l66 THE COMMON SALMON. 



cessful mode of taking Salmon, which he has ap- 

 propriately denominated Salmon-hunting. When the 

 tide is out, and the fish are left in shallow waters, 

 intercepted by sand banks, near the mouth of the 

 river, or when they are found in any inlets up the 

 shore, where the water is not more than from one 

 foot to four feet in any depth, the place where they 

 lie is to be discovered by their agitation of the pool. 

 This man, armed with a three-pointed barbed spear, 

 with a shaft of fifteen feet in length, mounts his 

 horse, and plunges, at a swift trot, or moderate 

 gallop, belly deep, into the water. He makes ready 

 his spear with both hands ; when he overtakes the 

 Salmon, he lets go one hand, and with the other 

 strikes the spear, with almost unerring aim, into the 

 fish. This done, by a turn of the hand, he raises the 

 Salmon to the surface of the water, turns his horse's 

 head to the shore, and runs the Salmon on dry land 

 without dismounting. This man says that, by the 

 present mode, he can kill from forty to fifty in a day : 

 ten are however no despicable day's work for a man 

 and horse. His father was probably the first man 

 that ever adopted this method of killing Salmon on 

 horseback. 



Salmon are cured by being split, rubbed with 

 salt, and put in pickle in tubs provided for the pur- 

 pose, where they are kept about six weeks : they 

 are then taken out, pressed, and packed in casks, 

 with layers of salt *. 



* Penn. Brit. Zool. iii. 284. 



