172 AMERICAN GAME. 



broadest portion of the body. The consequence of this 

 exquisitely beautiful conformation is a combination of 

 vigor, swiftness, and power of resistance to the element 

 in which it exists equal to that of any known animal. 

 The dart of the salmon in pursuit of its prey, or its 

 arrowy rush, on feeling the sting of the barbed hook, is 

 comparable to nothing but the velocity of the swallow 

 in the air. He runs up any rapids, it matters not how 

 swift, or steep, or strong, of the mightiest rivers, with 

 scarce an effort ; he leaps all obstacles, whether of mill- 

 dams or natural water-falls, not exceeding thirteen feet 

 in perpendicular height, as easily as a trained hunter 

 tops a quickset hedge ; and, what is perhaps the most 

 astonishing proof of his wonderful muscular strength, 

 he can retain his station, head on in the teeth of a cur- 

 rent, against which the strongest swimmer would not 

 presume to struggle, motionless for many minutes 

 together, at the end of which a slight and scarcely per- 

 ceptible sweep of the powerful tail gives him, without 

 sending him forward, the power of retaining his position, 

 as before, for a similar interval of time. 



When fresh from the sea, the upper part of his head, 

 and all his body above the lateral line, are of a deep 

 cerulean blue, almost black along the ridge, and mellow- 

 ing downward into lustrous, pearly azure on the sides, 

 the lower parts and belly glitter like burnished silver, 

 and the whole fish appears, when newly taken from the 

 water, to be cased in such silver and enameled mail, as 



