ANGUILLIFORMES. 269 



tliis fish excited, proves that it is very rare in those parts. I never saw any kind 

 of eel in the rivers of the Fur countries, nor heard of one existing there. Although 

 the gill-nets used hy the natives and fur traders in fishing have the meshes too 

 large to retain an eel, that fish could scarcely have escaped their notice did it exist 

 in any numbers in the northern waters. The non-existence of the eel in the waters 

 of the Fur countries is the more remarkable from its being an inhabitant of the 

 lakes and rivers of the southern part of Greenland, though in small numbers. 

 Fabricius says it is called neemeremk by the natives, and that the largest which 

 he saw was thirty inches long and six in circumference. It is an object of abhor- 

 rence to the Greenlanders, who will not eat it. According to Vancouver, " a small 

 sort of eel " of a yellowish-green colour and extremely good flavour, inhabits Port 

 Discovery, in the straits of Juan da Fuca. 



The following account of the mode of fishing for eels, which prevails above 

 Quebec for fifteen leagues along the St. Lawrence, is from La Hontan. " At 

 low water they stretch out hurdles to the lowest water-mark, and that space of 

 ground being then dry by the retreat of the water, is covered over and shut up by 

 hurdles. Between the hurdles they place, at certain distances, instruments called 

 ruches, from the resemblance they bear to a bee-hive, besides baskets and little 

 nets belayed to a pole, which they call bouteux and bouts de quievres. Then they 

 let all stand in this fashion for three months in the spring, and two in the autumn , ? 

 Now as often as the tide comes in, the eels looking out for shallow places, and 

 making towards the shore, crowd in among the hurdles, which hinder them after- 

 wards to retire with the ebb water ; upon that they are forced to bury themselves 

 in the above-mentioned engines, which are sometimes so over crammed that they 

 break. When it is low water, the inhabitants take out the eels, which are certainly 

 the biggest and largest in the world. They salt them in barrels, where they will 

 keep a whole year without spoiling, and indeed they give an admirable relish in all 

 sauces, nay, there is nothing that the council of Quebec desires more than that this 

 fishery should be plentiful in all years." (La Hontan, An. 1684. Pink. Coll.) 

 Kalm, travelling through Canada nearly ninety years afterwards, drew up a de- 

 scription of the same fishery, which we shall also quote, as it differs from the pre- 

 ceding in the details, and gives us some further insight into the habits of the eel. 

 " They place hedges along the shore made of twisted osiers, so close that no fish 

 can get through them, and from one foot to a yard high, according to the different 

 depth of the water. For this purpose they choose such places where the water runs 

 off during the ebb, and leaves the hedges quite dry. Within this enclosure they 

 place several weels, or fish traps, in form of cylinders, but broader below. They 



