SALMON. 59 



tins hump well developed. On cutting it open, 

 it appears to be a sort of cellular membrane, 

 filled with an oily, semifluid kind of material. 

 The use of this deposit, there can be no doubt, 

 is to supply the male with this material in 

 some mysterious way during the spawning- 

 time, for, after that period has passed, the hump 

 entirely disappears. They arrive about the same 

 time as the older fish, but only in very large 

 runs every second year have the same range, 

 and die in thousands. 



At Fort Hope, on the Fraser river, in the 

 month of September, I was going trout-fishing 

 in a beautiful stream, the Qua-que-alla, that 

 comes thundering and dancing down the Cas- 

 cade Mountains, cold and clear as crystal; 

 these salmon were then toiling up in thousands, 

 and were so thick in the ford that I had 

 great trouble to ride my horse through; the 

 salmon were in such numbers about his legs as to 

 impede his progress, and frightened him so, that 

 he plunged viciously and very nearly had me off. 

 They are never at any time good eating; the 

 flesh, in fresh-run fish, is white, soft, and taste- 

 less. The Indians only eat them when they are 

 unable to obtain anything else. These salmon 

 work up to the very heads of the tributaries, and 



