A Sportsman 297 



the salmon constantly deteriorates in quality, strength, 

 color and form, as it receives no nourishment from 

 food whatever, and the occasional incidents of its taking 

 spawn, or a baited hook, have no bearing on its status. 



As they get on, their silvery hues, so conspicuous 

 in the sea, fade away, and their flesh likewise loses 

 its bright pink color, and its blood pales steadily, and 

 those which reach the higher waters arrive in such a 

 wretched condition that it may be doubted if many of 

 them are fitted for the last act in the drama of the 

 salmon, of emitting the spawn of reproduction. 



I have personally witnessed the condition and 

 situation of these worn-out salmon, stranded in the 

 upper waters of the San Joaquin River, stagnant with 

 the decay of dead fish, where those surviving, mutilated 

 from bruises, with worn fins and tails, and half blind, 

 were listlessly swimming about in hopeless search 

 for outlet. The banks of the pools were in places 

 white with salmon bones and skins left by devouring 

 animals, which had no difficulty in securing their prey, 

 and attested by well-worn paths along the shores. 

 Even the Indians spear such fish for food, patched 

 with white fungus, and emaciated to the last degree. 

 Salmon in this condition are in such a contrast with 

 fresh runs that one can hardly recognize them. The 

 jaws of the males grow longer and hooked at the ends, 

 the back becomes humpy, and the scales disappear, 

 and the belly shrinks away and becomes dark in color, 

 and the stomach, so long disused, will be found 

 shrunken away to the size of a man's thumb. It 

 would not be possible for salmon in this condition 

 under the most favorable situation to ever reach a 

 state equal to the original. Salmon only partially 



