226 SPORT AND TRAVEL PAPERS 



behind, far more deadly than the man with the spoon in the 

 boat, pursuing them right into the harbour the seals. Every 

 now and then there was a rush, dozens of salmon leaped high 

 out of the sea, and presently the round head and black eyes of 

 a seal appeared for a moment to vanish the next, well content 

 no doubt with its capture. But the salmon had yet another 

 enemy which never left them this time in the air the osprey. 

 These beautiful birds followed the rush of fish in great numbers, 

 swooped down now and then and diving deep into the green 

 waters reappeared with as big a fish as their wings would 

 permit them to carry. Poor salmon, they had indeed a bad time 

 on these to them inhospitable shores, but far worse was yet to 

 come higher up when the huge nets of the many canneries were 

 reached, which, during the great run of '97, had the best season 

 on record. The catches were so immense that incredible 

 numbers of fish had to be thrown away, for there were not hands 

 enough to clean and preserve them, or mouths to eat those that 

 were left, a terrible and pitiful waste. Those who had fortunately 

 escaped all these dangers even then, in their greatly diminished 

 numbers, crowded the spawning grounds in river and creek to 

 such an extent that there was not room for all ; the stronger fish 

 pushed the weaker out of the water and on to the banks, which 

 were literally covered with dead salmon the rivers simply could 

 hold no more. Very red the fish looked then, their bodies raw 

 and bruised ; all those beautiful silver scales had vanished, as 

 also from their back the rich dark metallic green which so 

 exactly matched the colouring of their ocean home. Stories 

 are told of the immense quantities of fish making up a " run " at 

 the height of a good salmon year ; how river steamers have been 

 stopped by their paddle-wheels becoming choked with salmon, 

 and how high water has been brought about by the thronging of 

 fish to the spawning ground. 



The Canadian Western Recreation of May, 1897, states 

 that these stories " tinge even the Siwash's " (Indian) opinion 

 of the truth of Biblical history, for a pioneer missionary of the 

 Methodist Church relates how sharply he was " called up " by a 

 grey-haired old Fillicum, to whom he had been describing the 

 passage of the Red Sea by the children of Israel. " And so with 

 Moses at their head, they crossed over on the dry land," said 

 the teacher. " Helo ! " answered the Siwash, shaking his grey 



