304 PREHISTORIC FISHING. 



lowered to the verge of the water ; and the sturgeon, though weighing upwards 

 of three hundred pounds, is, by the single effort of one Indian, jerked into the 

 boat." (Page 96). 



" They are very ingenious in the construction of their nets, which are made 

 of a sort of wild hemp, sometimes called silk-grass, found on the upper borders 

 of the Columbia; or of the fibres of the roots of trees; or the inner ligaments of 

 the bark of the white cedar. These nets are of different kinds, for the different 

 kinds of fishery the straight net for the larger fish in deep water; and the 

 scooping or dipping-net for the smaller fish in the shallower waters. They also 

 use a curious sort of many-pronged spear, for drawing up small fish. This is a 

 pole set all round with numerous short wooden little spikes. This they work 

 along against the current from the canoe, and against the small fish, that swim 

 onwards in dense masses. At every take-up of this spear, which is done in quick 

 succession, it is found filled with fishes impaled on those sharp spikes. In their 

 nets they use stones in place of lead ; and their superior usefulness and adapta- 

 tion to the fishei'y of the Columbia, over the nets of the civilized white, may be 

 shown from the following fact : A Mr. Wyeth, of Boston, having heard much 

 of the salmon fishery in the Columbia, and thinking it would afford a profitable 

 trading speculation, chartered a vessel, in 1835 ; and on his way took a number of 

 Sandwich Islanders as fishermen ; supplying himself also with a cargo of fishing 

 nets, and a great variety of other fishing apparatus, on the most approved prin- 

 ciples. On arriving at the Columbia, he set vigorously to work, dead sure of 

 making a fortune. But his nets were totally unfit for the occupation ; and his 

 exotic fishermen, notoriously familiar as they are with the watery element, were 

 no match for the natives, pursuing their natural occupation in almost their in- 

 digenous element, and so familiar with the seasons, the currents, the localities, 

 and all the many other circumstances that insure success." (Page 98, etc.). 



Swan (James G-.): The Northwest Coast; or, Three Years' Eesidence in 

 Washington Territory ; New York, 1857. "The Chenook salmon commences to 

 enter the river (Columbia) the last of May, and is most plentiful about the 20th 

 of June. It is, without doubt, the finest salmon in the world, and, being taken 

 so near the ocean, has its fine flavor in perfection. The salmon, when entering 

 a river to spawn, do not at once proceed to the head-waters, but linger round 

 the mouth for several weeks before they are prepared to go farther up. It has 

 been supposed that they cannot go immediately from the ocean to the cold fresh 

 water, but remain for a time where the water is brackish before they venture on 

 so great a change. Be that as it may, one thing is certain, that the early salmon 

 taken at Chenook are far superior in flavor to any that are subsequently taken 

 farther up the river, and this excellence is so generally acknowledged that Che- 

 nook salmon command a higher price than any other. 



