The Califomian Salmon. 55 



Californian rivers, the salmon have to travel 

 each year considerable distances in their 

 periodical migrations, and they must often 

 surmount numerous obstacles to reach their 

 spawning grounds. In the McCloud river, 

 the source of which is 3500 feet above the 

 sea, they have to ascend rapids for a length 

 of 30 miles. In the, Snake river, the sources 

 of which are eastward of the Great Salt Lake, 

 the journey that they have to make is about 

 1000 miles. 



" In general, when tbey leave the sea to 

 ascend the rivers, they remain for some time 

 in the brackish water where the river joins the 

 sea. The fishermen believe that the change 

 destroys the numerous parasites which become 

 attached to their body during their sojourn in 

 the sea. . . . They soon, however, begin to 

 ascend the rivers, where they are immediately 

 set upon without mercy, by the wbites at 

 first, and afterwards, higher up in the Indian 

 territory, by the red-skins, who during a part 

 of the year live entirely on this fish. 



" The Salmo quinnat can be caught very 

 well with the fly, like the trout or the ordinary 

 salmon. Its own eggs make also an excellent 



