SALMON AND TROUT CULTURE IN NATAL. 59 



considered sufficient by the Legislative Council to warrant the 

 continuance of money aid, and for the second year the ova of 

 three sorts of trout and one kind of salmon were procured. 



The trout consisted of the same kinds as those first imported, 

 with the addition of 10,000 American Brook-Trout, S. fon- 

 tinalis ; the number of salmon eggs, S. salar, was 20,000. 

 The American trout gave bad results; most of the ova perished, 

 and of two hundred hatched only thirty reached the stage for 

 turning out. These were placed in a small stream in the Karkloof, 

 and as none have since been seen it is uncertain whether any sur- 

 vive. The results attending the ova of S.fario and S. levenensis 

 were similar to the first year — about 4500 trout-fry were turned 

 out, the majority being S. levenensis ; in lots of 500 they were 

 put into the Umgeni, Umkomanzi, Mooi, Bushman's, Umsindusi, 

 Umvoti, and other rivers. 



The whole of the salmon-fry, about nine hundred, were turned 

 into the 'Mcobene, a tributary of the Umkomanzi, at a spot a few 

 miles above the junction. The Umkomanzi is without large falls, 

 and the fish could easily travel down to the sea and back to its 

 upper reaches, as far as obstacles in the river are concerned ; but 

 doubts have been expressed as to the suitability of the temperature 

 of the Natal rivers for salmon, and in addition we are quite in 

 the dark as to the possibility of a salmon surviving in the tem- 

 perature of the Indian Ocean, whilst we are cognisant of the fact 

 that the Indian Ocean abounds with sharks, porpoises, and other 

 enemies. 



During 1892, the third year of the enterprise, 180,000 ova 

 were brought out in two shipments. The second consignment 

 was unfortunate in being delayed through an accident to the 

 machinery of the ship on which they were being conveyed. 

 Better fortune attended the English Brook- Trout last year, 

 whilst S.fontinalis were again unfortunate, the results being 

 barren. Of the S. fario and S. levenensis, hatched in 1892, 

 quantities of four to five hundred have lately been put into the 

 Bushman's, Umkomanzi, Ilovo, Lotine, Mooi, Klip, Incandu, 

 Ingogo, Sunday, and Lion's rivers. The balance of two or three 

 thousand has been distributed among applicants to put into 

 various small streams. Only some three hundred salmon 

 reached the fry stage, and they have again been put into the 

 Umkomanzi. 



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