24 FISHING WITH THE FLY. 



" dog salmon," and a more hideous object than one of 

 them as found swimming listlessly or dying in one of 

 the pools, it is hard to conceive of. I find this note of 

 description : "Aug. 26th. — In a shallow pool I saw a 

 fish some two feet long, feebly struggling as though 

 he were trying to push himself ashore. I picked him 

 up and laid him on the grass. A sicker fish never con- 

 tinued to wag his tail ; his skin was yellow, picked out 

 with green and blue spots, from an inch to three in 

 diameter ; and one on his side was about an inch wide 

 and six inches long, bleeding and raw as though gnawed 

 by mice. One eye was gone, one gill coyer eaten 

 through, and every fin and the tail were but ragged 

 bristles, all web between the rays having disap- 

 peared." 



The first run of the salmon is well worth description. 

 About the middle of May, varying from year to year 

 by a few clays only, the inhabitants of dull, sleepy old 

 Sitka experience a sensation, and are aroused from the 

 lethargy in which they have existed through the long 

 winter. The word spreads like wildfire, the salmon 

 are coming ! Everybody rushes to the heights which 

 furnish prospect, and strain their eyes for confirma- 

 tion. 



One of our sailors, musically inclined, paraphrased 

 very neatly the old song, " Tfie Campbells are Coming! 

 huzza I huzza ! " and achieved fame by portraying the 

 emotions nightly under the lee of the forecastle. 



So good an outlook has been kept by the keen-eyed 



