186 STURGEON-SPEARING. 
mences. With might and main the bowman 
plies the paddles, and the spearman pays 
out line, the canoe flying through the water. 
The slightest tangle, the least hitch, and over it 
‘goes; it becomes, in fact, a sheer trial of paddle 
versus fin. Twist and turn as the sturgeon may, 
all the canoes are with him: he flings himself out 
of the water, dashes through it, under it, and 
skims along the surface; but all is vain—the 
canoes and their dusky oarsmen follow all his 
efforts to escape as a cat follows a mouse. 
Gradually the sturgeon grows sulky and tired, 
obstinately floating on the surface. The savage 
knows he is not vanquished, but only biding a 
chance for revenge; so he shortens up the line, 
and gathers quietly on upon him, to get another 
spear in. It is done 
and down viciously dives 
the sturgeon ; but pain and weariness begin to 
tell, the struggles grow weaker and weaker, as 
life ebbs slowly away, until the mighty armour- 
plated monarch of the river yields himself a 
captive to the dusky native in his frail canoe. 
Tur CraM.—Amongst the edible shellfish 
found on the coasts of Vancouver Island and 
British Columbia, the Great Clam, as it is there 
styled (Lutraria maxima), or the Otter-shell of 
conchologists, is by far the most valuable. Clams 
