SALMONIDyB. 17 



ABDOMINAL 

 MALACOPTERYGII. SALMONID.E. 



THE SISKAWITZ. 



NORTHERN LAKE TROUT. 

 Salmo Siskawitz ; Agassiz. 



This fish, like the former species, came frequently under my eye 

 during my late northern tour ; and I rejoice in the possession of a 

 barrel of him in his pickled state, which I procured at the Sault St. 

 Marie, on the strength of which I can recommend him to all lovers of 

 good eating as the very best salt fish that exists in the world. 



He is so fat and rich, that when eaten fresh he is insufferably rank 

 and oily ; but when salted and broiled, after being steeped for forty- 

 tight hours in cold water, he is not surpassed or equalled by any fish 

 with which I am acquainted. 



Since my return, he has been tasted by very many gentlemen of my 

 acquaintances, and by no one of them has he been pronounced any- 

 thing less than superlative. 



His habits closely resemble those of the Namaycush ; and like him 

 I cannot learn that he ever takes the fly, or is ever taken by trolling. 

 I do not, however, believe that either of these methods are often re- 

 sorted to for his capture, although there are many scientific fly -fishers 

 about the Sault, and the Brook Trout of those waters are principally 

 taken with large and gaudy lake-flies. 



The averao-e weio^ht of the Siskawitz does not exceed four or five 

 pounds, though he is taken up to seventeen. His excellence is so per- 

 fectly understood and acknowledged in the Lake Country, that he 

 fetches double the price per barrel of his coarser big brother, the 

 Namaycush ; and he is so greedily sought for there, that it is difficult 

 to procure him even at Detroit, and almost impossible at Buffalo. 



1 believe none were ever brought to New York, previously to the bar- 

 rel which I brought down with me from the Sault. I am now able to 

 supply, from personal inspection, what I was compelled unavoidably to 

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