SALMON. 59 
this hump well developed. On cutting it open, 
it appears to be a sort of cellular membrane, 
filled with an oily, semifluid kind of material. 
The use of this deposit, there can be no doubt, 
is to supply the male with this material in 
some mysterious way during the spawning- 
time, for, after that period has passed, the hump 
entirely disappears. They arrive about the same 
time as the older fish, but only in very large 
runs every second year—have the same range, 
and die in thousands. 
At Fort Hope, on the Fraser river, in the 
month of September, I was going trout-fishing 
in a beautiful stream, the Qua-que-alla, that 
comes thundering and dancing down the Cas- 
cade Mountains, cold and clear as crystal; 
these salmon were then toiling up in thousands, 
and were so thick in the ford that I had 
ereat trouble to ride my horse through; the 
salmon were in such numbers about his legs as to 
impede his progress, and frightened him so, that 
he plunged viciously and very nearly had me off. 
They are never at any time good eating; the 
flesh, in fresh-run fish, is white, soft, and taste- 
less. The Indians only eat them when they are 
unable to obtain anything else. These salmon 
work up to the very heads of the tributaries, and 
