30 THE NORTH AMERICAN RIVERS. 



nal the owner of each dips his round hand-net into the 

 river, and if, when he raises it, a big salmon comes up 

 floundering and struggling, as is generally the case, the 

 helpless prisoner is hailed with a shout of derisive tri- 

 umph. The enthusiastic angler cannot do better than 

 undertake a trip to Alaska, if he would participate in 

 salmon-catching on a large and easy scale ! 



Salmon frequent, most of the North American rivers, 

 but especially the St. Lawrence and its tributaries. An 

 American writer says that they are most plentiful on the 

 north shore, and, as might be supposed, in those streams 

 which are still outside of the confines of civilization. 

 The noble fish usually makes his appearance about the 

 20th of May, and continues in season for two months. 

 Nearly all the streams we speak of are interrupted in 

 their course by waterfalls ; but there are few of these 

 which offer any effectual obstruction to his upward pro- 

 gress, and the stories related of his leaps are truly won- 

 derful. The average weight of the Canadian fish is about 

 fifteen pounds, but monsters weighing full forty pounds 

 are not infrequently captured. The common mode of 

 fishing is with a stationary net, set just on the margin of 

 the river at low- water. When the tide rises, the salmon 

 commence running, and becoming entangled by their gill- 

 covers in the meshes of the net, are taken out dead by 

 the fishermen at low- water. Formerly, as many as three 

 hundred would be captured in this way at one time ; but 

 either they are less plentiful, or they have profited by 

 the lessons of a long and severe experience. 



The Indian mode of taking them is identical with the 

 Scotch leistering. Two Indians embark in a canoe, and 

 while one paddles it stealthily along, the other stands erect, 



