THE SALMON AND TROUT OF ALASKA. 29 



became greatly modified by my experience. I thought, 

 and I believe many do, that the instinct which prompts 

 the salmon to run in from the sea, is to reach, by the 

 shortest route, the place of birth ; and that they make 

 a straight wake from the ocean to the mouth of their na- 

 tive creeks ; and that while impelled by this instinct, 

 they refrain altogether from food. In all of this, I think 

 that I was mistaken ; and that the fish which begin to 

 swarm in Sitka Harbor in May, and continue coming 

 and going for nearly three months before any enter the 

 stream, are simply visitors, which, on their way north, 

 are driven in to seek shelter from the porpoises and 

 other enemies. 



That they feed at this time, I have plenty of evi- 

 dence. We caught small ones, on hand-lines baited 

 with venison. Numbers were taken trolling, using any 

 ordinary spoon. I had with me pickerel, bass, and lake 

 trout spoons, of brass and silvery surface. All were suc- 

 cessful, the silvery ones the most so. 



And I had many good strikes upon spectabilis or 

 salmon trout, of six to eight inches, spun on a gang and 

 trolled. The Indians in Chatham Strait catch a great 

 many upon hooks baited with live herring ; these are 

 attached to short lines, which are fastened to duck- 

 shaped wooden buoys, and allowed to float away from 

 the -canoe. I have myself been present at the capture of 

 a number in this manner. 



The Greek Priest, and companies of the least poor of 

 the Creoles, own seine boats, which go out daily ; and 



