258 PEOCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



Company, at Fort Simpson, British Columbia; and from reports of Eev. 

 Mr. Duncan, of Metlakatla Mission, Britisli Columbia, made to the Church 

 Missionary Society, at London, and to Messrs. Langley & Co., Victoria, 

 to whom I am indebted for the copy of Professor Eedwood's report, 

 which I give entire. The description of the Eulachon by Sir John Eich- 

 ardson is, I believe, the earliest, and but little can be added to it. As I 

 have no copy of his works at hand I cannot give his description, 

 which I regret. 



JAMES G. SWAN. 

 Neah Bat. Clallam County, WasJi., January 31, 1880. 



This fish, known to scientists as the Thaleichthys pacificus, and also as 

 Osmerus pacificus, resembles the common smelt in size and general out- 

 ward appearance, and is found on Puget Sound occasionally with the 

 sand-smelt Hypomesus olidus. 



The Eulachon, however, differs from all other varieties of the smelt 

 family by having its entire body permeated with a peculiar fat, which, 

 on being extracted, is of the consistence and color of soft laitl, and is 

 used largely by the natives as an article of food. 



By a rectifying and deodorizing process, Messrs. Langley & Co., chem- 

 ists, of Victoria, British Columbia, have succeeded in preparing an oil 

 which appears to possess the remedial qualities of cod-liver oil in a re- 

 markable degree, and is more agreeable to both palate and stomach. 

 The quantity of this fatty substance is so considerable that when the 

 fish is dried it can be set on fire like a torch and will consume its whole 

 length like a candle, from which fact its common name of "Candle-fish" 

 is derived. This adipose matter when first extracted, even when fresh 

 caught, has a strong, disagreeable odor and a peculiar taste which is very 

 unpalatable to most white persons. The fresh fish, however, has no un- 

 pleasant smell about it. It has somewhat of the same cucumber odor as 

 the smelt, or rather an odor which resenibles that of the bruised leaves of 

 the wild syringa, Fhiladelplius L., which is a somewhat common shrub on 

 the shores of Puget Sound and other portions of the northwest coast. 

 When fried, like the smelt it is a most delicious pan-fish, or even when 

 simply boiled, as the natives usually cook it, or toasted on a stick before 

 the fire, it is most excellent and nutritious food. 



The Eulachon are found in limited numbers at certain seasons in the 

 Columbia Eiver, Shoal-water Bay, Gray's Harbor, and at the mouth of 

 the various small streams of the coast, and also in the waters of Puget 

 Sound, where they are taken in seines and nets with smelt and other 

 varieties of small fish, but they are thin and poor, and not to be com- 

 pared to the same varieties further north. Even those taken in Eraser's 

 Eiver, near the boundary line between Washington Territory and Brit- 

 ish Columbia, are superior to those taken further south, and are sold in 

 the Victoria market, where their excellence is highly prized. The few 

 seemed on Puget Sound are sold by the fishermen as smelts. The best 



