366 A JOURNEY TO THE 



Salmon. Salmon ^ are in some seasons very numerous on the North 



West side of Hudson's Bay, particularly at Knapp's Bay and 

 Whale Cove. At the latter I once found them so plentiful, 

 that had we been provided with a sufficient number of nets, 

 casks, and salt, wc might soon have loaded the vessel with 

 them. But this is seldom the case, for in some years they are 

 so scarce, that it is with difficulty a few meals of them can 

 be procured during our stay at those harbours. They are in 

 some years so plentiful near Churchill River, that I have 

 known upward of two hundred fine fish taken out of four 

 small nets in one tide within a quarter of a mile of the Fort ; 

 but in other years they are so scarce, that barely that number 

 have been taken in upward of twenty nets during the whole 

 season, which generally begins the latter end of June, and ends 

 about the middle or latter end of August. 



Kepiing. Beside the fish already mentioned, I know of no other that 



inhabits the salt water except the Kepling,^ which is a small 

 fish about the size of a smelt, but most excellent eating. In 

 some years they resort to the shores near Churchill River in 

 such multitudes to spawn, and such numbers of them are 

 left dry among the rocks, as at times to be [396] quite 

 offensive. In other seasons they are so scarce, that hardly 

 a meal can be procured. 



The same remark may be made on almost every species of 

 game, which constitutes the greatest part of the fare of the people 

 residing in those parts. For instance, in some years, hundreds 

 of deer may easily be killed within a mile of York Fort ; and 

 in others, there is not one to be seen within twenty or thirty 



[' The " Salmon" here spoken of is evidently some form of the widely dis- 

 tributed Salvelinus alptnus (Linn.), several supposed forms of which have been 

 described from different parts of Arctic North America. The ordinary method 

 of taking it on the coast of Hudson Bay is by stretching a net between stakes 

 at low tide at right angles to the shore. The net being immersed at high tide 

 intercepts the fish, which apparently follow the line of the shore. When the 

 tide falls the catch is of course easily retrieved.] 



[^ Malloius villosus (Miiller). This is a kind of smelt of wide distribution 

 in northern waters.] 



