THE LAW IN THE CASE 351 



in British Columbia and the United States as 'chinook' 

 salmon are used. These are the largest and choicest 

 of the Pacific coast salmon, but they are destroyed as un- 

 thinkingly as any of the others. At other salteries the 

 varieties known as humpback and cohoe also furnish 

 bellies for salting. 



This practice may fairly be compared with the old time 

 method of killing buffalo for their tongues alone, and the 

 more recent one of killing elk and deer for their hides or 

 heads or hams. It should be stopped; but even if for- 

 bidden by law there is no hope that in the present condi- 

 tion of governmental affairs in Alaska the law would be 

 other than a dead letter. When if ever matters in 

 Alaska shall have become so settled that the taking of 

 salmon shall be under governmental supervision the salt- 

 ing of salmon bellies, like many other abuses existing 

 there, will be put an end to. 



By the law passed June 9, 1896, now in force, entitled 

 " An act to amend an act entitled * An act to provide for 

 the protection of salmon fisheries of Alaska,' ' it is specifi- 

 cally provided: 



1. That streams shall not be dammed or barricaded nor 

 traps used on them to prevent or impede the ascent of the 

 salmon to their spawning grounds, and that the Secretary 

 of the Treasury shall establish and enforce such regula- 

 tions as may be necessary to insure compliance with the 

 provisions of the law relating to salmon fisheries of Alaska. 



2. That salmon shall not be taken except with rod or 

 spear above the tide water of any stream less than 500 

 feet in width except for purposes of propagation; that nets 

 and traps may not be laid or set for a distance of more 

 than one-third the width of such rivers nor within TOO 

 yards of any other net or seine in said rivers; that no fish 

 may be killed, except in Cook Inlet and Prince William 

 Sound, between midnight on Friday and 6 o'clock in the 



