1865.] THE TECHNOLOGIST. 
BRITISH COLUMBIA. 57 
may be asserted without exaggeration that some of the shallower streams 
can hardly be forded without stepping upon them. Apparently pro- 
pelled by an undying desire to deposit their spawn at the head-waters of 
the various streams, vast shoals of these fish force their way annually to 
distances of 500 and 600 miles into the interior. Thousands perish 
from fatigue during this laborious ascent, and, on the subsidence of the 
waters, are left dead and decaying on the margins of the streams. On 
their way through the country they supply food for thousands of the 
natives, who, in fact, depend upon them, in a great measure, for their 
very existence, and, at the time of the great runs, repair by whole tribes 
to the favourite fishing-grounds. The salmon are caught in a variety of 
ways. In the small rivers on the coast a dam is built, stretching from 
shore to shore, and rising high enough to create a considerable waterfall. 
On the top of the dam, and half immersed in the water, is placed a rude 
but ingeniously constructed weir, which entangles the fish as they jump 
the falls. At the mouths of the large rivers, where the currents are 
slight, and the banks low, spearing from canoes is resorted to, and seine 
fishing has been recently introduced by the whites. But in the "canons" 
of the Eraser, and these are by far the most lucrative fishing grounds in 
the whole colony, rude stages are built out from the cliffs, on which the 
natives stand with large scoop-nets, and thus bale the salmon out by 
hundreds, as they steal upwards in the eddies along shore. Occasionally, 
however — once perhaps in every four or five years — the supply almost 
fails ; and although, by a wise dispensation, the natural fruits of the country 
are at such seasons proportionally more abundant, the natives never- 
theless suffer fearfully from the dearth of their staple food. 
Sturgeon, of as much as 500lbs. in weight, abound in the lower part 
of the Fraser. As these fish usually lie at the bottom of the river, the 
Indian allows his canoe to drop quietly along with the current, and 
holds perpendicularly in his hand a long pole armed with a barbed 
trident fitted loosely on the lower end. The points of this trident are 
kept a few inches above the bottom. The moment the native sees a 
sturgeon, he strikes — the trident slips off the end of the pole, but, as it 
is farther attached by a long running line to the canoe, the fish is 
eventually secured. The sturgeon are not confined to the Fraser ; and 
instances are known of their having been caught in some of the far 
inland lakes. In the interior the brooks and highland lakes swarm with 
perch and several kinds of trout. Myriads of herrings frequent the bays 
and inlets on the coast, together with cod, flounders, halibut, &c, and 
many varieties of cetaceous and shell-fish. 
But, while the waters of British Columbia thus teem with life, its 
soil, on the contrary, is by no means so thickly inhabited. It is generally 
believed here in England that its vast forests are overrun by numberless 
wild animals, and afford magnificient hunting-grounds for the sports- 
man. This belief, however, is almost wholly erroneous ; and the com- 
parative absence of all but insect life in the forest is one of the first 
