302 SALilOX FISIIIXG IN CANADA. 



I Ijelieve do not frequent any rivers fartlier south. In Gascon}' 

 I have fished niimerous streams, tlie trilmtaiies of tlie Garonne 

 and Adour, adapted as they Avould appear to be to the taste of 

 the fish for cool waters, by the mehing of tl]e Pyreua'an snow, 

 bait never met with, or heard of tlie Sahiio Sulor ; and very 

 seldom found any trout, the smaller membiers of the family. I 

 have also fished with mudi care se^■eral of the Spanish and Por- 

 tuguese rivers, biit never found a salmon or trout in any of 

 them. 



No Siilmon are to bie met witli in the [Mediterranean, nor any of 

 its rivers. Tliey are also strangers to the Caspian and Black 

 Seas ; though a large coarse fish, bearing some resemblance to the 

 Scihiiri Sdlar, called the JTiieho, is found in (lie Danube. 



JNIost intelligent persons are aware tliat the salmon is a great 

 anil intrepid tra'i'eller, migrating annually fi'om the sea to the 

 fresh water, and ascending the largest rivers to their distant 

 sources. Infinenced by unerring inslinct, it quits the deep .sea 

 in sjjring or early summer, and repairs to the estuary of its native 

 stream. It remains some days in tlie bi-ackisli water; probabdy 

 to prepare tlie gills for the great change in the fluid they will 

 liave to breathe. At the mouths cif small rivers the fish generally 

 wait for a flood ; moving up and dowir witli the tide luitil the 

 stream swells. Tlie salmon then boldly pushes on, dashing 

 through rapjids, and even overleaping dams or other impediments 

 in its way. After the first rush from the salt water, it avails itseff 

 of the convenient resting place of a deep pool, or other spot where 

 the current is gentle, to draw lireath for some hoiu's, or even a 

 day, if the stream is strong and rapid. It there recovers its wind, 

 and recruits its strength with a fly or a gras.shopper as they float 

 down the river. The fish thus gradually appriiach the upper and 

 shallower parts of the streams they fi'equent ; journeying by day 

 "when the weather is cloudy, or the water sufficiently muddy to 

 mask their movements ; but when the river is clear they travel 



