84 FISHING-GEOUNDS OF NORTH AMERICA. 



the moutli of the Yukou about the middle of Juue, and runs for six weeks. It ascends the river 

 slowly, reaching Fort Derabin (about three hundred and sixty miles above the mouth of the river) 

 about the lirst week in July, and Fort Yukou (about one thousand miles above the mouth) about 

 the middle of July. It is dried for winter use by the natives. All dry fish is called nlatU by the 

 Russians. The chowichee iikali are made by cutting the fish in three slices after removing the 

 head, leaving the backbone in the middle slice, and aM three connected by the tail. Two or three 

 dry chowichee ukali will weigh at least fifty pounds. One of them is accounted sutEcieut for a 

 day's food for six men or dogs. They cost, ft'om the natives upon the Yukon, one leaf of tobacco 

 each, or, when dry, five to eight musket-balls per ukali. The more northern the ground where 

 the fish are taken, the finer their flavor, and the chowichee of the Yukon were held in such 

 esteem that several hogsheads were annually salted for the emperor's table by the Russians." 



It is now believed that the tamed "chowichee" and the "quiunat" salmon known to 

 fish-cnlturists and anglers are one and the same species. The maximum size of this '• king 

 salmon" is so great as to be almost incredible, and yet there is no doubt that individuals weighing 

 one hundred pounds have sometimes been taken. Mr. B. G. Mclntyre, at Saint Paul, Kodiak, 

 had one that was smoked by Capt. James Wilson at Fort Kenai in 1879, which weighed sixty-six 

 pounds in its cured state ; this must have weighed fully ninety pounds in the fresh condition. 

 Capt. H. R. Bowen states that he brought one down from Kassilov that weighed eighty-four 

 pounds after smoking, with head, fins, entrails, and half of the backbone removed, ^h: Thomas 

 Devine told me that a silver salmon five feet long was brought to Pirate Cove, Shumagius, in 1877; 

 this must have been 0. chouicJia. Rufus Bordukofsky claims that he has seen a chowichee 

 salmon seven feet long at Iliuliuk, Unalashka. This seems a little too long, but I mention it as 

 an additional confirmation of the enormous proportions reached by the species. I have been 

 informed by Capt. E. P. Herendeen and Capt. H. R. Bo\ven, both of whom have caught the "king 

 salmon," that they do not run in schools, but two or three together, keeping very close to the 

 banks, perhaps to escape from the beluga. Of Msutch and l-eta (hoikoh) Mr. Dall says : 



"These two species have the same range as the king salmon, and are dried for food in the 

 same way. They are, however, much more common, much smaller, and are held in less esteem. 

 They form the bulk of the better class of salmon in all the rivers of Alaska. They arrive later 

 than the king salmon, remain longer, and travel more rapidly. They reach Fort Derabin upon 

 the Yukon about the tenth of July, and Fort Yukon early in August. They weigh from ten 

 to thirty pounds, and dry, after cleaning and removing the backbone, to about two or three 

 pounds. They are more slender than the king salmon, and the males are furnished in the 

 breeding season with a formidable array of recurved teeth, so that the natives are accustomed 

 to knock them on the head with a club before attempting to remove them from the nets." 



I noticed that the Aleuts almost invariably broke the skull of salmon, which fhey cjirricd 

 in .bidarkas, near its junction with the vertebrae; this was done to kill them quickly and 

 prevent their struggling after being stowed away. The " redfish " (0. nerlca) and the " dog fish" 

 (0. gorhuscJia), Mr. Dall observes, " are principally valued for use as dog-feed. They are placed 

 in the order of their quality as articles of food. . . . They are . . . exceedingly connnon, 

 of small size, and iippcar later than the previously mentioned varieties. The redfish, as its name 

 denotes, is partly of the most brilliant scarlet, but its flesh is not so red as that of the king 

 salmon or the hoikoh (0. l-eta). They arrive in July and disappear late in August." This 

 estimate of the redfish agrees perfectly with the opinion of Captain Bowen, who thinks it is the 

 ' Dall, in Keport of Commissioner of Agriculture for 1870, pp. 362 and 383. 



