38 GUN, ROD, AND SADDLE. 



excessive depth and thickness in proportion to their 

 length. Their average weight appeared to be about 

 twelve or fourteen pounds, yet several I saw would 

 have turned the scales at thirty. The color of the 

 skin was in all less brilliant than in our home 

 acquaintances, possibly the result of transportation, 

 the method of curing, or the shade and consistency 

 of the water out of which they had been taken. 

 However, the flesh was undeniably excellent, and 

 brilliant in hue, and in no way inferior to those 

 from our most appreciated rivers. 



From my informant I found that the habits of 

 their fish were identical with ours, and that so great 

 were their numbers that they formed the staple 

 article of food for the poorer residents of the 

 northern portion of the Japanese archipelago ; that 

 they were captured principally by stake nets, set 

 in the fluvial portion of the rivers ; and that the 

 English method of taking them with a fly (which I 

 explained) was entirely unknown. As I could not 

 have the honor of being the first of my country- 

 men to capture a Japanese salmon in the legitimate 

 sportsman's method, I may have had the honor of 

 tying the first artificial flies that ever were cast on a 

 Japanese river ; for so interested was my listener 



