40 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



pregDated with the salt, and then finally closed. The barrels generally 

 used are 16 inches high and 9£ inches in diameter. Every barrel contains 

 usually from 70 to 100 herring of St. John, or from 200 to 250 of St. 

 George, and its weight varies between 34 and 42 pounds. To every bar- 

 rel the fishermen take 4 pounds of salt in the spring, and G pounds in 

 the autumn. The largest barrels, containing from 150 to 400 herring, 

 are one " arsheen" (2 feet 4 inches) high, and half an " arsheen" (1 foot 

 2 inches) in diameter. At Archangel, the price of such a barrel varies 

 from 30 to 50 " kopecks," (21 to 35 cents.) For salting, Spanish or Arch- 

 angel salt is used. 



The herring are smoked in some villages of the district of Kem, at 

 Saroka, at Jisma, and at Saukho'i Navoloki, where there are 80 smoke- 

 houses. The village of Ouua, in the district of Onega, has 4 smoke- 

 houses. They are simple sheds covered by a slanting roof, with small 

 apertures to let the smoke pass out. Parallel to the walls, fifteen or 

 more poles are placed at a distance of 1£ " arsheens " (3 feet 6 inches) 

 from each other, supporting other poles, which are placed across the 

 former. On these poles small laths are placed, pointed at the end, and 

 on which the herring are spitted, after having been washed and salted. 

 After eight or nine days, the herring are thoroughly smoked. The whole 

 process usually takes twelve days. The smoked herring cost 90 

 "kopecks" (63 cents) a thousand, and sometimes even 1 "rouble" 25 

 "kopecks," (about 87 cents.) Not less than ten millions of herring are 

 smoked every year. 



2. — THE SALMON. 



They distinguish three kinds of salmon according to the time when 

 they show themselves in the rivers. The first makes its appearance im- 

 mediately after the breaking of the ice, toward the end of May or the 

 beginning of June. Its roe is almost matured. The salmon of this kind 

 is of medium size, and weighs about seven pounds. The second kind 

 appears toward the end of June and during July ; it is small, and weighs 

 only three pounds. At this time, male fish are found with the milt 

 almost matured. The third kind begins to ascend the rivers in August, 

 and stays there till the water is covered with a slight coating of ice. 

 Among them are found males as well as females ; but milt and roe are 

 so little developed that this salmon cannot spawn that same autumn. 

 This kind is the largest and fattest; some caught in the Dwina and 

 Onega weighing twenty pounds. The first two kinds named enter the 

 rivers to spawn during the autumn of the same year. After having 

 spawned, they spend the winter in the rivers, returning to the sea in 

 the spring. In the Petshora, the Mezene, the Dwina, the Onega, and the 

 Varzoukha, the salmon is caught in enormous quantities. 



Implements for salmon- fishing. — The bars, which extend over the 

 entire breadth of the river or over a portion of the stream, consist of 

 stakes firmly driven in the ground, to which poles are attached support- 



