57 



larged and distorted during the breeding season, and the 

 flesh unpalatable. To the exaggerated size of the teeth at 

 this time is due the name dog-salmon. The average size of 

 the species is about 12 pounds, but individuals of 20 loounds 

 are not uncommon. Early in July the lish-drying frames 

 on the shores of Cook's Inlet are brilliant with the flesh of 

 the dog-salmon. The natives cut off the head, split the 

 flsh in halves, which remain attached at the tail, remove 

 the- backbone, and gash the sides at short intervals, to fa.cil- 

 itate the drying process. 



The fur-traders lay in a large stock of this dried salmon, 

 which is known as ukali. Many small streams of Alaska 

 never contain any other salmon than dog-salmon and 

 humpbacks, and for the very good reason that when these 

 fish begin to run in they occupy the whole of the water 

 and sometimes a narrow strip of the adjacent land besides. 



The silver-salmon (Plate VII, flg. 19), is not so highly 

 esteemed in northern Alaska as it is in the Puget Sound 

 region ; it is used to some extent for canning, but it is 

 far less important for this purpose than the red-salmon. 

 Its average weight is less than 15 pounds, and the maxi- 

 mum about 30 pounds. Running late in the fall, when the 

 fishing season is nearly closed, it is not much sought after 

 by the whites. The natives, however, dry it in large 

 quantities. 



The humpback (Plate YII, flg. 20), so called because of 

 the enormous hump developed on the back of the male during 

 the breeding season, is the most abundant salmon of Alaska, 

 and, doubtless, of the world. It has given rise to more tales 

 suspected of being flsh-stories than any other flsh in the 

 territory. One collector in the Norton Sound district, 

 speaking of its advent from the sea, remarked that " they 

 appear at the surface of the water like the pin-drops of an 

 AjDril shower." A gentleman who lived eight years at 

 Karluk informed me that about the 6th of July, and con- 



