THE PACIFIC SALMON. 59 



four inches from the end a hole is bored to receive a string. 

 The other end of the string is securely fastened to the socket 

 on the hook. The string is about a foot long. 



When an Indian goes fishing with one of these hooks, he 

 rolls up his trousers, if he be the proud possessor of a pair, 

 and, wading into the stream, watches closely until he sees a 

 Salmon, when, placing the hook over the lish, he draws it 

 sharply toward him. If he strike the Salmon, the handle 

 draws out from the socket, and this prevents the handle from 

 being broken by the struggles of the iish. He then wades 

 ashore, kills the Salmon, extracts his hook, fits it on the 

 handle, and is ready for another assault on the innocents. 



The Salmon enter the Frazer River in the following order: 

 The Tyee in June, the Saw-qui soon after, the Kisutch in 

 August, the Keta in September or October. 



It is not necessary to discuss at greater length the schools 

 of these fishes that fill the streams from June to December. 

 Vast they are in numbers beyond human conception. To 

 attempt to describe the migration of the finny multitude 

 would be doing something that some men have attempted, 

 and have been ridiculed for their pains. I will therefore pro- 

 ceed with a description of how, on one occasion, we procured 

 Salmon for the "potlatch" of Skool, and will then treat of the 

 methods of trolling for the Salmon which are in vogue on the 

 Pacific Coast. 



Potlatch is a word that I presume cannot be found in other 

 than a Chinook dictionary. The literal meaning of the term 

 is "to give." Used in the Siwash sense, it means a great 

 gathering of people, to whom some rich Siwash donates every- 

 thing he possesses. 



Certainly this wouldn't be a bad plan for Vanderbilt, Jay 

 Gould, and other money magnates to adopt. Besides, to be a 

 guest at such a potlatch as these gentlemen could give would 

 be an agreeable experience for a man whose bank account can- 

 not be seen without a powerful magnifying glass. The giver of 



