FnJi-ivatcy Fish. 63 



many pond snails of the yenus Chllinia were also found abun- 

 dantly in the stream beds. 



I have found only two species of fresh-water fish, Haplochilon 

 zebra, and a small Galaxias ; and they inhabit most of the upland 

 lakes which are of any considerable extent. The former is a 

 smooth-skinned fish, with the general shape and fin arrangement 

 of a grayling, but with a dark scaleless skin. It averages lialf 

 a pound in weight, ranging up to three-quarters ; and although 

 it rose like a trout, we could not succeed in making it take 

 the artificial fly, but caught it readily with worm-bait. These 

 fish were also met with in mountain lakes far removed from 

 the sea, whither their ova were probably, in the first instance, 

 conveyed by cormorants. On one occasion Sir George Nares 

 caught a specimen of this fish in a brackish lagoon, which com- 

 municated with the sea at high tide, so that it may have been 

 derived from a marine progenitor which possessed the power of 

 adapting itself to a fresh-water existence. 



In the course of our survey of Concepcion Strait, we stopped 

 for six days, in the month of March, at Portland Bay, an anchor- 

 age on the east side of the strait, and nearly opposite to Tom 

 Bay. On the forenoon of our third day, a party of natives 

 pulled in from the westward, with their canoe well- provisioned 

 with shell-fish, as if they were about making a long voyage. 

 There were three men, four women, three children, and four 

 dogs. They were provided with a good iron axe, bone-pointed 

 spears, a boat-rope made of plaited rushes, and other rude 

 implements. It was evident that this party had previously met 

 with some friendly vessel, for they readily came on board, and 

 poked about the ship. Two of us went on a visit to their 

 camp on the following day, but were received very ungraciously 

 by a villainous-looking old hag armed with a club, who depre- 

 cated any attempt at landing on our part. We could only 

 examine the canoe, which we fouiul to be twcntv-twu feet long, 

 four feet in beam amidships, and in other respects of the usual 



