FLATFISH. 137 



green are so mingled, that the only thing I can 

 think of as a comparison is a floating flower-bed, 

 and even then the gardener's art, in grouping, is 

 but a bungle contrasted with Nature's painting ! 



There are three species of chirus common 

 along the island and mainland coasts. The one 

 usually sold is Chirus liexagrammus (Cuv., Regne 

 An., ' Poiss.,' pi. 83), the Six-lined Chirus. Sp. 

 Cli.i A skinny tentacle over each orbit; palatine 

 teeth none; two muciferous channels, between 

 the lateral line and dorsal fin; scales ciliated. 



FLATFISH. In all the muddy estuaries and 

 on the sandy flats about Puget's Sound, at the 

 mouths of the Columbia and Eraser rivers, several 

 species of flatfish are found in great abundance. 

 These fish have always formed an important 

 article of food to all the sea-fishing Indians, and, 

 since the influx of white settlers, are caught 

 for the supply of the Victoria and San Francisco 

 markets. 



Only the larger species are taken with hook 

 and line, the smaller flounders being usually 

 speared by the Indians. And a pleasant sight 

 it is, too, to watch a little fleet of canoes, each 

 one slowly paddled by a dusky squaw gliding 

 along the sandy shallows, the spearman in the 

 bow ' prodding ' for the fish hidden in the mud 



