348 Reminiscences of 



male salmon largely exceed the female, the latter 

 but little exceeding one quarter of the whole. This 

 is rather singular, considering that at the canning 

 works the sexes are about equal. 



I heard accounts of large salmon at Carmelo 

 Bay, twenty miles south of Monterey, a place not 

 much frequented, being without boats and conven- 

 ient railroad facilities for shipping, and therefore 

 not desirable with the fishermen, on account of 

 its distance away. At this bay is the outlet of 

 the Carmelo River, a mountain stream which I 

 have before mentioned as a resort for the steel-head 

 trout, so plentiful at certain seasons. But one from 

 the bay view would hardly suspect the existence 

 of the river beyond the half-mile of beach through 

 which it cuts its way in large volume during the 

 annual winter rains, but now in the salmon season 

 the mouth is effectually sealed up by the banked- 

 up sand, through which but a moderate amount 

 of water slowly seeps. The bay is small, being about 

 two miles in width, while the water is very clear and 

 deep. The region is quite deserted excepting for 

 a very few Chinese huts and adobes. Prominent, 

 however, is the old Carmelo church some dis- 

 tance inland, built many years ago by the Jesuit 

 padres but fairly well preserved, where services 

 are occasionally held for the benefit of the few 

 remaining inhabitants, representing a mixture of 

 Mexicans and Indians scattered about the re- 

 gion. 



I had my boat and two men go down there in ad- 

 vance, and by rising at the early hour of three o'clock 

 at the Del Monte hotel could drive down there in 



