318 
ZOOLOGY. 
the very fact that others continue to ascend for a long time after. Those in which the depo¬ 
sition takes place soon after they enter, doubtless return lightened and vigorous to the sea, 
while those in which the maturation is more retarded must keep on ascending as long as the 
water is deep enough for them to swim in, when they probably remain stationary for awhile, 
unless they fall a prey to the numerous enemies always watching for them in such places. 
Those which go up the Columbia can alone be supposed to go far enough to become worn out, 
and such can never return to the ocean, but are found dead and lining the shores of the river 
in immense numbers. 
“ I cannot determine whether the salmon which are caught at Chinook Point in May are of 
the same species which are found further up in the fall, but think that they are all bent on 
the same errand, although far the greatest number enter the river in autumn. They are then 
much less fine than in spring even at the mouth of the river. I have little doubt that quite 
as good salmon may be taken in small numbers in the mouths of other rivers in spring, but 
they are not fished for on account of their scarcity. 
“As maybe supposed from the fact of their not eating in the rivers, salmon cannot be taken 
with a baited hook after entering fresh water. The mode usually adopted in shallow water is 
to pull them out by means of a strong iron hook, six inches around its bend, fastened on to a 
long pole. This is easily put under them, as they appear regardless of everything but their 
own immediate object. Another mode, chiefly followed by the Indians when they first enter 
the bays, is to spear them. They often swim, in calm weather, close to the surface, so that 
the sharp eye of the savage can detect a slight ripple produced by their back fins. The 
salmon being there quite timid, it requires much caution to enable the Indian to get a fair 
blow at them, but when he does it rarely misses its aim. With the swiftness of a musket ball 
he launches his spear, and its long barbed head piercing entirely through the fish, the shaft at 
once separates from it and floats off on the water. But a strong line holds the barb, with 
which the fish is soon pulled into the canoe and despatched by a blow on the head with a 
wooden mallet, made for the purpose. This is necessary, because the canoe used in this kind 
of fishing is often barely large enough to hold a man, and the struggles of a salmon four feet 
long would upset it, besides the probability of its jumping out. The seine is used to some 
extent in the Columbia and in Puget Sound. I once caught a fine salmon, fresh from the 
ocean, with my hands. It had entered a little brook with the rising tide, and when it fell 
attempted to get out, .but was stopped on the gravelly fiats which border Shoalwater bay, and 
where the brook spreads out into many shallow branches. I was first attracted by its violent 
flapping as it attempted to get down into salt water, and easily captured it. It was like others 
caught in the bay, quite as good as the famed Chinook salmon.”—C. 
In the preceding remarks by Dr. Cooper we find many interesting facts mentioned, some of 
which are new, and others corroborating the statements of previous observers. The wearing 
out of the fins, tails, &c., spoken of as occurring in those fish which ascend violent and rocky 
streams is not uncommon. In Richardson’s P. B. A. Ill, pp. 216, 217, there is an extract from 
Harmon’s Travels in North America. 1820, containing the following remarks on this subject: 
After stating that about the middle of August the salmon appear in the larger rivers of New 
Caledonia, (British Columbia,) lasting plentifully until about the beginning of October, - 
Harmon says : ‘ 1 For about a month they come up in crowds, and the noses of some of them 
are either worn or rotted off, and the eyes of others have perished in their heads ; yet, in this 
maimed condition, they are surprisingly alert in coming up rapids. These maimed fishes are 
