90 CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE NATURAL HISTORY OF ALASKA. 



Island the Codfish are very numerous at the present day. They attain immense size there. I saw 

 one individual in February, 1881, that weighed just out of the water an even thirty pounds. The 

 fish was fat and vigorous. It was caught in water of about twenty-five fathoms. The natives ot 

 Attu inform me that the Cod has not long been an inhabitant of the waters around that island. Its 

 advent was near 1873. Previous to that time individuals had been obtained but rarely, and many 

 of the men had not seen a Cod previous to that time. At Atkha Island the Cod also attains a great 

 size. I have never seen a sickly fish at that place. In the entrance to the "Old Harbor" (Starry 

 Gaven), on the north side, the old men repair in summer to catch the Cod to dry for winter. They 

 assert that they are plentiful and of larger size than any other locality near that island. 



At Unalashka these fish are very abundant and here unhealthy fish are quite common, though 

 on the outside of the northeast point of the island large, healthy fish are taken in greatest abundance. 

 The supply among the Aleutian Islands being always equal to the demand made on them. The na- 

 tives frequently sell the surplus fish to the company, which salts them to send to the Pribylof 

 Islands for the use of the people there. Of course only large fish are bought. The price paid is 

 five cents in trade or money for each fish in the fresh, cleaned state. The size of the runs of fish 

 depends greatly on the season and depth of water from which they are obtained. The larger fish 

 are obtained from the deeper water. The average weight of the fish among the Aleutian waters 

 Avill be about twelve pounds. Individuals of 18 to 24 pounds are quite common, while the majority 

 of the catch will be about fifteen to sixteen pounds. It is possible that the off-shore fish will 

 average one or two pounds more than the shore fish. Myriads of small Cod are to be seen round 

 the wharves at Unalashka during the latter part of September, and all of October. These bite 

 readily at the hook. 



A piece of other fish is generally used for bait for catching Cod. The Codfish is one of the 

 principal food- fishes of the Aleuts. They frequently go out to the banks, some miles off shore, and 

 in the course of a few hours return with their canoe loaded down to the water's edge with fine fish. 

 They prepare great quantities of these fish for winter's use by drying them. Their manner of 

 preparing them is as follows : The head is partly severed from the body at the throat, the gills are 

 taken out, a slit along the belly and the entrails are removed, the backbone is cut on each side 

 and either removed as far as the tail, which is left to hold the two sides together to allow them to 

 be hung over a pole, or else it is left in and dried with the body. When fish are abundant this is 

 rarely done. The sides are then cut transversely through the flesh to the skin and the body then 

 hung up by the tail to dry. During rainy weather an old seal-skin is tied over the bunches of 

 fish to keep them dry as possible. When the fish are sufficiently dry they are stored away for 

 future use. The ravens have a fine time watching the stages of drying fish, for if there is any- 

 thing which a raven loves it is a fish that an Aleut has hung up to dry. The natives of Attu will 

 not permit cats to be kept on the island, because the cats, which they formerly had, ate or des- 

 troyed more fish in one night than an Aleut woman could hang up in a day. It would be interest- 

 ing to know how many Cod are taken by the Aleuts west of Unimak Pass. If each fisherman re- 

 ported daily to the " Tyoue " the number taken, the amount could be given to the agent of the com- 

 pany there, and at the end of the year a very nearly approximate total could be given. 



The appearance of the Cod is extremely variable. The darker-colored fish are generally the 

 older ones, and most of them have a dark patch at the base of the head. The general color above is 

 a variable dirty brown to dusky. The sides are pale brown to gray, becoming nearly pure white on 

 the belly and lower side of the head. Back of the anal fin the color is generally the same as that of 

 the middle of the sides of the body. The older fish have the more uniform colors, while the middle 

 size and younger fish have the colors more distinct and the blotches are less confluent. 



The ground color of the fish is also variable, being gray, yellowish, plumbeus, or even sooty. 



The size and shape of the head are also extremely variable; in fact scarcely any two fish caught 

 the same day will have similar heads. 



18. Tilesia gracilis (Tiles) Swainson. (See Fig. III.) 

 This species is known to the natives and white residents of Saint Michael's district as VdJch nya, 

 a word of uncertain origin, but supposed to have been introduced from Siberia, as it is used by the 



