SALMON. 69 



by the sides of the stages are just the places for 

 idling and resting. This the crafty fisher turns to 

 good account, and skilfully catches the loiterer by 

 plunging his net into the pool at its head, and 

 letting the current sweep it down, thus hooping 

 salmon after salmon, with a certainty astounding 

 to a looker-on. Thirty salmon an hour is not an 

 unusual take for two skilled Indians to land on a 

 stage. As soon as one gets tired, another takes 

 his place, so that the nets are never idle during 

 the 'run.' 



The instant a fish reaches the stasre, a heavy 



o . J 



blow on the head stops its flapping ; boys and 

 girls are waiting to seize and carry it ashore, to 

 be split and cured a process I can better describe 

 when at the salmon-falls. As there is at the Cas- 

 cades simply hindrance to the salmon's ascent, of 

 course vast numbers escape the redskins' nets. 



Forty miles above this fishery is another ob- 

 struction, the Dalles; where the river forces its 

 way through a mass of basaltic rocks in nu- 

 merous channels, some of them appearing as if 

 hewn by human hands. Another portage has to 

 be made here, a neat little town having grown 

 up in consequence of the transhipment. The 

 journey from steamer to steamer is accomplished 

 in stages, the heavy goods being hauled by mule 



