CHAPTER VIII 



THE LAST OF THE BERING SEA 



The next morning early saw us with our camp and skins 

 packed in the bidarkis, and by noon we reached the native 

 settlement. Here we left the local native and two bidarkis, 

 making our way in the dory and the other bidarki to the 

 salmon cannery, where we were welcomed by Mr. Barstow 

 and his partner Mr. Ross. We were entertained hospitably 

 and housed for the night ; having spent the evening watching 

 the fishermen, who were mostly Italians, shooting their seine- 

 nets, and clearing the salmon-traps. The daily catch of fish 

 was not heavy here, although the fish were swarming in the 

 river. The manager, Captain Wagner, asked my opinion 

 about the reason of their failure in making big catches. 

 After looking at the traps, I concluded that the fish must be 

 running under the bottom of the nets, as the river-bed was 

 entirely composed of sand at that part, and this was always 

 drifting down with the current, and thereby causing constant 

 gaps between the bottom of the nets and the river-bed. I 

 hear that this was afterwards discovered to be the case, but 

 at that time the cannery had only just been started, and 

 everything was in an experimental stage. 



The fish caught were only salted in huge tubs and after- 

 wards packed in barrels, as the cannery had not then been 



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