On the Murray River Cod. 33 



provided them with the same instinct for overcoming difficul- 

 ties that she has furnished to the salmon and other river 

 fishes which she compels periodically to seek the ocean. I 

 am rather inclined to fancy that this is not the case, as Mr. 

 Sherwin tells me that they are to be found far up the 

 Murray at all seasons of the year, as, although they do not 

 bite freely except during the warm weather, the aborigines 

 seem able to catch one almost at any time. And as from the 

 only possible outlet to the sea to some of the remoter tribu- 

 taries of the Murray they would have to face a trip of pro- 

 bably over two thousand miles, I think it far more probable 

 that they are a purely fresh water fish, and never migrate at 

 all. In the event of getting some alive to Melbourne, I had 

 intended to try what proportion of sea-water one of them 

 would bear, or whether it would live in pure sea-water. Their 

 premature death, however, prevented my subjecting their 

 disposition to seek the sea to any such test. At the same 

 time it is worth remarking that the only great obstacle in 

 their way would be the pier above the Wharf. This ob- 

 struction is mainly artificial. It was placed there for the 

 purpose of preserving the fresh water from the influx of the 

 tide during the summer months, and as soon as the Yan Yean 

 supply is completed it will become useless, and may probably 

 at some day be altogether removed. 



I have thus, Mr. President and gentlemen, endeavoured 

 to lay before you a sketch of my experiment. If successful 

 I think it will be allowed to be an interesting thing to have 

 introduced to the waters of the Yarra a fish which I have 

 proved to you sometimes attains nearly twice the Aveight 

 of one of our ordinary sheep. I trust that the result of the 

 experiment will be to place, at no very remote period, a 

 new and wholesome delicacy upon the tables of Melbourne 

 and its neighbourhood, and to furnish the anglers of our 

 river-banks with a prey which may possibly give them some 

 trouble to draw from its waters. 



Personally I have no interest in the matter. I am no 

 angler. I never caught a fish in the Yarra in my life, and 

 most probably never shall catch one. If the cod ever should 

 abound there, I may probably never taste it, for the time is 

 coming in which I think it is unlikely that I shall remain a 

 continuous resident in Australia. I have nearly completed 

 my arrangements to give scope to a long-cherished desire to 

 combine with the opportunity of seeing some of the more 

 interesting countries in the world, the carrying out upon a 



VOL. II. D 



