v 
258 PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 
Company, at Fort Simpson, British Columbia; and from reports of Rev. 
Mr. Dunean, of Metlakatla Mission, British 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 Redwood’s report, 
which I give entire. The description of the Eulachon by Sir John Rich- 
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 Bay, Clallam County, Wash., 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 lard, 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 resembles that of the bruised leaves of 
the wild syringa, Philadelphus 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 River, 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 Fraser’s 
River, 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 
secured on Puget Scund are sold by the fishermen as smelts. The best 
