172 _ AMERICAN GAME. 
broadest portion of the body. The consequence of this 
exquisitely beautiful conformation is a combination of 
vigor, swiftness, and power of resistance to the element 
in which it exists equal to that of any known animal. 
The dart of the salmon in pursuit of its prey,.or its 
arrowy rush, on feeling the sting of the barbed hook, is 
comparable to nothing but the velocity of the swallow 
in the air. He runs up any rapids, it matters not how 
swift, or steep, or strong, of the mightiest rivers; with 
scarce an effort ; he leaps all obstacles, whether of mill- 
dams or natural water-falls, not exceeding thirteen feet 
in perpendicular height, as easily as a trained hunter 
tops a quickset hedge; and, what is perhaps the most 
astonishing proof of his wonderful muscular strength, 
he can retain his station, head on in the teeth of a cur- 
rent, against which the strongest swimmer would not 
presume to struggle, motionless for many minutes 
together, at the end of which a slight and scarcely per- 
ceptible sweep of the powerful tail gives him, without 
sending him forward, the power of retaining his position, 
as before, for a similar interval of time. 
When fresh from the sea, the upper part of his head, 
and all his body above the lateral line, are of a deep 
cerulean blue, almost black along the ridge, and mellow- 
ing downward into lustrous, pearly azure on the sides, 
the lower parts and belly glitter like burnished silver, 
and the whole fish appears, when -newly taken from the 
water, to be cased in such silver and enameled mail, as 
