46. FISH HARVESTING. 
I invariably found the remains of small fish 
and marine animals in its stomach; and in 
the estuaries and long inland canals that so 
strangely intersect the coast-line of British Co- 
lumbia, salmon are readily and easily caught 
with hook and line; clearly showing to my mind, 
that whilst in salt and brackish water the 
North-western spring-salmon feed and fatten, 
but, after quitting their ocean-haunts for the cold 
fresh-water, they starve, waste, and die, as a 
lamp goes out from sheer want of oil. Surely, 
where hundreds of salmon are split in a day, 
as at the Kettle -Falls, it is fair to assume 
that if they took any food, by chance a fish 
would be caught immediately after its meal, 
with enough evidence in the stomach to prove 
the fact of having broken its fast; but such 
proof is never discoverable. Digestion would 
scarcely be more rapid in the rivers than it is 
in the ocean and estuary, where we know they 
eat. Open a salmon and examine its stomach 
at any time, caught either in nets or with hook 
and line, and food in various stages of digestion 
will be invariably found. 
Another proof that they undergo a al and 
persistent lent is found in the rapid wasting of 
all the tissues that goes on during their sojourn 
