and the Maritime Provinces. 239 



moment later revealed the half of an enormous bewhiskered sea lion which, 

 raising itself half out of the water, revealed a form which must have weighed 

 at least a ton. In its mouth was a large salmon, which it had evidently 

 just caught. The insatiable appetite of these monsters of the deep, of 

 which hundreds abound in the vicinity, would indicate that they are not 

 slow to avail themselves of the salmon invasion. 



On the Pacific coast there are five distinct varieties of salmon, some 

 of which are not highly esteemed for food. 



Those of Monterey bay are of the highest class, the king salmon, or 

 quinnat (Oncorhynchus tschawytscha). These are of the Sacramento, San 

 Joaquin and Columbia rivers. As an article of food they are probably of 

 more importance than all the other fish of the Pacific coast. 



In the Columbia river the average weight is twenty-two pounds. In 

 the Sacramento river the average is sixteen pounds. Occasionally salmon 

 are quoted of from sixty to one hundred pounds. In addition to the enor- 

 mous quantities which are seined on the coast and in the rivers for imme- 

 diate eating, there are annual packs from the Sacramento, Columbia and 

 up the Yukon of fully 1,500,000 cases of forty-eight pounds each, repre- 

 senting an annual pack of more than 70,000,000 pounds, or some 

 4,500,000 fish. There is no apparent diminution in quantity, and the pack 

 of this year, 1897, has increased to the enormous extent of 3,000,000 cases 

 of 144,000,000 pounds, or 9,000,000 salmon. The other varieties of sal- 

 mon are known as the blue back (<9. ncrkd), weighing from five to 

 eight pounds, which predominates in the Fraser and Yukon rivers; the 

 silver salmon (O. kisutch), weighing from three to eight pounds, which is 

 found in nearly all of the northern salmon rivers of the coast ; the dog sal- 

 mon (<9. keta), from eight to twelve pounds, found in the Columbia and 

 Fraser rivers, and the humpbacked salmon (O. gorbuschd), found in the 

 northern streams. The latter is the smallest salmon on the coast, seldom 

 running over three or four pounds. The salmon of the Pacific coast differ 

 but slightly from the general salmon family, the difference being in an 

 increased number of gill rakers, as well as glands about the stomach, and 

 the number of rays in the anal fin. 



The quinnat, or king salmon, is as perfect in form, color and activity 

 as any salmon could possibly be. Its silvery gleaming is as brilliant as 

 any of the salmon family. On the side of the head it has a distinctive 

 coloring, a peculiar metallic lustre of a pale olive cast, like that which 

 might arise from a mixture of lead and silver, highly burnished. A feature 

 which has strongly attracted my attention has been the changing colors of 

 the quinnat in salt water. With every changing angle of the sunlight the 

 flashing, iridescent hues have varied with kaleidoscopic rapidity, from the 

 deepest olive green to a light green, and a gleaming white to a silvery, and 



