before any justice or justices, sheriff or Stewart de-
pute or substitute, of the service of the requisition, and that
six days have elapsed since the service thereof, to order and
direct such alteration to be made under the inspection and
direction of a proper person to be named by him or them,
and at the expence of the proprietor or occupier of the same,
in such manner as may sufficiently effect the object intended
with the least possible injury to such proprietor or occupier
as aforesaid, such expence to be levied and recovered in the
same manner as is hereinafter directed with respect to the
levying and recovering of penalties and forfeitures.
26. And be it further enacted, that it shall not be lawful To prevent
nets being
tor any person or persons to place or set any net or nets oi placed within
any description whatever nearer than fifty yards above or any cauid.
below any dam, dike, wear, or cauld, in the said river Tweed,
or in the other rivers and streams running into or otherwise
communicating with the same ; or to affix any net, commonly
called a cairn net, to any islet or cairn not connected with or
adjoining to the banks of any of the said rivers or streams,
nor to build any cairn in any part of any such river or stream
which cau-n shall not adjoin the bank thereof; and any
person found guilty of any such offence shall forfeit a sum
not less than 1/. and not exceeding 101. for the fii'st offence,
and not less than 21. and not exceeding 20/. for every sub-
sequent offence, besides forfeiture of any such net or nets so
placed or set.
27. And be it further enacted, that if any person or persons No pout nets,
shall, during the period of the said annual close-time, fish with used in ciose-
. . . , time.
any pout net, or net of any other kind or description what-
ever, in the river Tweed, or in any river, rivulet, brook or
stream, mill pool, mill lead, mill dam, sluice, pond, or other
pool or cut which communicates with the said river Tweed,
or in the mouth or entrance of the said river Tweed, such
person or persons so offending shall, for every such offence,
T
274
APPENDIX.
No nets,
leisters, &c.
to be used
without li-
cence.
Fish taken
in nets or
otherwise, in
open season,
to be re-
stored to the
proprietor or
occupier of
fishings.
Water
bailiffs, &c.
may seize
and detain
offenders.
forfeit and pay any sum not less than 21. and not exceeding
201., over and above forfeiting such net or nets.
28. And be it further enacted, that it shall not be lawful
for any person or persons not authorized, and therein par-
ticulai'ly named, by hcence or leave in writing or printed, and
under the hand of some owner or owners, occupier or occu-
piers of a fishery in the said river Tweed, or in some river,
rivulet, brook or stream, mill pool, mill lead, mill dam, sluice,
cut, canal, pond or pool running into or otherwise communi-
cating with the said river Tweed, or in the mouth or entrance
of the said river Tweed, to fish with or use within such fishery
any net, leister, salmon spear, or similar engine, or salmon
tackle of any description whatever ; and every person so of-
fending shall for every such offence forfeit and pay any sum
not less than 10^. and not exceeding 2/., besides forfeiting the
nets, leisters, or other similar engines or tackle so used by
him or them ; and it shall and may be lawful for any water
bailiff or water bailiffs, or other person or persons employed
or acting under the authority of this act, to seize and detain
all such nets, leisters, spears, or similar engines, or salmon
tackle, from any person so fishing with the same, who does
not upon demand show a licence or leave for using the same
in manner before mentioned.
29. And be it further enacted, that if in the open season
any person or persons, while in the act of fishing for river or
fresh water trout, shall take any salmon, grilse, salmon trout,
bull trout, sea trout, whitling, or other fish of the salmon kind,
from any of the said rivers, streams, or waters, by any means
whatever, such person or persons shall forthwith deliver up
the same to the proprietor or occupier of the fishery where
the same were taken, and in default thereof every such
person shall forfeit a sum not less than 10^. and not exceeding
21. for every such fish so taken by him, her, or them.
30. And be it further enacted, that it shall be lawful for
every water bailiff or other person whatever, without any
warrant or authority other than this act, brevi manu to seize
and detain any person who shall be fovuid committing any
TWEED FISHERIES ACT. 275
offence against this act, and to convey such offender, or cause
him to be conveyed by some constable or other peace oflicer,
in case the offence is committed in England, before any justice
of the peace for the county or borough in or near the place
in which the offence shall be committed, who shall forthwith
proceed against such offender according to law, and according
to the provisions in this act contained ; and in case the offence
is committed in Scotland, the offender or offenders shall be
conveyed by the person or persons apprehending him or them,
before the sheriff or Stewart depute or substitute, or some
justice or justices of the peace of the county or shire in or
near the place in which the offence shall be committed, or
where the offender or offenders shall reside or shall be found,
who shall forthwith examine and discharge,- or commit such
person or persons until caution de judicio sisti be found, as
the case may require.
31. And for executing the purposes of this act, be it fur- commission-
° ^ ^ ers and ovei-
ther enacted, that all and every the proprietors of salmon ^^^"^^ «p-
•' , pointed.
fishings in the said river Tweed, or in any river, rivulet,
brook or stream, mill pool, mill lead, mill dam, sluice, pond,
or other pool or cut, running into or otherwise commixni-
cating with the same, or in the mouth or entrance of the said
river, of the annual value of 30^. or which extend half a
mile in length, where such fishings are only on one side of
the water, or a quarter of a mile where such fishings com-
prehend both sides of the water, one guardian of each minor,
one trustee of every such estate, one member of each cor-
poration or associated body holding, enjoying, or possessing
such salmon fishings of the annual value or extent aforesaid,
shall be and they are hereby appointed commissioners and
overseers for the purposes before and hereinafter mentioned ;
and it shall and may be lawful to and for the commissioners
of Greenwich hospital, the dean and chapter of the cathedral
church of Durham, the mayor and corporation of the town
of Berwick, and the trustees under the will of Nathaniel late
Lord Crewe, each to nominate and appoint, by an instrument
in writing under their seal or seals, hand or hands, from
T 2
276
APPENDIX.
Power to
commission-
ers to name
representa-
tives.
Penalty on
commission-
ers acting, if
not qualified.
Commis-
sioners and
overseers
shall not act
while holding
places of
profit.
time to time, one person to be a commissioner and overseer
as aforesaid, to represent each of them ; which person so
nominated and appointed shall have the like powers to vote
and act as the commissioners and overseers hereinbefore ap-
pointed, such nomination and appointment to be, from time
to time, revocable at the option of the party by or on whose
account the said commissioners and overseers shall be respec-
tively appointed.
.32. And be it further enacted, that it shall and may be
lawful to and for each and every person hereby appointed a
commissioner and overseer for putting this act in execution
to nominate and appoint by any instrument in writing under
his hand, from time to time, one other commissioner to be
proxy for and to represent and act in all or any meetings of
the said commissioners and overseers, as the representative
or proxy of the person by whom he is so nominated and ap-
pointed ; which commissioner so nominated and appointed
shall be entitled, in the absence of each such commissioner
for whom he may be so appointed proxy, to vote at all such
meetings for each commissioner by whom he is so appointed
as well as for himself : f)rovided always, that in no case shall
the person nominated, and the commissioner by whom he is
so appointed, be entitled to vote at the same meeting for and
in respect of the same fishing.
33. And be it enacted, that if any person not qualified as
aforesaid shall nevertheless presume to act as a commis-
sioner and overseer under the authority of this act, or to
nominate and appoint any person to act for him, such person
or persons so acting or nominating shall forfeit and pay the
sum of 201. for every such offence, to any person who shall
sue for the same in his majesty's courts of record at West-
minster, or any court competent in Scotland, and the proof
of qualification shall lie upon the defendant or defender.
34. And be it enacted, that if any person entitled to be a
commissioner and overseer for putting this act in execution
shall accept of any place of profit arising out of the rate of
assessment hereinafter granted, such person shall from thence-
TAVEED FISHERIES ACT. 277
forth, and while he continues to hold and enjoy such place of
profit, be disabled to act as a commissioner and overseer ;
and further, that it shall not be lawful for any person holding
such i)lace of profit to represent and vote for any commis-
sioner and overseer at any meeting for putting this act in
execution ; and if any person shall offend in the premises,
he shall forfeit and pay for every such offence the sum of
20/.
35. And be it enacted, that the said commissioners and First and
subsequent
overseers shall hold their first meeting for the purposes of meetings.
this act on the third monday after the passing of this act, at
Cornhiil, and their next meeting at Cornhill, on the first day
of August thereafter ; and thereafter shall hold one general
meeting in every year at Cornhill, upon the first day of Au-
gust, except when the first day of August shall happen on a
Sunday, in which case the annual general meeting for that
year shall be held on the second day of August, with power
to the said commissioners and overseers at their stated and
other general meetings to adjourn to such other time and
place as they shall think convenient.
36. And be it further enacted, that it shall be lawful for Power to caii
any three commissioners and overseers from time to time to ""^^ '"^^'
Ciill special general meetings of the said commissioners and
overseers by a notice of the place and date of meeting sub-
scribed by them, or by the clerk to the said commissioners
and overseers, on their requisition to him, inserted at least
twice in some one newspaper published in the county of Rox-
burgh or in Berwick-upon-Tweed ; and if no newspaper shall
be there published, then in two newspapers, the one pub-
lished in Edinburgh, and the other in Newcastle-upon-Tyne,
at least ten days before such meeting shall be held, and which
advertisement shall specify the purposes of such meeting ;
and it shall not be lawful at any such meeting to enter upon
any other business than what shall be specified in the said
requisition and advertisement.
37. And be it further enacted, that the quorum or number Regulations
. as to special
of commissioners and overseers necessary to do business in meetings.
T 3
278
APPENDIX.
Commis-
sioners and
overseers
may appoint
and remove
officers.
general stated or special meetings shall be five, and if less
than five shall be present, the commissioners and overseers,
or commissioner and overseer so present, shall have power to
adjourn the meeting, and in that case notice shall be given of
the day, place, and purpose of such adjourned meeting, by
advertisement in any two such newspapers published as
aforesaid, at least ten days before such adjoui-ned meeting ;
and at every such meeting the commissioners and overseers
present shall elect a chairman to preside for that meeting
only, and the said chairman shall have no vote except in
cases where the other commissioners and overseers present
shall be equally divided, in which cases he shall have a
casting or deciding vote : provided always, that it shall not
be in the power of any adjourned or special meeting to alter
or rescind any act done or resolution made by any annual
general meeting ; and at all meetings whatsoever the com-
missioners and overseers shall defray their own expences.
38. And be it further enacted, that it shall be lawful for
the said commissioners and overseers, at their stated and
other general meetings, from time to time to nominate and
appoint treasui'ers and clerks, and such other officers as they
shall tliink proper, with reasonable salaries ; and the said
commissioners and overseers shall take sufficient secm'ity
from every such treasurer and other officer having the care
or custody of any money to be raised or received by virtue
of this act, for the due execution of his office, as the said
commissioners and overseers shall think proper ; and it shall
be lawful for the said commissioners and overseers from time
to time to remove and again to replace any such ti*easurers,
clerks, and other officers, or any of them ; and such clerk or
clerks shall attend the stated and other general meetings of
the said commissioners and overseers, and shall, in a proper
book or books to be provided for that purpose, enter and keep
a true and perfect account of all the money to be received by
virtue of this act, and of the application of the same, and of
all the acts, px'oceedings, and transactions of the said com-
missioners and overseers, by virtue of and under the authority
TWEED FISHERIES ACT. 279
of this act ; and every commissioner and ovei'seer shall and
may, at all convenient times, have recourse to and peruse
and inspect the same gratis, and may demand and have
copies thereof, or any part thereof, paying Qd. for every one
hundi'ed words so to be copied ; and if any such clerk or
clerks shall refuse to permit any of the said commissioners
and overseers to inspect or peruse any such books at aU con-
venient times and seasons, or refuse to make any such copy
or copies in a reasonable time at the rate aforesaid, he or they
shall for every such offence forfeit and pay any sum not ex-
ceeding 5/. for the benefit of the said commissioners and over-
seers ; and whenever such treasurer or clerk shall die, or be
removed from or quit the service of the said commissioners
and overseers, it shall be lawful for any five of the said com-
missioners and overseers to appoint some other fit and proper
person or persons to be treasurer or clerk, in the place of
him or them so dying, being removed, or quitting the said
service, until the then next general meeting of the said com-
missioners and overseers, when such ajipointments shall be
confirmed, or another treasurer or clerk shall be nominated
and appointed in his or their stead.
39. Provided always, and be it further enacted, that it Same person
shall not be lawful for the said commissioners and overseers c'^rk and
to appoint the person or persons who may be appointed their
clerk or clerks in the execution of this act, or the partner or
partners of any such clerk or clerks, or the clerk or clerks or
other person or persons in the service or employ of any such
clerk or clerks, or of his or their partner or partners, the
treasurer or treasui'ers for the purposes of this act, or to
appoint any person or persons who may be appointed trea-
surer or treasurers, or the partner or partners of any such
treasurer or treasurers, or the clerk or clerks or other person
or persons in the service or employ of any such treasurer or
treasm-ers, or of his or their partner or partners, the clerk or
clerks to the said commissioners and overseers ; and if any
person shall accept both the offices of clerk and treasurer for
the purposes of this act, or if any person or persons, being
T 4
280 APPENmx.
the partner or partners of any such clei'k or clerks, or the
clerk or clerks or other person or persons in the service or
employ of any such clerk or clerks, or of his or their partner
or partners, shall accept the office of treasurer, or shall act
as deputy of such treasurer or treasurers, or in any manner
officiate for such treasurer or treasurers, or being the partner
or partners of any such treasurer or treasurers, or the clerk
or clerks or other person or persons in the service or employ
of any such treasurer or treasurers, or of his or their partner
or partners, shall accept the office of clerk in the execution of
this act, or shall act as deputy of such clerk, or in any
manner officiate for such clerk, or if any such treasurer or
treasurers shall hold or accept any place or office of trust
or profit under the said commissioners and overseers other
than that of treasurer, every such person so offending shall
for every such offence forfeit and pay the sum of 100/. to
any person or persons vp^ho shall sue for the same, to be re-
covered, with full costs of suit, in the same vray in which any
of the penalties by this act imposed may be sued for and
recovered.
siMeTJand ^^- -^^^ ^^ ^* further enacted and declared, that the said
may^ue and Commissioners and overseers may sue or be sued, for any
name'^of Their Ki^ttcr or thing to bc donc in the execution of this act, in the
clerk. name of their clerk for the time being, or in the name of any
one of the said commissioners and overseers ; and that no
action or suit wherein the said commissioners and overseers
shall be concerned as plaintiffs or pursuers, or defendants or
defenders, in the name of their clerk, or in the name of any
one of the said commissioners and overseers, by virtue of
this act, shall abate by the death or removal of any such clerk
or commissioner and overseer, bvit that the clerk to the said
commissioners and overseers for the time being, or any one
of the said commissioners and overseers to be for that pur-
pose nominated, if plaintiff or pursuer, or who may be sued
if defendant or defender, shall be deemed to be the plaintiff
or pursuer, or defendant or defender (as the case may be),
in every such action or suit.
TWEED FISHERIES ACT. 281
41. And be it further enacted, that the said commissioners District
meetings
and overseers, and their said repi'esentatives, at their first or and tiieir
powers.
at any of the stated general meetings assembled, or at any
adjourned meeting advertised as aforesaid for that special
purpose, may appoint different districts, for the better con-
ducting and managing tlie several pui-poses of this act, and
the times and places of meetings of commissioners and over-
seers for each district ; and at such district meetings tlie
commissioners and overseers or their said representatives
shall have power to name a chairman, clerks and other of-
ficers, with suitable salaries, and to take such securities from
those appointed to offices of trust, for the due execution of
their offices, as they shall think proper, and in district
meetings three shall be a quorum, but any one or more at-
tending sliaU have power to adjourn, and a particular report
from each district, and a copy of the books of tlie proceedings
kept within the same, shall be made to the general annual
meeting in every year ; and, in case of failure or neglect, tlie
clerk to the district shall forfeit and pay any sum not less
than 10/. and not exceeding 20/,
42. And be it further enacted, that tlie clerks, collectors, Former
and water bailiffs, or other officers, save and except the collectors
. to continue
treasurer, who have been appointed and employed in the tin replaced.
execution of the said recited acts hereby repealed, shall
respectively continue to exercise their several offices under
this act, until they shall respectively be displaced or removed
by the said commissioners and overseers, or be incapable of
executing their offices, and shall be subject to the like rules
and regulations in all respects whatsoever as if they had been
appointed under and by virtue of this act.
43. And be it further enacted, that the said commissioners water bailiffs
1 1 • • 1 • . to be ap-
and overseers, and their said representatives, m any general pointed.
or adjourned meeting assembled, shall and may nominate and
appoint such a number of conservators or water bailiffs, for
the protection of the fisheries and detection of offenders, as to
them shall appear expedient, or to authorize their district
meetings, or any two or more commissioner or commissioners.
282 APPENDIX.
to nominate and appoint such conservators or water bailiflFs,
for sucli periods and at such salaries, and on such terms and
conditions, as shall appear to be expedient ; and it shall be in
the power of any general or district meeting of commissioners
and overseers, or their said representatives, to remove such
conservators or water bailiffs, or any of them, and appoint
others in their room, and to make such alterations in regard
to their salaries as to them shall appear proper ; and fui'ther,
that it shall be lawful for any two commissioners and over-
seers to supply and fill up any vacancy or vacancies that may
occur by the death, resignation, or dismissal of any one or
more conservators or water bailiffs till the next started general,
adjourned, or special meeting be held ; and before any con-
servator or water bailiffs shall be entitled to act under the
authority of this act he shall take the oath following, before
any competent magistrate ; videlicet,
^^^f.'l.°'^"'*'<"' " I, A. B., do solemnly swear, that I will duly and faithfully
'" execute the office of a water bailiff, in terms of an act passed
" in the year of the reign of King George the Fourth,
" intituled [here take in the title of this ac^J. So help me
" God."
And if any person shall presume to act as a water bailiff under
the authority of this act, without previously taking the oath
hereinbefore appointed, he shall forfeit and pay for every
such offence any sum not less than 10/. and not exceeding 20/.
pnivers of 44. And bc it further enacted, that the water bailiffs ap-
water bailiffs. . . p . .
pointed as aforesaid shall, after being sworn into ofiice, be
empowered to exercise the powers and authorities of con-
stables in regard to all matters connected with this present
act, in the same manner as if offences against this act were
breaches of the peace, and, specially for the piu'pose of pre-
venting offences or detecting and apprehending offenders, to
enter upon any inclosed or uninclosed grounds adjoining the
said river Tweed, or any river, rivulet, brook or stream, or
any mill pool, mill lead, mill dam, sluice, pond, or cut running
into or otherwise communicating with the said river Tweed,
TWEED FISHERIES ACT. 283
and at all times, with theii' boats or otherwise, to enter upon
all and every the fisheries in the said river Tweed, or within
the mouth or entrance thereof, and the rivers and streams
running into the same or communicating therewith ; and also
to enter upon all brooks, mill pools, mill leads, mill dams,
sluices, ponds, or other pools or cuts which run into or other-
wise communicate with the said river Tweed, for the pur-
pose of preventing and detecting unlawful fishings or ob-
structions in the said rivers, streams, and waters, and to
moor, anchor, or otherwise fix their boats at such places as
they shall find convenient, provided that by such mooring,
anchoring, or fixing their boats they do not obstruct or im-
pede any legal mode of fishing.
45. And be it further enacted, that all justices of the peace Justices,
and other magistrates shall and may act in the execution of ter°ested?n
this act, notwithstanding such justice or magistrate shall be may act!'
interested in any salmon fishing, except in any case where
such justice or magistrate, or the lessee or occupier of any
salmon fishing in which such justice or magistrate is inter-
ested, is a party to the prosecution or case to be heard and
determined by such justice or magistrate ; and also that every owners or
owner, occupier of, or any person otherwise interested in any &TTot'in
salmon fishery, and also every water bailiff, shall be and is wknesse".'
hereby declared to be a competent witness to prove any
offence committed against tliis act, unless he be a party in the
prosecution.
46. And for defraying the expences to be incurred in car- Rate of as-
!• i'i /*>/!• Ti -111 1 sessment to
lying tins act into eiiect, be it enacted, that it shall and may be imposed.
be lawful for the said commissioners and overseers, or their
representatives, in general, stated, or adjourned meetings
assembled, to be held under the authority of this act, to as-
certain and impose a rate or assessment to be paid by the
whole proprietors of salmon fishings in the said river Tweed,
or in any river or stream running into or communicating
with the same, and in the mouth or entrance of the said river,
not exceeding 10/. per centum per annum to be paid for the
first year, and annually thereafter in proportion to the rents
284 APPENDIX.
or yearly value of their several salmon fisheries, and the same
shall thereafter be paid either yearly or half yeaidy, as the
said commissioners and overseers may from time to time
direct and appoint, by the several tenants or occupiers of the
said several salmon fisheries, for and on behalf of the re-
spective owners or proprietors of the same, and for which
payments such tenants or occupiers shall be entitled to relief
from the respective owners or proprietors at settling or
paying their usual rents, and failing any of the said rates or
assessments being paid to the collector or collectors by any
one or more of the said tenants or occupiers when reqviired,
the same shall on demand be paid by the owner or proprietor
or owners or proprietors of the salmon fisheries so possessed
by such defaulter or defaulters ; and the rate or assessment
made at such meeting shall be binding upon and enforced
against every such owner or owners of a salmon fishery, and
the said tenants or occupiers ; and for recovery of the said
rates or assessments it shall and may be lawful to and for
any sheriff or Stewart depute or substitute, or any justice or
justices of the peace, within whose jui-isdiction the defaulter's
goods or effects may be found, to grant warrant for poinding
or distraining the same, and to appraise them on the spot
where found, and afterwards to sell the same by auction, for
payment of the said rate or assessment, together with the full
charges of such poinding, distress, af)praisement, and sale,
and the surplus (if any) shall be paid when demanded to the
persons whose effects shall have been so distrained and sold ;
which warrants shall be granted by such sheriff or Stewart
depute or substitute, or justice or justices, upon an application
made to him or them, and an attestation on oath signed by
such collector or collectors certifying that the person or per-
sons complained of was or were deficient in payment of the
rate or assessment above mentioned, and expressing therein
the arrears due by such person or pei'sons ; or the said com-
missioners or overseers, or any two of them, shall and may
prosecute any action or actions at law for the said rates or
assessments or arrears thereof.
TWEED FISHERIES ACT. 285
47. 'And be it further enacted, that the expences of ad- fc^Pj"fdebts,
vertising for, preparing, procuring, and passing this act, and *" ^^ p^"^-
the debts and sums of money abeady due, and obligations
contracted by or under authority of the commissioners or
overseers appointed by the said recited act of the forty-
seventh year of the reign of his said late Majesty, shall be
defrayed and discharged out of such rates or assessments,
and the same shall afterwards be applied in defraying the Further ap-
'■ '^ . . plication of
salaries to clerks, collectors, officers, and water bailiffs, and the money,
the other expences to be incurred under this act.
48. And be it fui'ther enacted, that all offences whatsoever Mode of re-
,.,, . T ,. n T • covery and
which by virtue or under the authority ot this act are or application
..,,., . . of penalties
shall be subject to or punishable with any pecuniary or other m England.
penalties or forfeitures, shall and may in every case be heard,
adjudged, and determined, in England, by or before any of
the justice or justices of the peace, or magistrate or magis-
trates for the county, division, or place wherein such penalty
or forfeiture shall have been incurred, or where the offender
or offenders shall reside or shall be found, in a summary
way, upon information or complaint made and exhibited
before him or them ; and upon any such information or
complaint as aforesaid the said justice or justices, or ma-
gistrate or magistrates, shall summon the party accused, and
examine into the matter thereof, and if upon the confession
of the party or parties accused, or on the oath of any one or
more credible witness or witnesses, which oath the said
justice or justices, or magistrate or magistrates, is and are
hereby empowered and required to administer, the party or
parties accused shall have been convicted of having com-
mitted such offence or offences, then and in every such case
the penalty or penalties, forfeiture or forfeitures, hereby made
payable in respect of such offence or offences, together with
the costs of conviction, to be ascertained by such justice or
justices, or magistrate or magistrates, shall be forthwith paid
by the party or parties so convicted as aforesaid ; and in case
such party or parties so convicted shall refuse or neglect to
pay the same forthwith, then the same shall and may, by
286 APPENDIX.
warrant or warrants under tlie liaucl and seal or hands and
seals of any such justice or justices, or magistrate or ma-
gistrates, (which he and they is and are hereby authorized
and empowered to grant,) be levied and recovered, together
with the costs of conviction and recovery, to be ascertained
as aforesaid, by distress and sale of the goods and effects of
such oflFender or offenders, wherever such goods and effects
can be found, rendering the overplus of the money arising by
such sale, if any, after deducting the reasonable charges of
taking, keeping, and selling such goods and effects, to the
party or parties whose goods and effects shall be so distrained,
and one half of such penalty shall be paid to the informer,
and the other half to the said commissioners and overseers ap-
pointed by or in virtue of this act, or to such person or persons
as shall by them be in that behalf authorized to receive the
same, and shall go and be applied and disposed of for and
towards the same purposes as the said assessments herein-
before authorized to be levied are applicable ; and the over-
plus of the money levied remaining (if any there be), after
any penalty or penalties, and aU costs, charges, and expences
attending the levying and recovering thereof, are deducted
(which costs and charges shall always be taxed, settled, and
ascertained by and before the justice or justices, magistrate
or magistrates, by or before whom any such offender shall
be convicted), shall on demand be returned to the owner or
owners of the goods and effects so distrained ; and it shall
and may be lawful to and for such justice or justices, or ma-
gistrate or magistrates, to order the offender or offenders so
convicted to be detained in safe custody until return can be
conveniently made to such warrant or warrants of distress,
unless the said offender or offenders shall give sufficient
secui'ity to the satisfaction of such justice or justices, or ma-
gistrate or magistrates, for his or their appearance before the
said justice or justices, or magistrate or magistrates, on such
day or days as shaU be appointed for the return of such
warrant or warrants of distress, such day or days not being
more than seven days from the time of taking any such se-
TWEED FISHERIES ACT. 287
ctirity, and which security the said justice or justices, or
magistrate or magistrates, is and are hereby empowered to
take by way of recognizance or otherwise ; but if upon the
return of any such warrant it shall appear that no sufficient
distress can be had whereupon to levy the said penalty or
penalties, forfeiture or forfeitures, and such costs as aforesaid,
and the same shall not be forthwith paid, or in case it shall
appear to such justice or justices, or magistrate or magis-
trates, either by the confession of the offender or offenders
or otherwise, that the offender or offenders hath or have not
sufficient goods and effects whereon such penalties or for-
feitures and costs may be levied, were a warrant of distress
issued, such justice or justices, or magistrate or magistrates,
shall not be required to issue a warrant of distress ; and
thereupon it shall be lawful for such justice or justices, or
magistrate or magistrates, and he and they is and are hereby
required and empowered, for the first offence against this
act, by warrant or warrants under his or their hand and seal
or hands and seals, to commit such offender or offenders to the
common gaol or house of correction of the county, division,
or place respectively within the jurisdiction of which the
place may be situated where the offence was committed, or
where the offender may be or reside, there to remain without
bail or mainprize for any time not exceeding two calendar
months nor less than one month ; for the second offence, any
time not exceeding four months nor less than two months ;
and for the third and every subsequent offence, for any
time not exceeding six months nor less than three months,
or until such offender or offenders shall have paid such
penalty or penalties, forfeiture or forfeitures, and all costs
and charges attending such pi-oceedings as aforesaid, to be
ascertained by such justice or justices, or magistrate or ma-
gistrates, or shall otherwise be discharged by due course of law.
49. And be it further enacted, that all and every justice Form of
or justices, magistrate or magistrates, before whom any per-
son or persons shall be convicted of any offence against this
act, within that part of Great Britain called England, shall
288
APPENDIX.
Appeal in
England,
and may cause the conviction to be drawn up in the following
form of words, or any form of words to the same effect ; (that
s to say,)
' Be it remembered, that on [the time of conviction] at [place
' oj" conviction] [name of offender] was duly convicted be-
' fore me [?iame and style of convicting justice or justices,
' magistrate or magistrates], for that tlie said [name of
' offender] on [time of committing offence] did [here state
' the offence against the act according to tJie act], contrary
' to the form of the statute made in the year of the
' reign of his Majesty King George IV., intituled [here set
^ forth the title of this act], and I do hereby adjudge the said
' [name of the offender] to pay and forfeit for the said offence
' the sum of [fine] and also the sum of for costs, to
' be distributed as by the said act is directed. Given under
' my hand and seal the day and year first above wrkten."
50. And be it further enacted, that it shall be lawful for
any person or persons who shall think himself, herself, or
themselves aggrieved by the judgment of any justice or jus-
tices of the peace, or magistrate or magistrates, in England, or
by any act or judgment of the said commissioners and over-
seers, or other person or persons, done or given, or suffered
to be done or given in pursuance of this act, or by any rate
or assessment made in pursuance thereof, to appeal to the
justices of the peace of the county, division, or jilace where
such act shall have been done or such judgment shall have
been given, or where such rate or assessment shall be leviable,
at the next or next but one general quarter sessions of the
peace, but that no such appeal shall be received, heard, or
determined unless the appellant or appellants shall, within
four days next after such act or jvidgment shall have been
given, or such rate or assessment demanded, and fourteen
days at least before the holding of such sessions, give or
leave notice in writing, in case of conviction, as well at the
public office of the clerk of the peace for such county, di-
vision, or place where such person or persons shall be con-
TWEED FISHERIES ACT. 289
victecl, as to the informer or prosecutor, or at the dwelling
house of the informer or prosecutor, of his, her, or their
intention to bring such appeal, and shall also enter into a
recognizance or bail bond before such justice or justices,
magistrate or magistrates, with two sufficient sureties in such
sum as any such justice or justices, magistrate or magistrates,
shall think fit conditioned to try such appeal, and likewise to
pay the penalty, and also the costs of such appeal, in case
judgment and sentence shall, upon the hearing thereof, be
given against such aj^pellant or appellants, within foiu'teen
days next after the determination thereof ; and shall also, in
all cases of appeal against any act or judgment of any of the
said commissioners and overseers or other person or persons,
or against any rate or assessment, give or leave similar notices
at the public office of the clerk of the peace for the county,
division, or place, in which such appeal shall lie, and also to
the person or persons appealed against, and shall enter into
similar recognizance or bail bond conditioned to try such ap-
peal, as likewise to pay all penalties, sum, and costs of such
appeal in case judgment or sentence shall, upon the hearing
thereof, be given against such appellant or appellants ; and
the said justices, at their said sessions, shall and may, upon
due proof of such notice given as aforesaid, hear and deter-
mine every such appeal in a summary way, and shall award
and order to the party in whose behalf such appeal shall be
determined such costs and charges as they in theii' discretion
shall think reasonable and just to be paid by the party or
parties against whom such appeal shall be determined ; and
in case such costs and charges, together with the penalty,
shall not be paid within the space of fom-teen days next after
the hearing and determining of such appeal, the same may
be levied by distress and sale of the goods and effects of
the person or persons adjudged to pay the same, or his or
their surety or sureties ; and in case any person or persons
adjudged to pay such penalty and costs shall happen to go
into or remove his goods or effects into any county, division,
or place out of the jurisdiction of the said court where such
u
290
APPENDIX.
Recovery
and applica-
tion o( pe-
nalties in
Scotland.
appeal shall be brought or heard, it shall and may be lawful
for any justice or justices of the peace of or for the county,
division, or place wherein such pei'son shall be or inhabit, or
any of his goods or effects shall be found, upon application
made to him or them for that purpose, and upon a true copy
of the order for the payment of such penalties, costs, and
charges being produced and proved by some credible witness
upon oath, which oath any such justice or justices of the
peace is and are hereby empowered and authorized to ad-
minister, to grant his or their warrant in due form of law,
in order to cause the money mentioned in such judgment to
be levied by distress and sale of the goods and effects of the
person or persons who is, are, or shall be adjudged and ought
to pay the same ; yet, nevertheless, to return the overplus (if
any) to the person or persons entitled thereto ; and the de-
termination of such justice or justices at such quarter sessions
shall not be subject to any challenge or review, but shall be
final and conclusive to aU intents and purposes whatsoever ;
and no proceeding to be had, touching the conviction of any
offender or offenders against this act, or any order made, or
other matter or thing to be done or transacted, in or relating
to the execution of this act, shall be vacated or quashed for
want of form, or be removed by certiorari or any other writ
or process whatsoever.
5 1 . And be it further enacted, that all offences whatsoever
which by virtue or under the authority of this act are or shall
be subject to or be punishable with any pecuniary or other
penalties or forfeitures, shall and may in every case be heard,
adjudged, and determined, in Scotland, by or before the
sheriff or Stewart depute or substitute, or before any one or
more justice or justices of the peace in any shire, stewartry,
burgh, or place, in Scotland, as aforesaid, wherein such
penalty or forfeiture shall have been incurred, or where the
offender or offenders shall reside, or shall be found, by and
at the instance of the public prosecutor of the county, dis-
trict, or place where the offence may be committed, or where
the offender or offenders shall reside or shall be found, or at
TWEED FISHERIES ACT. 291
the instance of any one or more of the commissioners and
overseers appointed by or in virtue of this act, or at the in-
stance of their clerk or clerks for the time being ; and in
recovering the several penalties imposed by this act or any
other act for the preservation of the salmon fisheries in
Scotland, it shall be lawful for the sheriif, or Stewart depute
or substitute, or justice or justices, before whom any complaint
for the recovery thereof may be brought, to proceed in a sum-
mary way, and to grant warrant for bringing the parties com-
plained of immediately before him or them, or for citing the
party or parties complained of to appear before him or them
upon previous notice or inducite of not less than six free days,
served upon such party or parties, or left for him, her, or
them, at his, her, or their last known usual place or places of
abode, as such magistrate or magistrates shall see fit ; and in
either case, on proof on oath by one or more credible witness
or witnesses, or confession of the offence, or uY>on other legal
evidence, or by the party or parties accused failing to appear
before such magistrate or magistrates on the case being
called, after such previous notice of not less than six free
days has been served upon or left for the party or parties
accused in manner aforesaid, he, she, or they shall be held as
confessed, and thereupon such magistrate or magistrates
shall proceed forthwith to determine and give judgment in
such complaint ; and in case any person, who shall be
convicted of any offence or offences against this act, shall not
immediately upon such conviction pay down the penalty or
penalties, with such costs of suit or prosecution in which he,
she, or they shall have been so convicted, or as shall have
been awarded, into the hands of the magistrate or magistrates
as aforesaid by and before whom he, she, or they shall have
been so convicted, or to some other person by them or any of
them authorized to receive the same, in order that the same
may be disposed of according to the directions of this act, it
shall be lawful for any such magistrate or magistrates as
aforesaid, to order any constable or other peace officer to
take the charge of and keep in custody any such person so
U 2
292
APPENDIX.
convicted, and immediately thereupon eveiy such magistrate
or magistrates is and are hereby authorized, empowered, and
required to grant his or their warrant or warrants in due form
of law, under his or their hand or hands, and thereby commit
every such offender to the common gaol or house of cor-
rection for the shire, stewartry, burgh, or place for which
such magistrate or magistrates as aforesaid shall act for such
time or times as hereinafter mentioned, unless such penalty
and penalties and costs shall respectively be sooner paid, or
otherwise such magistrate or magistrates shall and may grant
his or their warrant or warrants, under his or their hand or
hands, to levy and recover such penalty or penalties and costs
by distress and sale of the offender's goods and effects; and
all penalties and forfeitures which shall be so paid or levied
as aforesaid shall, from time to time, be paid, applied, and
disposed of as follows ; that is to say, one half to the in-
former or informers, and the other half, after defraying all
costs, charges, and expences attending the prosecution and the
levying and recovering of the penalty, to the collector or col-
lectors of the assessment hereinbefore imposed, and the same
shall be applied and disposed of for and towards the same
purposes as the said assessments are applicable ; and the
overplus of the money levied remaining (if any there be) after
any penalty or penalties, and all costs, charges, and ex-
pences attending the levying and recovering thereof, are
deducted, which costs, charges, and expences shall always be
taxed, settled, and ascertained by and before the piagistrate
or magistrates by or before whom any such offender shall be
convicted, shall on demand be returned to the owner or
owners of the goods and effects so distrained ; and in case
sufficient distress or distresses shall not be found, or such
penalty or penalties and costs shall not be immediately paid,
then it shall be lawful for any such magistrate or magistrates,
and he and they is and are hereby respectively authorized,
empowered, and required, for the first offence, to commit
every such offender or offenders to such gaol or house of
con-ection as aforesaid, for any time not exceeding two
TWEED FISHERIES ACT. 293
months or less than one mouth ; for the second offence, any
time not exceeding four mouths nor less than two months ;
and for the third and every other offence, for any time not
exceeding six months nor less than three months, or until
such offender or offenders shall have paid such penalty or
penalties, forfeiture or forfeitures, and all costs and charges
attending such proceedings as aforesaid, to be ascertained by
such magistrate or magistrates, or shall otherwise be dis-
charged in due course of law,
52. And be it further enacted, that it shall be lawful for Appeal in
' Scotland.
any person or persons who shall think himself, herself, or
themselves aggrieved by any judgment of any sheriff or
Stewart depute or substitute, justice or justices of the peace
in Scotland, pronounced in any case arising under this act,
or by assessment made under this act in Scotland, in case
such judgment be pronounced by any sheriff or Stewart
depute or substitute, to appeal to the next circuit court of
justiciary, in the manner, and by and under the rules, limit-
ations, conditions, and restrictions contained in the act passed
in the twentieth year of the reign of King George II. for
taking away and abolishing the heritable jurisdictions in
Scotland; and in case such judgment shall be pronounced by
any one or more justice or justices of the peace in Scotland,
to appeal from the same to the next general, stated, or ad-
journed meeting of justices of the peace of the county in
which such justice or justices shall act, in quarter sessions
assembled, under this provision in both cases, that the
appellant or appellants shall, in place of finding caution in
the terms prescribed by the said act, be bound to find caution
to pay the penalty or penalties and expences awarded against
him, her, or them by the sentence or sentences appealed
from, in the event of the appeal or appeals being dismissed,
or to the extent to which the said sentence may be sustained,
together with any additional expences that shall be awarded
by the circuit court, or court of quarter sessions, on dis-
missing or deciding such appeal or appeals ; and it shall not
be competent to appeal from or bring the judgments of any
u 3
294
APPENDIX.
Damages and
charges, in
case of dis-
pute, to be
settled by
sheriffs and
justices.
Sheriffs and
justices may
proceed by
summonses
in the re-
covery of
penalties.
justice or justices, or sheriff, or Stewart depute or substitute,
acting under this act, under review by advocation or sus-
pension, or by reduction, or in any other way than as herein
provided.
53. And be it further enacted, that in all cases where by
this act any damages or charges are directed to be paid, and
the manner of ascertaining the amount thereof is not
specified or provided for, the amount of such damages and
charges, in case of nonpayment, or of any dispute respecting
the same, shall be settled, ascertained, and determined by the
sheriff, or Stewart depute or substitute, or by some justice or
justices of the peace acting for the county or place within
which the cause of such damage or charge shall have arisen ;
and in all cases where by this act any damages or charges
are directed or authorized to be paid or recovered, in ad-
dition to any penalty or penalties for any offence or offences,
the amount of such damages or charges, in case of dispute
respecting the same, shall be settled, ascertained, and de-
termined by the sheriff, or Stewart depute or substitute, or the
justice or justices of the peace by or before whom any
offender shall be convicted of any such offence or offences ;
and the sheriff, or stewart depute or substitute, or justice or
justices aforesaid respectively, is and are hereby authorized
and required, on nonpayment of the damages and charges in
any of the cases aforesaid, to levy such damages and charges
by distress and sale of the offender's goods, chattels, and
effects, in manner directed by this act for the levying of any
penalties or forfeitures.
54. And be it further enacted, that in all cases in which
by this act any penalty or forfeiture is imposed, or made re-
coverable by information before a sheriff, or stewart depute
or substitute, or justice or justices of the peace, it shall be
lawful for any sheriff, or stewart depute or substitute, or jus-
tice or justices of the peace to whom complaint shall be made
of any offence against this act, to summon the party com-
plained against before him or them, and on such summons to
hear and determine the matter of such complaint ; and on
TWEED FISHERIES ACT. 295
proof of the offence, by any of the ways herein specified, to
convict the offender, and to adjudge him to pay the penalty
or forfeiture incui'red, and to proceed to recover the same in
manner by this act directed or at common law, although no
infonnation in writing shall have been exhibited or taken by
or before such sheriff, or Stewart depute or substitute, justice
or justices, and all such proceedings by summons without in-
formation shall be as good, valid, and effectual to aU intents
and purposes, as if an information in wi'iting was or had
been exhibited,
55. And be it further enacted, that no action at law shall Limitation
' of actions in
be brought or commenced against any person or persons for England.
anything done or to be done by virtue or in execution of this
act, within that part of Great Britain called England, the
town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and the bounds and liberties
thereof, until one calendar month after notice thereof in
writing shall have been given to the person or persons against
whom such action shall be intended to be brought, or left at
his, her, or their last or usual place or places of abode, set-
ting forth the cause of such action, and containing the name
and place of abode of tlie plaintiff or plaintiffs, and also of his
or their attorney ; and that every action brought for any
thing done or to be done as aforesaid shall be brought within
the space of three calendai* months next after the cause of
action or complaint shall arise, and be laid and sued in the
county, shire, division, city, or place where the fact shall
have been committed, and not elsewhere ; and the defendant
or defendants therein may plead the general issue, and give
this act, and the special matter in evidence at any trial to be
had thereupon, and that the same was done by virtue thereof;
and also that it shall and may be lawful to and for such per-
son or persons, at any time before action brought, to tender
amends to the party complaining, or his or her agent or at-
torney ; and in case the same is not accepted, to plead such
tender in bar to the action, together with the plea of not
guilty, and any other plea with the leave of the court ; and
if on the trial of such action it shall appear that the same
was brought before the expiration of one calendar month next
296
APPENDIX.
after such notice shall have been so given or left as aforesaid,
or after the end of thi-ee months next after the cause thereof
shall have arisen, or if such action shall have been brought
or laid in any other county or place than as aforesaid, or
after sufficient tender or amends shall have been made to the
party or parties aggrieved, that then and in any of the cases
aforesaid, the jury shall find a verdict for and acquit the de-
fendant or defendants in such action, or if the plaintiiF or
plaintiffs shall discontinue the same, after the defendant or
defendants shall have appeared, or shall be non-suited ; and
if upon demurrer judgment shall be given against the plain-
tiff or plaintiffs, the defendant or defendants in such action
shall have double costs, and have the like remedies for re-
covering the same as defendants have for recovering their
costs in other cases at law ; and that no action, suit, inform-
ation, or other proceeding whatsoever shall be brought or
commenced against any person or persons for any offence
or offences against this act, unless the same shall be laid or
commenced within six calendar months next after any such
offence or offences shall have been committed.
56. And be it further enacted, that no action shall be
brought against any person or persons for any thing done or
to be done by virtue of or in the execution of this act within
that part of Great Britain called Scotland, unless such action
shall be commenced within the space of six calendar months
next after the cause of complaint shall have arisen ; and in
all such actions, the defender or defenders, if absolved or as-
soilzied from the action, shall have and be entitled to their
full costs of suit.
Persons 57. And be it further enacted, that where any offender
punished ' , •'
under this act shall be punished for any offence by virtue of this act, such
not to be ^ . "^ •' .
again prose- offender shall not again be prosecuted, nor incur any penalty
by virtue of any other law or statute now in force, or be
liable to any other punishment for the same offence.
Public act. 58. And be it further enacted, that this act shall be deemed
and taken to be a public act, and shall be judicially taken
notice of as such by all judges, justices, and others, without
being specially pleaded.
Limitations
of actions in
Scotland.
GROWTH OF THE SALMON. 297
ROYAL SOCIETY OF EDINBURGH.
January 9th, 1843. — The following communications were
read : —
1. " On the Growth of the Salmon," by Mi\ John Young,
Sutherlandshire.
Mr. Young has hei'e taken up the subject of the salmon's
growth where it was necessarily left off by Mr. Shaw. So far
as the earliest or fresh- water state of the fish is concerned, he
entirely agrees with the observer just named. He then states
the various opinions which prevail regarding the more or less
rapid growth of smolts and grilse, and shows, by tabular lists
(the result of frequently repeated experiments), that the in-
crease in their dimensions is extraordinary, so soon as they
descend into the salt water. So far back as the months of
April and May, 1837, he marked a number of descending
smolts, by making a peculiar perforation in the caudal fin by
means of small nipping-irons constructed for the purpose.
He recaptured a considerable number of them ascending the
rivers as grilse, in the course of the ensuing months of June
and July, weighing several pounds each, more or less, ac-
cording to the diiference in the length of their sojourn in the
sea. Again in April and May, 1842, he marked a number of
descending smolts, by clipping off the little adipose fin upon
the back. In June and July he caught several of them re-
turning up the river, and bearing his peculiar mark, the adi-
pose fin being absent. Two or three specimens were exhibited
to the Society. One marked in April, and re-captured on the
30th of July, weighed three and a 
