THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION. 287 



I 



mouths of rivers and brooks. • They frequent particular shores and 

 shoals in June, but whether for spawning or some other purpose, I 

 have been unable to learn ; they are there taken with seines in great 

 quantities. Suckers are sometimes taken for manure alone. 



Perch. — Perch abound in all the waters of this region, except mere 

 brooks, and are in constant use fresh, but are never preserved in any 

 way. I find no man who has observed their habits in any respect. 

 They are taken with hooks and spears with so much facility, that 

 children hook them with pins, and spear them with sharpened rods. 



Bass. — Bass, of two or three varieties, are found in one of the lakes 

 within this island ; I presume they abound in others. No notice has 

 been taken of their habits, and I can get no information concernino- 

 them from those who fish for them every 3'ear. They are taken both 

 winter and summer. 



Ling or Lawyers (Lota). — These are a valueless fish, taken in 

 small numbers. They will live twenty-four hours out of water. No 

 amount of boihng will make the flesh tender. If exposed it will not 

 rot, but only dries up like an oxhide. The Indians eat the livers only. 



SuNFiSH (Pomotis). — Sunfish abound in all the small lakes. Nothing 

 is noted of them. I cannot get even an intelligent description of them, 

 though they are frequently caught for food. 



General remarks. — Trout subsist on all kinds of fish. They 

 are a voracious fish of prey, seizing and devouring, so far as we 

 can learn, every other kind, even their own. Herring are their con- 

 stant prey. Whitefish of two pounds weight have been found within 

 the belly of the trout. Small trout are sometimes found in them. 

 Whitefish in gill-nets are gnawed and torn by them, and in this opera- 

 tion the largest trout are fi^equently themselves tangled in the meshes 

 of the nets and taken. It is supposed they seek the spawn of other 

 kinds of fish, and that the whitefish seek rocky shores to avoid them ; 

 and in support of this theory it is alleged, among other things, that 

 when the whitefish are spawning nets set a little further out catch 

 trout. Possibly, however, this may arise from the habit of the trout 

 of spawning in a little deeper water. 



Whitefish subsist on a kind of worm of the same structure as the 

 leech. Probably it may be a leech, but white and semi-translucent 

 for want of red blood,to prey upon. Also upon the seed of a kind of 

 seaweed, or submarine moss, which exists in great abundance in all the 

 deep waters of this region. On inquiry of a dozen intelhgent fishermen 

 I can hear of but one instance of a whitefish being found with fish in 

 his belly. 



Throughout the fishing region there are vast submarine meadows, 

 rising almost to the dignity of forests. Probably most of the fish sub- 

 sist on this growth, and a few only by prey. If this is the case, the 

 supply of fish will ever be regulated by the productiveness of these 

 fish-meadows ; for so numerous ai-e the spawn, that no conceivable 

 amount of catching can sensibly diminish the stock offish. The usual 

 spawn of a female is between fifty and one hundred thousand. 



Whitefish are only found in very pure water. In channels of the 

 greatest depth, where steamboats are constantly passing and occasion- 

 ally throwing over ashes and litter, the whitefish disappear. 



