Clinton's letter on the fishes of new-york. 499 



thence to its outlet is near eight miles : Its depth varies from forty to 

 one hundred feet ; its colour is a beautiful sea green, and its current 

 descends at the rate of three miles an hour. The banks of the river are 

 precipitous, and are principally formed of a stone composed of indurated 

 red clay, which is friable on exposure to heat or frost. I at first sup- 

 posed that the washings of this red substance into the river, might have 

 communicated qualities to the water disagreeable to the salmon, but I 

 have little confidence in this surmise. This fish ascends into Wood 

 Creek, which is generally a muddy, impure stream, and it abounds in Fish 

 Creek, which discharges itself into Wood Creek, about a mile from the 

 Oneida Lake. Vast numbers are taken in that lake, and it is well known 

 that its waters are saturated with dark atoms, which render them insa- 

 lubrious,, and when drank, operate emetically, and produce fever. The 

 boatmen call this substance the lake blossom, and as it is no where else, 

 the cause must be local. Whether it proceeds from the farina of trees, 

 the ova of insects, or collections of animalculse, I could not determine 

 from a scrutinizing examination with a microscope ; but I am inclined to 

 believe, that it is conveyed into the lake by the waters of Wood Creek, 

 from rotten trees, and from the vegetable putrefactions produced in the 

 swamps and marshes through which that stream runs : At the time that 

 this unwholesome and pernicious substance abounds in the lake, salmon 

 are caught in great plenty : and if they ascend into this insalubrious 

 collection of waters, there can be nothing to prevent their visits to Nia- 

 gara river. In Gmelin's edition of the Systema Naturae, the salmon 

 family are described " as impatient of foul water, and as generally found 

 in rapid rivers. A few of them inhabit the sea, but get into rivers once 

 a year for the purpose of depositing their spawn in beds of gravel ; for 

 which purpose they will surmount many difficulties, and force themselves 

 against the most rapid streams. After spawning they return to the sea, 



