SALMON-FISHING AS AN INDUSTRY 



up, the salmon will apparently abandon the attempt, 

 remaining somnolent at the foot of the rapid; but all 

 it is doing really is harbouring its strength for a further 

 attempt, which the plucky creature will make after a few 

 days' rest. 



Another interesting point relating to the up-river 

 journey is the much-debated question as to whether the 

 fish possesses a memory. Scientific men are now satisfied 

 that the same fish frequently, though not invariably, visit 

 the same rivers for the spawning season ; and many 

 authorities are of opinion that this is due to the exercise 

 of memory and preference ; albeit others still maintain 

 that the salmon does not know the coast-line (being in the 

 habit of seeking deep water as soon as it reaches the sea 

 in its outward journey) and so enters the first river-mouth 

 it meets with, which often happens to be the same. 



The Fraser, it may be remembered, is an exceptionally 

 swift-flowing river; yet salmon will swim up it at an 

 average rate of forty miles a day a pace which they can 

 increase to nearly two hundred in calm water. 



Having at length reached the shallower parts of the 

 stream near the source, the fish choose their spawning 

 grounds from the sandy river-bed, plough up the sand 

 with their snouts, working all the while against the 

 stream ; for if they worked with their heads down-stream 

 the water, running into their gills, would choke them. In 

 the furrow thus dug they deposit their eggs, carefully 

 covering them again with gravel. 



By this time their appearance has undergone a curious 

 change ; they have become thin and flabby and, if eaten 



61 



