THE WHITE-FISH. 293 



in use, and according to the evidence of the Overseer 

 of Fisheries for Lakes Huron and Superior, two men 

 in a canoe, with poles and one scoop-net, can during the 

 season catch two barrels of White-fish per day; the 

 average value of each barrel being about 10. 



The food of the White-fish is stated by a Canadian 

 gentleman, whose authority I do not presume to question, 

 to be entirely vegetable, and to consist mainly of an 

 aquatic moss and of a species of Algce conferva, with 

 which a considerable tract of the bottom of some of the 

 lakes is covered, intermediately between the shallows 

 and deep water. It is believed by others to feed largely 

 on an aquatic worm about an inch and a quarter in 

 length, which is found in immense numbers in places 

 where shoals of White-fish appear ; numbers of these 

 worms, which are also found in the stomach of the fish, 

 are brought up adhering to the nets, from which circum- 

 stance it would appear as if they swam in mid-water, and 

 in shoals. But from personal examination of the contents 

 of the stomachs of different specimens, and from inquiry 

 made of Ontario fishermen, I incline to believe that its 

 chief subsistence is on molluscs of various kinds. 



As an article of food the White-fish is invaluable. 

 Up country it aifords the chief sustenance of hosts of 

 Indians, squatters, fur-traders, and voyageurs, who without 

 this inexhaustible resource would be unable to remain 



