194 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



with the Modoc ludiaus, agaiust whom a war of extermiiiatiou is now going 

 on, just north of the Mc Cloud river, will never be adopted with the 

 McCloud Kiver tribe. It would be an inhuman outrage to drive this 

 superior and inoffensive race from their river, and I believe that the best 

 policy to use with them is to let them be where they are, and if neces- 

 sary, to protect them from the encroachments of the white men. 



L. — Diseases. 



Question 08. Has any epidemic, or other disease, ever been noticed 

 among them, such as to cause their sickness or death in greater or less 

 number ? 



Answer. No particular epidemic or disease has been observed, that I 

 am aware of, among the Sacramento salmon. The breeding-salmon in 

 the upper tributaries all die after spawning, but this is to be attributed 

 to their great emaciation and exhaustion, consequent upon having been, 

 so long away from salt water, and not to disease, properly so called. 



Question G9. When have these epideinics taken place, and to what 

 causes have they been assigned ! 



Answer. See Question G8. 



M.— rARASITES. 



Question 70. Are crabs, worms, lampreys, or other living animals 

 found attached to the outside, or on the gills of these fish '? 



Answer. A worm-like parasite attacks the salmon in fresh water, and 

 gathers in vast multitudes in theii" gills toward the close of the spawn- 

 ing-season. They also fasten on their fins to some extent. I have not 

 noticed other parasites on the salmon. 



if. — Capture. 



Question 71. How is this fish caught ; if with a hook, what are the 

 different kinds of bait used, and which are preferred ? 



Answer. The Sacramento salmon is caught with nets, spears, Indian 

 traps, and with the hook. In the smaller tributaries of the main river, 

 as at Tehama, they are killed with shovels, pitch-forks, clubs, and every 

 available weapon. In the upper tributaries, as the McCloud, the Indians 

 catch them in traps, arranged to capture the fish going down the river 

 exhausted, but not those ascendingthe river. At the sources of the river, 

 near Mount Shasta, they are caught by legitimate angling with a hook. 

 Salmon roe is almost exclusively used for bait. Some have been taken 

 with the artificial fly. 



Question 72. If in nets, in what kind ? 



Answer. The salmon-fishing at the great fisheries in the main river 

 is done wholly with drift-nets. These are gill-nets, which, when stretched 

 across the river, are drawn or drifted up or down 2cith the tide. The 

 salmon are caught, of course, by the gills in the meshes of the net. 



