292 How to obtain it. 



fish come up from the sea at a certain time of year 



The length of their stay at the river mouths before ascending, and 

 the rate of ascent to the spawning grounds depends upon the 

 urgency of the breeding condition. In the long rivers the king 

 salmon (Oncorhynchus chouicd] travels from twenty to forty miles 

 a day; this species and the red salmon (Oncorhynchus nerkd] 

 are reported to be the greatest travellers. The silver salmon 

 (Oncorhynchus kisutcJi) and dog salmon (Oncorhynchus keta} 

 however, are recorded by Dr. Ball as traversing the Yukon at least 

 a thousand miles. 



" From the time the salmon enters fresh water it begins to 

 deteriorate in flesh and undergoes remarkable changes in form 

 and colour. Arriving as a shapely fish, clad in shining silvery 

 scales, and with its flesh pink or red, it plays around for a little 

 while between salt water and fresh, and then begins its long fast 

 and its wearisome journey. No food is taken, and there are 

 shoals, rapids, and sometimes cataracts to surmount ; but the 

 salmon falters not, nor can it be prevented from accomplishing 

 its mission by anything but death or an impassable barrier. Its 

 body soon becomes thin and lacerated, and its fins are worn to 

 shreds, by contact with the sharp rocks. In the males a great 

 lump is developed on the back behind the head, and the jaws 

 are lengthened and distorted, so that the mouth cannot be closed. 

 The wounded fish are soon attacked by the salmon fungus, and 

 progress from bad to worse, until they become unsightly. In the 

 meantime the body colours will have varied from dark grey in the 

 humpback (Oncorhynchus gorbuscha), with the lower parts milky 

 white to a brilliant vermillion in the red salmon, contrasting 

 beautifully with the rich olive green of its head. 



" The excessive mortality of salmon during the ascent of the 

 streams, and on the breeding grounds, has led to the belief that 

 none of the spawning fish leave the fresh water alive. There is a 

 substantial basis for this view in the long rivers, and it is doubt- 

 less true that a journey of five hundred miles or more is followed 

 by the death of all the salmon concerned in it. 



" The silver salmon does not usually ascend streams to a 

 great distance, and I have seen it return to salt water alive after 

 spawning. The red salmon spawns around the shores of deep 



