Will you have the kindness to say what was the amount offered? who were the parties who made themselves responsible for the payment? and what time did they give within which they would pay for a successful attempt?

I am the more anxious to have this information, because I have been applied to for advice by an exceedingly likely person, as the reward (L500) which he understood to be offered is to him so tempting a sum, that he would need very little encouragement to undertake the management of the experiment; and from what I know of him I will venture to assert that he will succeed, if success be practicable.

But before I speak confidently of success, I would like a little more information, and will thank any of your readers who are able to do so, to give me replies to the following questions:—­

Are there any Salmon in the rivers of Spain, or in France, south of the Loire, or even in that river?  If not, why not?

Are there any Salmon in North America, in any river (not a tributary of the St. Lawrence), south of that river?  If there are, what rivers in the States contain Salmon.

Do any of the rivers on the west coast of America below the latitude of 40 degrees N. contain Salmon?

Do any of the rivers of China (not Chinese Tartary) contain Salmon?

If I am right in supposing that the rivers I have pointed out have no Salmon in them, is it not exceedingly probable that the high temperature of these southern countries is unsuited to the habits and uncongenial to the health of these fish?  Or how is it when they are on the same seaboard further north, they don’t ascend these rivers, unless there are some such objections to their doing so?  And if these objections really exist, then do they not equally exist in the rivers of Australia and Tasmania?

But there may be other objections equally fatal:  there may be fish in their rivers as voracious and destructive as our Pike; there may be Sharks and other fish in their seas and estuaries, which would snap up every Salmon that entered them.  There may be Seals, Porpoises, Albatrosses, Man-of-War birds, and Cormorants, as well as fifty other nameless enemies, all combining their efforts to defeat so desirable a consummation; and, after all, there may be no one willing to make himself responsible for a repayment of the necessary expenses, for corporations and public bodies are proverbially untrustworthy.

Yet, notwithstanding all these doubts of success, I think the experiment ought to be made; for its success would confer so great a boon on the colony in which it was made, that they (the colonists) ought to incur considerable risk and outlay for the chance of success, however small.  I don’t think there will be much difficulty in carrying fertilized ova there, but when hatched I fear they would not thrive.