SALMON. 63 



off, quietly watching it. These small bays, or 

 saltwater aquariums, are the lurking-places and 

 strongholds for shoals of anchovies and herrings. 



o O 



Often tempted to wander and make excursions 

 beyond the gateway of their rocky home, they 

 are at once spied by predatory piratical salmon ; 

 seeking safety in flight, they dash headlong for 

 their hiding-place, hotly pursued by their 

 dreaded foe, and shooting easily through the 

 cordy snare, laugh to see Master Salmon 'run 

 his head into the net;' bob-bob go the floats 

 beneath the surface, up paddles redskin, hauls 

 up his net, clutches the silvery pirate, and with 

 a short heavy club gives him a blow on the 

 head, drops him into the canoe, lets go his net, 

 and waits for the next. 



With this kind of net immense numbers of 

 spring and Ml salmon are taken. All their nets 

 are made of cord, spun from native hemp, that 

 grows abundantly along the banks of the Eraser 

 and other streams. Squaws gather the plant 

 about a week before the flowering- time ; first 

 soak, then beat it into fibre ; this, arranged in 

 regular lengths, is handed to the Indian, who, 

 seated on the ground, twists the bundles of 

 tiffled hemp into cord a cord as regular and 

 symmetrical as the handiwork of a practised 



