89 



At certain seasons of the year tlie fish congregate in shoals 

 for the purpose of spawning, during which tjme it is diflS- 

 cult to tempt them with fly or worm, they must be killed 

 some way or other, the seine is put in requisition ; and 

 thus in a few days, the lakes are drained, and more spawn 

 killed than man could count, whereas, by desisting for a 

 month or six weeks, they would ever have them in 

 abundance. 



By permission of that veteran amateur Doctor Henry. 

 I give the reader a few extracts from a letter which I lately 

 received from him, also a few sketches from his "Portfolio," 

 and which, I am sure, will be read with pleasure : 



" Montreal, 12th Feby., ISST. 



" Deas Sir, — ^I received this morning your note of the lOth inst. 

 asking pennisaion to copy in your forthcoming " Treatise" on 

 the Salmon fisheries of the St. Lawrence, my sketches of fishing 

 excursions to Malbale and Jacques Cartier, to which I reply — 

 assuredly, yes : 



" I wish Dr. Adamson and yourself the success you deserve 

 in your endeavours to save the Salmon of the lower St. Lawrence 

 from extinction. This must soon happen if some stringent le- 

 gislative measures for their protection are not enacted and enfor- 

 ced, which is the main point. In 1828, when I first fished the 

 Malbaie and Jacques Cartier rivers, I used to catch 50 or 60 Sal- 

 mon in a week in the latter, and not unfrequently a cart load of 

 Salmon of large size and Salmon Trout, averaging 31b3.,in a day ; 

 coming home to a late dinner at 8 oclock. For the last five or 

 six years, the amount of a fortnight or three weeks' fishing in the 

 Jacques Cartier has sunk from 13 or 14 to in 1855. 



" You will oblige me much by sending me a copy of the peti- 

 tions. Whatever I can do shall be done most cheerfully in 

 supporting your labours. 

 " The Governor General is, I am informed, a good Salmon fisher- 



