VI.] THE GULTSI. 129 



lower part of the Kamschatka averaged, I should think, about 

 tweh'e or fifteen pounds ; the extreme weights, at a rough guess, 

 being eight and twenty-five pounds. 



The Kisutchi is the last of all the salmon to ascend the rivers. 

 It arrives about the 10th or 12th of August, and in consequence is 

 in good condition when most of the other species are uneatable. 

 In the middle of September we found the majority of them clean 

 fish, and it is not till the following month that they usually acquire 

 the blood-stamed tinge of the under surface, and the extraordinary 

 snout to which I have just alluded. The latter presents a smoothly 

 rounded protrusion about as large as a sixpence, over-hanging 

 the lower jaw, and giving the fish a very comical expression. We 

 learnt from our two hunters that the Kisutchi \vere caught until 

 November, and Krasheninikov tells us^ that they are found " during 

 the whole winter in those springs that run into the Kamschatka 

 from the south," which is possibly due to the fact that the water of 

 some of these streams is warm. It appears to be a generally- 

 distributed species, occurring in all the rivers of the peninsula. The 

 flesh is very pale, almost white. 



6. Salmo callaris (Pall.) is the Goletz or Gultsi of the natives. 

 Krasheninikov says^ that "the largest fish of this species, which 

 lives sometimes five or six years, comes from the sea into the Eiver 

 Kamschatka, out of which it goes into the rivers that run into it, 

 and by them to the lakes, where it grows almost as big as the 

 Chavitsi (Tchervltchi), though it seldom weighs more than twenty 

 pounds. They are found likewise very large in the Bistroy River ; 

 there their length is commonly twenty-eight inches, and breadth 

 ten ; they are of a dark colour, have large teeth, and the lower jaw 

 is crooked with a knob : it seems indeed of a different species. 

 Those of three years old, which have been one year out of the sea, 

 have a long head, are of a silver colour, with small scales, and 



^ "The History of Kamschatka," p. 148. 

 - Oj}. cit. p. 149. 

 3 Steller also says, " aiif dem Bauch unci Flossen Ziuuober-roth." 

 VOL. I. K 



