, 1883-10-25
Black Cod Again.
NIcroEI>, b. C., Oct. Il. lSS3.

" nav 80 'i''EAt litll NJ'A''H 'ii'i
lofts Islands. | viii give some more
facts concerning these delicious food
fish with the hope that some OF our
citizens viii engage i'll the fishing
which must prove a lucrative business. /
Already the merchants and trades Of
Victoria and the northern coast nave
become Interested III these fish. and
number Of vessels Will be sent north
next spring. But There Is no ucccs-
-ity for or citizens going further
than Cape FIattery, and in the deep
waters of the entrance to Fuca Straits
for the black cod. or bcShorc Of the
NLakahs and the tribes on the west
coast of Vancouver Island. where
they abound, and can be taken III any
quantity from Cape Flattcry TO the
Arctic Ocean. They are very pleuti-
ful il the waters Of Alaska, particu-
larly in the Prince Of Wales archi-
pelago, at kazan. where the late
Charles BarUnovich used to take them
and salt them. and at kaigani and III
all the deep waters OF the tiords and
inlets clean up in the Chilkat region.
WHY THE INDIANS DO NOT CATCH THEM
FOR SALE.
The Haidas are the only tribe who
seemed to have tished for the black
cod, or skill, as they call them, and
they used to extract the oil for food.
This is similar to the eulachOn oil OF
grease which eongeals at high tenn
perature. The Haidas formerly
caught great numbers of the skill and
made their own food grease; but at
present they prefer to trade with the
Mass river Indians for euluchon
grease, and have in a measure aban-
doned the fishing. The Makahs do
not fish for the black cod for food
grease because they kill whales, and
whale oil is to them what butter and
lard are to the whites. The Indians
on the main land do not fish for
them as they make their food oil
from the eulachon and herring: and
besides there is superstition segard-
ing the black cod among some tribes
which prevents them from fishing for
them in large quantities. An anec-
dote which was told me today will
illustrate my meaning.
The late Captain Brotchie, for
whom Brotchie's ledge or reef was
named, on one occasion in 1852 OF '53,
fitted out small vessel to go north
for eulachon- He took plenty of salt
and filled his vessels hold with
tifteen-g kegs in which to pack
the eulachon, and went to knights
Inlet, where those fish are plentiful
in the spring When he arrived the
Indians utterly refused either to sell
him any eulachon OF to allow him to
catch them himself. At last some
of the principle men who were friend
ly told him that the kwahkewlth, the
name the Knights Inlet Indians call
the black cod, were very plentiful
and fat, and that he could have
any of them, as they came in with
the eulachon in great numbers. Capt.
BrOtchie succeeded in getting enough
to fill all his barrels and started for
Victoria, but before he got out of the
inlet some of the old medicine men
said that if the white man carried off
the kwahkewlth the eulachon would
be ashamed and never come back.
So party of young Indians followed
Capt. Brotchie and boarded his yes
sci and smashed in the head of every
barrel and emptied the fish overheard,
and Capt. Brotchie returned to Vic
toria with his empty barrels.
No one since then has attempted
to put up these fish in any quantity,
and the four boxes I have SEM to
Washington containing five hundred
pounds dry-salted black cod are the
first ever shipped in marketable
condition. The plan I adopted was
to split the fish like cod fish, salt
them in vat with plenty of Liver
pool coarse-fine sack salt, and after
they had been two weeks in pickle,
rinsed them IN their own brine, then
piled them, backs up, and put heavy
weights on top to press out the brine.
They remained in pile four days, and
were then firm and easily handled.
1 then packed them in boxes with
dry salt to keep them solid, and they
reached Victoria in perfect condition
and have proved a success.
This method will be an economical
one for poor settles on our coast. as
the expense of barrels and coopers is
avoided, and any man who can handle
an ak can split out the material from
spruce tree, which is the best wood
for the purpose. All that IS wanted
is salt to cure the fish, and nails to
fasten the boxes. A box holding a
hundred pounds of fish will be found
the most convenient size for market.
THE BLACK COD DOES NOT RUST.
Some of my friends have expressed
the opinion that the black cod, being
SO very fat, will easily rust like the
mackerel when taken out of pickle.
But 1 have found it otherwise. Il
gave one of the fish to George Vienna,
the principle fish dealer in Victoria,
aud he has had it hanging in his
stall exposed to the weather two
weeks. Today Mr.. Anderson, the
TnSDactoT of Fisheries in Pr;+;.l