of eight hundred barrels; and this after the Indian manner 
of catching them, as before described. The finest of the 
salmon are those caught nearest the sea. The settlers and 
Indians told us that the salmon as they pass up the river 
become poorer, and when they reach the tributaries of the 
upper Columbia, they are exceedingly exhausted, and have 
their bodies and heads much disfigured and cut, and their 
tails and fins worn out by contact with the rocks. Many of 
the salmon in consequence die: these the Indians are in the 
habit of drying for food, by hanging them on the limbs of 
trees. This is to preserve them from the wolves, and to be 
used in time of need, when they are devoured, though rotten 
and full of maggots. The fish of the upper waters are said 
to be hardly edible, and, compared with those caught at 
the mouth of the Columbla, are totally different in flavor. 
The latter are the richest and most delicious fish I ever 
recollect to have tasted: if any thing, they were too fat 
to eat, and one can perceive a difference even in those taken 
at the Willamette Falls, which, however, are the best kind 
for salting. There are four different kinds of salmon, which 
frequent this river in different months: the letest appear 
in October, and is the only kind that frequents the Cowlitz 
river. The finest sort is a dark silvery fish, of large size, 
three or four feet long, and weighing forty to fifty pounds. 
There is one point which seems to be still in doubt, namely, 
where the spawn of the fish is deposited. It is asserted, 
and generally believed, that none of the old fish ever return 
to the sea again. It has not been ascertained whether the 
