CLASS V. PISCES: ORDER 3. TELEOSTEA. 467 



the sea-lice yet clinging to his scales, a fresh sea-run fish of fifteen, ay, eighteen pounds, and 

 perhaps over. 



" On his broad back he strikes the water, but not as he meant the tightened line ; for, as he leaped, 

 the practiced hand had lowered the rod's tip, so that it fell in a loose bight below him. Again, 

 again, again, and yet a fourth time he bounded into the air with desperate and vigorous soubre- 

 sauts, like an unbroken steed that would dismount his rider, lashing the eddies of the dark stream 

 into bright bubbling streaks, and making the heart of his captor beat high with anticipation of the 

 desperate struggle that should follow, before the monster should lie panting and exhausted on the 

 yellow sand or moist greensward. 



" Away, with the rush of an eagle through the air, he is gone like an arrow down the rapids ; 

 how the reel rings, and the line whistles from the swift-working wheel ; he is too swift, too head- 

 strong to be checked as yet ; tenfold the strength of that slender tackle might not control him 

 in his first fiery rush. 



" But Jasper, although young in years was old in the art, and skilful as the craftiest of the gentle 

 craftsmen. He gives him the butt of his rod steadily, trying the strength of his tackle with a 

 delicate, gentle finger, giving him line at every rush, yet firmly, cautiously feeling his mouth all 

 the while, and moderating his speed even while he yields to his fury. 



" Meanwhile, with the eye of intuition and the nerve of iron, he bounds along the difiicult shore ; 

 he leaps from rock to rock, alighting on their slippery tops with the firm agility of the rope- 

 dancer; he splashes knee-deep through the slippery shallows, keeping his line ever taut, inclining 

 his rod over his shoulder, bearing on his fish ever with a killing pull, steering him clear of every 

 rock or stump against which he would fain smash the tackle, and landing him at length in a fine, 

 roora}^ open pool at the foot of a long stretch of white and foamy rapids, down which he had 

 just piloted him, with the eye of faith and the foot of instinct. 



" And now the great salmon has turned sulky ; like a piece of lead he has sunk to the bottom 

 of the deep, black pool, and lies on the gravel bottom in the sullenness of despair. 



"Jasper stooped, gathered up in his left hand a heavy pebble, and pitched it into the pool, as 

 nearly as he could guess to the whereabout of his game — another, and another ! — aha ! that last 

 has roused him ; again he throws himself clear out of water ; and again foiled in his attempt to 

 smash the tackle, dashes away down the stream impetuous. 



"But his strength is departing; the vigor of his rush is broken. The angler gives him the 

 butt abundantly, strains on him with a heavier pull, yet ever yields a little as he exerts his 

 failing powers; see, his broad silver side has thrice turned up, even to the surface, and though 

 each time he has recovered himself, each time it has been with a heavier and more sickly motion. 



" Brave fellow ! his last race is run — his last spring sprung ; no more shall he disport himself 

 in the bright reaches of the Tamar ; no more shall the Naiads wreathe his clear silver scales with 

 river greens and flowery rushes. 



" The cruel gaflf is in his side ; his cold blood stains the eddies for a moment ; he flaps out 

 his death-pang on the hard limestone. 



" Who-whoop ! a nineteen-pounder !" 



While, as we have said, there is but one True Salmon., there are several other species analogous 

 to it, especially in the i-ivers that empty into the Arctic seas, and those which flow into the 

 Pacific from the northwest coast. Richardson describes eight or ten such species, as the Qumnat., 

 Queachts^ Quannich, Uketvan, TsujJjiitck, &c., of various sizes and qualities, the first of which, 

 abounding in the Columbia, appears greatly to resemble the Salmo salar. These fishes are a 

 great resource to the Indians, who, it is said, gather them in vast numbers in this region during 

 the fishing season, they and their horses and dogs feeding on them and growing fat to repletion. 

 Similar species of various kinds doubtless exist in the waters of Kamschatka and the rivers of 

 Siberia. 



The Mackinaw Salmon, aS'. mnethystus — also called the Great Lake Trout, and Namaycush 

 by the Indians — is two to five feet long, and is the largest of the known salmonida?, some- 

 times weighing one hundred and twenty pounds. It is very voracious, and feeds on every 

 fish within its reach. It is speared by the Indians by torch-light ; its flesh is reddish, and is 



