116 Salmonidze 
clear streams of Japan and Formosa. It runs up from the sea 
like a salmon. It reaches the length of about a foot. The 
Fig. 79.—Ayu, or Japanese Samlet, Plecoglossus altivelis Schlegel. Tamagawa, 
Tokyo, Japan. 
flesh is very fine and delicate, scarcely surpassed by that of 
any other fish whatsoever. It should be introduced into clear 
short streams throughout the temperate zones. 
In the river at Gifu in Japan and in some other streams 
the ayu is fished for on a large scale by means of tamed cor- 
morants. This is usually done from boats in the night by the 
light of torches. ; 
Cormorant-fishing.—The following account of cormorant- 
fishing is taken, by the kind permission of Mr. Caspar W. Whit- 
ney, from an article contributed by the writer to Outing, April, 
1902: 
Tamagawa means Jewel River, and no water could be clearer. 
It rises somewhere up in the delectable mountains to the eastward 
of Musashi, among the mysterious pines and green-brown fir-trees, 
and it flows across the plains bordered by rice-fields and mul- 
berry orchards to the misty bay of Tokyo. It is, therefore, a 
river of Japan, and along its shores are quaint old temples, each 
guarding its section of primitive forest, picturesque bridges, 
huddling villages, and torii, or gates through which the gods 
may pass. 
The stream itself is none too large—a boy may wade it—but 
it runs on a wide bed, which it will need in flood-time, when the 
snow melts in the mountains. And this broad flood-bed is 
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