50 FISH HARVESTING. 



salmon after leaving the egg, is a query more 

 easily asked than answered. There are no snug 

 breeding-ponds, no cosy little aquariums or 

 water-nurseries, where the baby-salmon may be 

 watched and carefully tended until, honoured 

 with a badge, it is sent away to travel through 

 pelagic meadows, deep-sea forests, and. ocean 

 gardens, where, growing rapidly, bigger if not 

 wiser, it returns to tell how long it has been 

 away, and how rapidly it has grown. As- 

 sistance such as this falls not to the lot of the 

 hunter-naturalist, who with prying eye peers, 

 searches, and grubs about on the banks and into 

 the depths of the lakes and mountain-torrents, 

 in this far-Avestern wilderness. Had he the 

 eyes of Argus, he could only register a few 

 hasty observations, and generalise on their value : 

 he has no opportunities for investigations, such 

 as they have, who at home can watch the egg in 

 their very parlours, gradually shaping itself into 

 the quaint little salmon; see it come from out 

 the egg-case with its haversack of provender, 

 wonderfully provided to supply its wants, until 

 able to live by its own teeth and industry ; track 

 its growth and habits through its youthful days ; 

 then, marking it with a leaden medal, send it off 

 to sea, to welcome it back after its wanderings a 

 lull -grown salmon. 



