332 LABRADOR 



that when the waters subside with the advance of summer, 

 the odour of rotting fish on the banks and in the branches of 

 trees is said to be positively poisonous. On Kadiak Island 

 in the North Pacific they are so abundant in certain rivers 

 that the fish " interfere with the progress of canoes." The 

 variety found in Cook's Inlet averages four feet in length, 

 and weighs fifty pounds. The natives here kill in their 

 primitive way some twenty-five thousand fish per year, 

 which provides for each person the moderate allowance of 

 four hundred and thirty pounds, or about four pounds a 

 day the year round. 



Once hatched out, the little salmon, or parr, is handi- 

 capped for three weeks by the large umbilical sac on which 

 he subsists. He is fain, therefore, to hide away closely 

 among the stones, for many creatures are fond of him. 

 Insect larvae, beetles, crustaceans, large fish, rats, and even 

 diving birds, are all anxious to take him in. If he survives, 

 he remains in the river for one or two full years. During 

 this time he has grown to a sizable fish of a couple of pounds' 

 weight, but his full glory does not appear until, in his third 

 spring, he assumes his glittering silver armour. He is then 

 known as a "smolt," and attains the dignity of venturing 

 into the unknown immensity of the ocean, with his fellows 

 of his own age, as they go forth in the wake of the great 

 salmon. 



In the river the samlet, or parr, is not troubled with the 

 scruple of his parents, and feeds voraciously. But it is 

 not until he reaches the great sea that he begins to grow 

 at all rapidly. It has been said that he will grow from a 

 few ounces to as many pounds in three months. He may 

 return to winter a second time in the pools and lakes, a full- 



