196 NORTHERN ZOOLOGY. 



that though deprived of bread and vegetables, one may live wholly upon this fish for 

 months, or even years, without tiring. Its good qualities were known as early as 

 the time of La Plontan, who says, " Les poissons des Lacs sont meilleures que 

 ceux de la mer et des rivieres, surtout les Poissons blancs ; qui surpassent toutes 

 les autres especes en bonte et en delicatessen The colour of its flesh is bluish- 

 Avhite at all seasons, changing to a pure opaque white when boiled, whence its 

 appellation of " white-fish," for though there are many other white-fleshed fish in 

 the northern waters of America, this is by far the most important one. 



In certain lakes, and in some seasons, the Attihawmeg is loaded with fat, par- 

 ticularly about the shoulders, where it produces a hump. After the spawning season 

 its flesh becomes lean and rather watery, but not unwholesome, and it may be im- 

 proved by suspension in the open air for a month or six weeks. Though the cool- 

 ness of the weather, at that time of the year, prevents putrefaction from proceeding 

 far, the fish acquires a strong taint, while it becomes richer, firmer, and altogether 

 more agreeable to the palates of the icthyophagists of the fur countries than when 

 fresh. The mode of cooking the Attihawmeg is generally by boiling. After the 

 fish is cleaned, and the scales scraped off, it is cut into several pieces, which are 

 put into a thin copper kettle, with water enough to cover them, and placed over a 

 slow fire. As soon as the water is on the point of boiling, the kettle is taken off, 

 shook by a semicircular motion of the hand backwards and forwards, and replaced 

 on the fire for a short time. If the shaking be not attended to exactly at the proper 

 moment, or be unskilfully performed, the fish coagulating too suddenly becomes 

 comparatively dry to the taste, and the soup is poor. The stomach, when cleaned 

 and boiled with the rest of the fish, is a favourite morsel with the voyageurs. 



The Attihawmeg does not exist in the St. Lawrence below the falls of Niagara, 

 and, according to Mr. Hutchins, it is never seen in the tidal waters of Hudson's 

 Bay * ; but it is common enough, and of fine quality, in the mouths of the Mac- 

 kenzie, Coppermine, and other rivers that fall into the Arctic Sea. We did not 

 actually take any in the salt water, but it most probably can live indifferently 

 in fresh or salt water, like several species of truttce, and coregoni that occasion- 

 ally wander to the sea, though they are not strictly anadromous. Many lakes, 

 either absolutely land-locked, or cut off from the sea by lofty cascades which fish 

 cannot surmount, contain fine Attihawmeg, together with the Round-fish, an allied 

 species to be afterwards described, which we also found in the Arctic Sea. In 



* The " Titymeg as big as a Herring,'' mentioned in the narrative of the Voyage of the Dobbs and California as 

 abounding in Hayes and Nelson rivers, within reach of the tidal waters of Hudson's Bay, is, I believe, of a different spe- 

 cies, named by Mr. Hutchins H'inepeg-attihawmeg, and by Pennant Sea-guiniad. 





