THE SALMON. 443 



marked approximately by lat. 40^°, but they maybe regarded as partially 

 acclimated, through the efforts of the Fish Commission, in the Delaware 

 and in the Susquehanna, which flows into the Atlantic in lat. 37 , and 

 individuals have even been taken in the Potomac and in North Carolina. 

 The Merrimac river was once full of these fish, and there are Salmon 

 streams in Maine, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, Canada, 

 and Labrador. They occur in all the tributaries of the St. Lawrence to 

 Niagara Falls, and probably are found in Hudson's Bay and on the arctic 

 coast of the continent. 



Wonderful things are said about their abundance in colonial days. 

 Every one has heard of the epicurean apprentices of Connecticut who 

 would eat Salmon no oftener than twice in the week. "The shad, bass, 

 and Salmon more than half support the province. From the number of 

 seines employed to catch the fish passing up the locks one might be led to 

 suppose that the whole must be stopped, yet in six months' time they 

 return to the sea with such multitudes of young ones as to fill the Connecti- 

 cut River for many days, and no finite being can number them." These 

 are the words of Peters in 1783, in his " History of Connecticut." 



Like many other good ones, this tale seems to be prehistoric, and was 

 doubtless told of some other fish in the. times when our Aryan ancestors 

 dwelt on the plains of Central Asia. You may find it in Fuller' s 

 " Worthies of England," where it has the archaic and indefinite flavor 

 which is so evident now, two centuries later. " Plenty of them in this 

 country," wrote Fuller, " though not in such abundance as in Scotland, 

 where servants (they say) indent with their masters not to be fed therewith 

 above twice a week." 



Day has pointed out, the frequent eating of Salmon, and especially of 

 kelts was thought conducive ^to leprosy which after the Crusades in the 

 Middle Ages, was a formidable disease in Europe. Capt. Franks writing 

 of Stirling in the time of Cromwell, remarked that "the burgomasters, as 

 in many parts of Scotland, are compelled to reinforce an ancient statute 

 that commands all masters, and others not to force or compel any servant or 

 apprentice to feed upon Salmon more than once a week."' 



Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Maine have many Salmon rivers; 

 New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Connecticut, a few very good ones. 

 The natural limit of the southward range of the Salmon appears to be in 

 lat. 41 °, near the Connecticut River, where they were once extremely 



