186 STURGEON-SPEARING. 



mences. With might and main the bowman 

 plies the paddles, and the spearman pays 

 out line, the canoe flying through the water. 

 The slightest tangle, the least hitch, and over it 

 goes; it becomes, in fact, a sheer trial of paddle 

 versus fin. Twist and turn as the sturgeon may, 

 all the canoes are with him : he flings himself out 

 of the water, dashes through it, under it, and 

 skims along the surface; but all is vain the 

 canoes and their dusky oarsmen follow all his 

 efforts to escape as a cat follows a mouse. 



Gradually the sturgeon grows sulky and tired, 

 obstinately floating on the surface. The savage 

 knows he is not vanquished, but only biding a 

 chance for revenge ; so he shortens up the line, 

 and gathers quietly on upon him, to get another 

 spear in. It is done and down viciously dives 

 the sturgeon ; but pain and weariness begin to 

 tell, the struggles grow weaker and weaker, as 

 life ebbs slowly away, until the mighty armour- 

 plated monarch of the river yields himself a 

 captive to the dusky native in his frail canoe. 



THE CLAM. Amongst the edible shellfish 

 found on the coasts of Vancouver Island and 

 British Columbia, the Great Clam, as it is there 

 styled (Lutraria maxima), or the Otter-shell of 

 conchologists, is by far the most valuable. Clams 



