ADAMS ON THE LAKE TROUTS. 361 



migratory lake troats in general, it passes much of its existence in the 

 profoundest depths, as is shown by the frequent use of a thirty-fathom 

 line in fishing for Togue through the ice. It repairs to shallows to feed 

 on fronts, smelts, and the like ; indeed, the last-named fish would appear 

 to constitute its favorite winter-subsistence, inasmuch as out of several 

 individuals dissected by me in midwinter, and from different lakes, all 

 contained smelts. It preys extensively also on eels and cypriuids, and 

 is in fact a tyrant with an appetite so voracious, that quantities of twigs, 

 leaves, and fragments of wood are constantly found in its stomach. 

 The great monster will sometimes rise to spinning tackle, but in so 

 sluggish and undemonstrative a manner, that the troller may fancy he 

 has caught a water-logged pine or stone. In this way I had my line 

 checked on the Schoodic Lake, when, striking gently, I found I had 

 missed a large Togue, whose trenchant teeth had made a series of deep 

 furrows in the chub with which the hook was baited. It is rare for this 

 fish to rise to spinning tackle, and the Indian who steered the?' canoe 

 assured us that he had not seen the like before. No doubt the flashing 

 of the blades attracted the monster, to find the chub on the hook. It 

 is naturally sluggish and inert, and apparently much of a bottom-feeder. 

 As we glided along the shore of one of the islets, composed more or 

 less of granitic bowlders, our atteution w^as directed by the guide to a 

 large black object on the bottom, among a mass of stones. This he 

 asserted was a monster Togue, which, if such was the case, must have 

 exceeded three feet in length ; moreover, he showed us two notches on 

 the side of his canoe, representing the dimensions of an enormous indi- 

 vidual, which an Indian had speared in the same waters during the 

 spawning-season, the admeasurement being no less than four feet five 

 inches. 



The average weight of the Togue is seemingly about nine pounds, 

 but this may not be altogether correct. I have seen individuals weigh- 

 ing fifteen pounds, and fishermen and Indians speak of having captured 

 Togues from twenty-five pounds to thirty pounds, and even forty pounds 

 in weight. Probably the largest seldom leave the deep bottoms of the 

 great lakes. A noble specimen of this uncouth-looking denizen of 

 these forest-shaded lochs is now before me. If ever bull-trout deserved 

 the name, those j)rominent eyes, huge muscular jaws, broad back, deep 

 sides, with the force of the frame centered in front, might well win that 

 appellation for the Togue, The Indian indulges his love of the marvel- 

 ous when talking of him ; and although often impromptu stories are 

 got up to amuse and impress you with the learning and knowledge of 

 the speaker, still, even in the absence of unwritten history, one may 

 detect figments of their wild legends and mythology strangely mingled 

 even with the traditions of their earliest Christian instructors, of 

 monster Togues and Sturgeons that appeared on the surface of the 

 lakes at night, striking such terror among the tribe that they were forced 

 to abandon their hunting-grounds ; indeed, such, with the pigmy fairies, 



