THE SALMON. 
443 
marked approximately by lat. 40^°, but they may be regarded as partially 
acclimated, through the efforts of the Fish Commission, in the Delaware 
and in the Susquehanna, which flows into the Atlantic in lat. 3 7 0 , and 
individuals have even been taken in the Potomac and in North Carolina. 
The Merrimac river was once full of these fish, and there are Salmon 
streams in Maine, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, Canada, 
and Labrador. They occur in all the tributaries of the St. Lawrence to 
Niagara Falls, and probably are found in Ffudson’s Bay and on the arctic 
coast of the continent. 
Wonderful things are said about their abundance in colonial days. 
Every one has heard of the epicurean apprentices of Connecticut who 
would eat Salmon no oftener than twice in the week. “ The shad, bass, 
and Salmon more than half support the province. From the number of 
seines employed to catch the fish passing up the locks one might be led to 
suppose that the whole must be stopped, yet in six months’ time they 
return to the sea with such multitudes of young ones as to fill the Connecti¬ 
cut River for many days, and no finite being can number them.” These 
are the words of Peters in 1783, in his “History of Connecticut.” 
Like many other good ones, this tale seems to be prehistoric, and was 
doubtless told of some other fish in the times when our Aryan ancestors 
dwelt on the plains of Central Asia. You may find it in Fuller’s 
“ Worthies of England,” where it has the archaic and indefinite flavor 
which is so evident now, two centuries later. “ Plenty of them in this 
country,” wrote Fuller, “ though not in such abundance as in Scotland, 
where servants (they say) indent with their masters not to be fed therewith 
above twice a week.” 
Day has pointed out, the frequent eating of Salmon, and especially,of 
kelts was thought conducive to leprosy which after the Crusades in the 
Middle Ages, was a formidable disease in Europe. Capt. Franks writing 
of Stirling in the time of Cromwell, remarked that “ the burgomasters, as 
in many parts of Scotland, are compelled to reinforce an ancient statute 
that commands all masters, and others not to force or compel any servant or 
apprentice to feed upon Salmon more than once a week. ’’ 
Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Maine have many Salmon rivers; 
New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Connecticut, a few very good ones. 
The natural limit of the southward range of the Salmon appears to be in 
lat. 41 °, near the Connecticut River, where they were once extremely 
