146 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 



NOTE A A. 



Some are of opinion that in the upper lakes there are salt-water 6shes which have been 

 left there since the retreat of the waters after the general deluge, and that they cannot 

 return to the ocean on account of the cataract of Niagara. A captain of a vessel, who 

 was well acquainted with the navigation of those lakes, assured me, that he could, in 

 the spring and fall, when the floods are high, go with his vessel, drawing six feet water, 

 from Black Rock in Lake Erie, to Lake Michigan, from thence up the Chicaga creek, to 

 its then junction with the Illinois river, thence down that river to the Mississippi, thence 

 to the Gulf of Mexico, and that then, of course, he could come round to New- York. 

 The sea-fish could easily proceed in this route ; if not, some of them might leap down 

 the falls and effect their escape. 



There is certainly, however, a very great resemblance between the fishes of Lake 

 Erie and the fishes of the Atlantic. 



1. The white fish; a most delicate fish, and superior to the shad in flavour. Its head 

 and mouth are like those of our shad, and so is the fish generally. 



2. Herring ; thicker through the body, and nearly the same length as that on the sea 

 coast. It resembles the Nova Scotia herring. 



3. Sheep's head; like ours, but no teeth ; a hard, dry fish. 



4. Basse ; is a Dutch word, signifying perch. Black, or Oswego, basse, a fine fish, 

 like our black fish. 



5. Rock basse; like the sea basse. 



6. White basse ; in shape like our white perch, but rather longer. The tail resembles 

 that of the rock fish, and its sides are striped. 



7. Sturgeon; is the largest fish in the lake. It has no dorsal fin. In respect to shape, 

 t is similar to that in the Hudson, and has the same habit of vaulting. 



Sturgeon have been caught in Lake Ontario weighing one hundred pounds. 



8. Sun fish. 



9. Musquenonges, or pickerel; a fine fish; it has been caught forty-five pounds in 

 weight. 



10. Pike. 



11. Very large snapping turtles. 



12. Muscles. 



