3-008-794 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Freshwater fishes: angling in Scotland - salmon-leap on the River Allan, [Scotland], 1862. View of '...the active fish attempting to get into the upper waters in order to reach his spawning-ground...As many as eighty salmon have been captured in a pool while they were waiting to gain the upper water. Fish often kill themselves in their attempts to ascend, but we have seen them spring ten or twelve feet with great ease, and so gain the upper stream...There is a fine story told apropos of a salmon leap at the Fall of Kilmorac, on the Beauly, in Invernessshire. It is said that the Frasers of Lovat (lords of the manor) used to provide an immense boiler at these falls, and that the fish frequently leaped right into the cauldron, the water in which was kept up to the boiling point, so that visitors to the falls were enabled for luncheon to partake of salmon cooked to a nicety and served up in tents to the laird's guests, with, no doubt, a little Highland whisky to aid digestion'. From "Illustrated London News", 1862.