New-York daily tribune., 1858-12-27

communicating With the Strata of Fuca, are TOO
deep for cod sshne, the fish staying near the bot
tom and the depth of the water being such that
too much time would be required 10 haul the
line up.
About 300 barrels of ccdfsb have been put up
yearly in Washington Territory since lo55, when
the first attempt was made.
TIE salmon has hitherto been the most import
ant fsh ot the coast, aud as long az the ishingN
done chiefly by the Indians viii continue T. be So.
The fsh.eating savsccs on the sound depend on The
salmon for most Of their provision. The salmon
comes IN schools, aud IL caught bret at Cape
Fla.teey. aud aiterward in all the interior waters
and river of the Territory. Their seasea ID from
July to November. They are caught With seines,
spears and hooks. In rivers and of points where
the ground is coed for seinins the nets nre OHen
used and large bauls' are made. The spears
are resorted 10 in rivers; and along the banks OF
the sound ia water too deep for net or the spear,
the book has to do. The act Of catching salmon
with the hook If called "irailipg" and requires
great skill so much tbst il is said no white man has
ever learned it. The Indian bats his hook attn
boncd herring or capelem Ga small fish which
sbounds in the sound, aDd allowing the Inc 70
trail out ten fathoms behind him ne holds it il bis
night hand, while be paddles gently over the water
scarcely making ripple. AT every motion OF his
hand, as he moves II tO manage the paddle, the
bait has a corresponding motion, and the salmon
which sees II il very apt TO swallow hook and all
before he suspects danger. But lot white man
try if, and all his labor is vain. He may see the
fish playing in the crystal water behind him, but
they pay 10 attention to the bait it drags about
before them. The best trailing grounds are points
where there strong currents. The salmon
caught in the Straits of Fuca and Puget
Sound are excellent, the best in the world,
perhaps with the exception Of those caught
at The mouth of the Columbia. They are abundan:
in all the large rivers of our coast, bat they lose
their delcacy Of taste as they leave the ocean, and
when caught, as they sometimes are, nearly thou
sand miles from the sea, they are almost as inspl
as if they had been boiled for week. The lDdans
dry and smoke salmon for their use during Winter
and Spring. Several hundred barrels are picked
annually on Puget Sound by the whites, for
porta,iOn-most Of them being purchased fresh
from the savages.
The habut is, after the cod and salmon, TIE
most valuable of our fishes. Its average weight ia
go pOunds--the largest Weighing about 200. They
are caught with hook and line, from March till
August inthe Straits of Fuca and off Cape Flattery
never in Puget Sound or Hoods Canal. Her
ring salmon and clans are used as bait. The fresh
haIibut IL "a great decacy, and the parts known as
the "napcs" and fms" when picked. are also
very good. All save the "napes" aud fins" is
dried. The meat Keeps well, both dried and
picked The halbut Is smaller, but more abundant,
Cape Flattery, who dry many for their own use,
catch from ten 90 thirty fish in four or Ave hours,
averaging 200 pounds TO person in that time;
and so much as they do not wish Ia keep they find
Il ready sale for at ten cents pound at the fish
curing establishment of Strong IL Webster, LA
Nesh Bay, near the Cape. About 100 barrels Of
dried and picked halibut were put up by that house
in 1857. TIE haibut is abundant along che coast
TO the northward as far as Sitka.
in Duna uuI .a adl
cent waters but they are neither so abundant, so
large so fat nor sO good as those caT9tt in the
Atlantic. They are taken only with the seine, and
there are few places where that can be 1sed to
advantage They might be caught at all seasons of
the year, but they are most abundant from Aune TO
November, which is called the herring season. The
herring of the North Pacific are too small to be
taken with gill nets, as Is done IN the Atlantic.
small fish called the "sardine,' suPposoa hy
many TO be- a species Of herring is abundant but
not much value is commonly attached to it,
CLAIMS are so abundant in and about Puget Sound
that perhaps business might be made OF . catch
ing" them. Some Of them are very larsc-their
shells being eight inches across and their meat
weighing three pounds. This large species is
called the QuobOg. The best OF the family is the
small blue clam, which Is very tender and has 70
delicate flavor, preferred by many to that of the
Washington oyster. Then there is white clam;
not larger than half dollar, but very good. These
clans are found in all the tde-waters of Washing
ton Territory in such plenty that NO one need ever
suffer for food near them. Saltwater muscle are
also plentiful but rather tough for eatug. The
oyster is also found IN abundance in all the tide
waters adjacent 10 the Straits of fuca; but 1t is
small inferior in flavor to the Eastern oyster, and
10 business has been made of fishing for IT, J.s.H.
~~>
THE GEOGRAPHY OF WASHLNGTON