888 — : FISHES—SALMONID. 
said over it their incantations, and in it at last awoke a living being. It was a fish, 
a curious little fellow, only half an inch long, with great, staring eyes which made 
almost half his length, and a body so transparent that he could not cast ashadow. He 
was a little salmon, a very little salmon, but the water was good, and there were flies, 
and worms, and little living creatures in abundance for him to eat, and he soon became a 
larger salmon. And there were many more little salmon with him, some larger and some 
smaller, and they all had a merry time. Those who had been born soonest and had 
grown largest used to chase the others around and bite off their tails, or, still better, 
take them by the head and swallow them whole, for, said they, ‘Even young salmon 
are good eating.’ ‘ Heads I win, tails you lose’ was their motto. Thus, what was once 
two small salmon became united into one larger one, and the process of ‘addition, 
division, and silence,’ still went on. 
‘‘ By-and-by, when all the salmon were too small to swallow the others, and too large 
to be swallowed, they began to grow restless and to sigh for a change. They saw that 
the water rushing by seemed to be in a great hurry to get somewhere, and one of them 
suggested that its hurry was caused by something good to eat at the other end of its 
course. Then all started down the stream, salmon-fashion, which fashion is to get into 
the current, head up-stream, and so to drift backward as the river sweeps along. 
‘“¢Down the Cowlitz River they went for a day and a night, finding much to interest 
them which we need not know. At last, they began to grow hungry, and, coming near - 
the shore, they saw an angle-worm of rare size and beauty floating in an eddy of the 
stream. Quick 4s thought one of the boys opened his mouth, which was well filled with 
teeth of different sizes,and put it around that angle worm. Quicker still he felt a sharp 
pain in his gills, followed by a smothering sensation, and in an instant his comrades 
saw him rise straight into the air. This was nothing new to them, for they often leaped 
out of the water in their games of hide-and-seek, but only to come down again witb a 
loud splash not far from where they went out. But this one never came back, and the 
others went on their course wondering. 
‘At last they came to where the Cowlitz and Columbia join, and they were almost 
lost for a time, for they could find no shores, and the bottom and the top of the water were 
so far apart. Here they saw other and far larger salmon in the deepest part of the current, 
turning neither to the right nor left, but swimming straight on up jast asrapidly as they 
could. And these great salmon would not stop tor them, and would not lie and float 
withthe current. They had no time to talk, even in the simple sign-language by which 
fishes express theirideas, and no time to eat. They had an important work before them 
and the time was short. So they went on up the river, keeping their great purposes to 
themselves, and our little salmon and his friends from the Cowlitz drifted down the 
stream. . 
‘‘ By-and by the water began to change. It grew denser, and no longer flowed rapidly 
along, and twice a day it used to turn about and flow the other way. And the shores 
disappeared, and the water began to have a different and peculiar flavor—a flavor which 
seemed to the salmon much richer and more inspiring than the glavier-water of their 
native Cowlitz. Andthere were many curious things to see; crabs with hard shells and 
savage faces, but so good when crushed andswallowed! Then there were luscious squids 
swimming about, and, to a salmon, squids are like ripe peaches and cream for dinner. 
There were great companies of delicate sardines and herring, green and silvery, and it 
was such fun to chase them and to capture them. 
