86 F1SUI>'GGE0UNDS OF KOllTH AMERICA. 



The sucker family (Catostomidcc) Iia-s but a single species so far as known, and that is 

 apparently identical with the long-nosed sucker of the Great Lakes and the Upper Mississipj)!. 

 This fish is abundant iu the Yukon and other large rivers in Northern Ahiska. It is of 

 moderately large size, reaching five pounds in weight. It is generally of a reddish color. The 

 body is so full of bones that it is unfit for food, but the heads, when boiled with the I'oe, make a 

 very palatable soup. These fish are filled with spawn in April, a period when other fish appear 

 to be out of season.' 



There is one lamprey known to us from Alaska, the Ammocates aureus of Bean. This one is 

 extremely abundant in the Yukon, according to Mr. L. M. Turner, and is used for food. Mi: 

 Turner's specimen was taken at Anvik (latitude 63 north, longitude ICO west from Greenwich). 



16. A REVIEW OF THE ALASKAN FISHING-GROUNDS BY DISTRICTS. 



1 have been thus explicit in naming the food-fishes of the Territory and tracing their 

 distribution, in order that their importance as a means of subsistence for the inhabitants may be 

 fully appreciated. All parts of the coast of Alaska are abundantly supplied with fish, and every 

 male native of suitable age is to be considered a fisherman — one who employs the best expedients 

 within his reach for the capture of fish, because his very life depends in great measure on that 

 supply. Even the women and children help to increase the store for winter, tugging away 

 bravelj' at great strings of salmon or other species caught in the seines by the men. Whenever 

 there is any pulling of this kind to do, you may see them skirting along the shore, half floating 

 the burden near the water's edge. The total number of fishermen estimated for Alaska in Ceusu.'^ 

 Bulletin No. 176 is fifty-six hundred and fifty, which is certainly not too high. According 

 to Petroflf's preliminary report on the population of that Territoiy, there are about thirty 

 thousand inhabitants, distributed as will be seen iu the following table: 



POPULATION OF ALASKA. 



[From Pctroff.] 



Southeastern Alaska 5, 517 



Estimate of Prince William Sound 500 



Kenai Mission or Cook's Inlet district 984 



Interior division ~, 226 



Kadiak Palish 2,t;0G 



Belkofsky Parish 669 



Unalashka Parish 1,392 



Bristol Bay division 4, 340 



Prihylov Islands 390 



Saint Lawrence Island (estimated) 400 



Xuuivak Island (estimated) 500 



Kuskoqnim division 3, G54 



Yukon d.dta 2,006 



Uphoon mouth to Anvik 1,345 



Coast of Norton Sound from Saint Michael's upward and as far as Sledge Island 633 



King's Island t,) Point Barrow 2,990 



30, 152 



Dai.i,, in Report of Conimissionor of Agriculture for 1870, p. 388. 



