18 THE SALMON FISHER. 



says, became more numerous as his party advanced 

 northward, and " hardly a lake failed to respond to 

 our angling efforts." Said lakes constituted the 

 feeders of rapid affluents of the Great Fish and Ket- 

 tle rivers, and were inhabited by monster salmon 

 weighing up to seventy-five pounds, whose vertical 

 transverse sections were found to measure twenty (!) 

 inches deep. Schwatka is of the opinion that a very 

 large proportion of these salmon remain under the 

 ice the greater part of the year, for the " angling " 

 which he speaks of is mainly done through wells cut 

 through ice six feet thick, into which bait and spear 

 are inserted; and he suggests that these fish become 

 imprisoned in deep holes by the water freezing to 

 the bottom of the shallowest places and inclosing 

 them. The number must certainly be very consid- 

 erable, as the Esquimaux could most always get a 

 fish by thrusting a spear into the holes at random; 

 and the fish were very fat, so fat, he says, that they 

 could be fried in their own oil if only the smallest 

 amount of grease were first put into the pan to pre- 

 vent burning. No doubt these fish recuperated in 

 these ice-locked lakes after they had spawned, and 

 they must have found an abundance of food. Arc- 



