Salmon Migrations in Medieval Ireland
"In these two places of refuge, birds and wild animals have so long enjoyed tranquility, and become almost tame, that they do not flee from the footsteps of man. On…
From: 1188 C.E. To: 1188 C.E.
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From The Topography of Ireland by Giraldus Cambrensis, c. 1188, translated by Thomas Wright.
Chapter XL: Of the places of refuge miraculously protected by the saints.
In these two places of refuge, birds and wild animals have so long enjoyed tranquility, and become almost tame, that they do not flee from the footsteps of man. On the other side of this tract of land, there flows a river which is full of fish, and especially of salmon, in marvellous abundance. This great supply of fish was granted for the sake of supplying, in the cause of charity, sufficient means for that unwearied hospitality which the saints were in the custom of exhibiting in this place, to the utmost of their power, and beyond it, towards pilgrims and strangers.
And lest this very abundance should provoke the covetous minds of men, tempted by avarice, which is so common, to turn it to gain, a remedy was divinely provided, as in the case of the manna; for the fish can never be kept to be eatable after the first night they are taken. Even if salted, they are always liable to become putrid, and are insipid and tasteless; and if by any means they are reserved for the morrow, they can neither be eaten or used.
Chapter XLI: Of the salmon-leap.
Moreover, this river flows through and over a great rock, and falls with great force, as usual in such cases, from the top to the bottom. On the summit of the rock is a small cavity, hollowed out in old times by holy men, into which the salmons leap in great numbers from below, so the distance of the length of a full-sized spear, in a manner so wonderful that it might be thought miraculous, unless such were the habits of the fish; for this species has the natural instinct to take such leaps. Here the place derives its name of the salmon-leap.
Chapter XLII: How the salmon leap.
Their peculiar mode of leaping is as follows. Fishes of this sort naturally struggle against the stream; for as birds fly against the wind, so fishes swim up the current. Upon meeting, however, with any very precipitous obstacle, they bend their tails backwards towards their mouths, and sometimes, in order to gain more power for their leap, firmly compress their tails in their mouths. Then suddenly releasing themselves from the sort of circle just formed, with a particular jerk, like the sudden reaction of a bent rod, they spring from the bottom to the top of the leap, to the great astonishment of the beholders. There is a similar leap in the river Liffy, not far from Dublin, but it is not so great. A third of these salmon-leaps is to be seen in the river Teivy in South Wales, and it is the highest of the three.
Giraldus Cambrensis and Thomas Wright, The Historical Works of Giraldus Cambrensis: Containing the Topography of Ireland, and the History of the Conquest of Ireland (London: H.G. Bohn, 1863), 100-102.
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