314 ZOOLOGY. 



The salmoD, as seen at that iiihice, are as follows : 



" 1. Seemetleek arrives at Colville about the 1st of June. On its arrival the jaws and nose 

 are straight, with teeth scarcely perceptible. When the male and female couple, to discharge 

 the duties of their watery hymen, they, like other couples, begin to grow thin. As their flesh 

 declines the teeth begin to show and the snout to get crooked, whence we call them the 

 crooked-nosed salmon. The Seemetleek is the largest of the species, the first to arrive and to die. 



"2. Keasuo, or Kalusoo, arrives here about the 1st of October. Whether fat or lean, it 

 ahuays has a crooked nose. It is not so large as the Seemetleek. We have proof that the Keasoo 

 do not all return, because they have been seen and caught iu the winter and spring in many 

 of the Columbia's tributaries, i. e., Yakima, Okanagan, and Spokane Forks. They are, on an 

 average, about three feet long, and each male with one female, like the Seemetleek. The female 

 first spawns in a favorable place. Immediately by her side is her mate, who discharges his 

 masculine fluid upon the eggs, whereupon the industrious couple cover their seed with sand. 



" 3. Slzoin arrives here about the 1st of July. Straight nose ahvays, length about two feet, 

 and breeds like the rest. They are not found dead, and are supposed to return to the sea. 



' ' 4. Cha-cha-ool (the ch pronounced gutteral, as in the Gaelic loch) arrives with the Seemetleek. 

 It is rather heavier than the Stzoin, marries, breeds, and dies, like the Seemetleek. Whether 

 all or onl_v some of these two kinds die is very uncertain. When these fish die from fatigue 

 they are called by the natives Skee-le-ways, a word in their language implying the lean, bad 

 condition of the flesh." 



Note. — The Indians living at Fort Colville speak a dialect of the Flathead language, which 

 itself is not a very remote dialect of the Nisqually.* 



The Seemetleek is probably the S. quinnat. Rich. The Cha-cha-ool, which arrives at Fort 

 Colville in company witli the last, corresponds greatly with the description of the S. gairdneri, 

 Rich, and but little doubt exists in my mind that they are identical. The Stzoin I cannot 

 identify. Perhaps it is the S. paucidens, Rich. The Keasoo seems to be the S. scoideri. Rich. 



Fort Colville is situated at the Kettle Fall.'*, about seven hundred miles by water from the 

 ocean. As the S. scoideri enter the river near the 1st of September, their progress against the 

 current would seem to be about one liundred miles a week. — S. 



Specimens of the following salmon are very much wanted to complete the series in the 

 Smithsonian collection, as well as to settle manj' doubtful points. For the convenience of those 

 studying in the field, or collecting, the Indian names of those desired are here given: 



At the mouth of the Columbia true Chinook is generally sj^okeu. The fish i'rom that locality 

 luanted are the Queackts, Qiiannich, Eketocm, and Tsnppitch. These names probably hold good 

 at the Dalles, where "Upper Chinook" or Wasco is spoken. Among the Dalles Indians, how- 

 ever, and also among those living at the Cascades and at Fort Vancouver, there are many who 

 speak dialects of the Walla- Walla language, which is entirely difl'erent from either the Lower 

 or Upper Chinook. These dialects are usually either Klikatat, Des Chide, or Yakima. Any 

 fish obtained having the following Yakima names are also much wanted : 



Kcdi-lo, (perhaps the Op-kcd-loo of the Wascos at the Dalles.) 



Ne-ukw. 



S'han-nih, (1 Sah-tviin-ugh of the Cowlitz tribe.) 



Kwin-nat-tit, (? Quinnat.) 



S'hun-no, ('^ Huddo, or Himno, of the Nisquallies.) 



" See list of species, with occompanyius ludiau names. 



