THE SALMON FISHER. 35 



ravenous to extremity, and half dazed by their long 

 abstinence. They are called " kelts " then, and more 

 disgusting objects can hardly be imagined. Their 

 stomachs are shrunk entirely away and they seem to 

 t>e nothing but head, back and tail. They have lost 

 fully half of their original weight, and whatever 

 scales they show are very minute, being not more 

 than one-eighth their natural size. In mid-winter 

 their skin hung in loose, thick folds, and the scales 

 all sloughed off. These small ones seen now are a 

 new growth, and by next September they will have 

 regained their normal size. 



Very different is the fresh-run June salmon. 

 "What can be more beautiful than his plump and 

 shapely form, broad shoulders, keen, bright eye and 

 armature of silver resplendent with the sparkling 

 drops of the limpid river ! The females are the most 

 comely, being readily distinguished by their shorter 

 heads. No wonder they frolic and leap for joy 

 when they find themselves in the clear, cool stream, 

 after escaping the assassins of the sea and the dan- 

 gers of the passage. 



A good deal of bosh has been written in all the 



