MASCALLONGE. 165 
• 
some fish have on their sides dark spots on a light grey- 
ish ground. 
The name of this fish is derived from Masque allonge y 
long snont, which is a translation from the Canadian 
Indian dialect, of Masca-nonga, words which have the 
same signification ; and from corruptions of these two 
designations arise our numerous names. I took great 
pains to ascertain precisely how the Canadian boatmen, 
who are a cross of the Indian and Frenchman, pro- 
nounced this name, although, in their French patois, he 
is ordinarily called Brochat, and the best my ears could 
make of it was Mae- or Micscallung, the latter syllable 
being guttural. But as the most sonorous, expressive 
and appropriate name is Mascallonge, it is desirable that 
all sportsmen should employ it. 
There is a dispute as to the size and weight that these 
fish attain, and while some writers claim for them a fabu- 
lous size, others entirely underrate them. Mr. S. D. Johns- 
ton, the proprietor of the Walton House, at Clayton, a son 
of Mr. Johnston, who was a prominent man in the Cana- 
dian rebellion, and for many years forced to hide among 
the Thousand Isles and live by his hook and spear, said 
that the largest fish he ever saw was taken by his father, 
who, in one night, speared two Mascallonge weighing 
respectively sixty-three and forty-two pounds. There is 
plenty of authority to prove that there was taken near 
Clayton, in the year 1859, a mascallonge that measured 
^YQ feet seven inches in length, and weighed fifty-one and 
three-quarter pounds, that it was poor and thin, and in 
good condition would probably have weighed over sixty 
pounds. One fisherman caught in a single year twelve 
