The Washington times. (Washington, D.C.) 1894-1895, 1895-06-19
CANDLES FROM THE OCEAN.
a Great Run Of Fish That Yield a
Steady Light

Frazer river people, as well as the natives
Of Alaska, are going TO be well supplied
with artificial light for some time 10 come
and the electric light industry at Sitka has
received severe blow, while the gas tanks
II Vancouver are threatened with innocu-
Ous desuetude, says the New York World
an OF this has come about through a re-
markable run Of fish which has occurred
along the coast of British Columbia and of
Alaska during the last week
They were not ordinary fish. but natural
candles, which have been found swimming
in the Pacific ocean in immense shoals. A
dispatch from Vancouver says that while
fishing lasted it was more profitable than
gold mining. One catch that was made beat
all previous records.
a gentleman rejoicing in the appropri-
ate name OF Fimie captured seventy buck
cts Of the living candles. which are called
by the natives eulachons, and he sold them
Cor ST. 90 at the market price Of % cents
bucket. When candles are being hauled
out OF the water and sold at this rate the
local gas companies might as well go ont of
business. and as a result the Standard Oil
Company on the Pacific coast has been
driven from the market temporarily.
The culachons or Candle-fsh which be-
long To the smelt family, have long been
fashionable among the natives OF Alaska.
They are largely composed of rat. When
dried they are stored away and used as
candies during the long winter After the
Alaskan has had his dinner he takes out a
dried fish. sticks the tail in a crack of the
table and touches 4 match to the nose
Then the fish burns with a bright and
steady glinmer. Thus the Alaskan poet
never burns the midnight oil, for his liter
airy labors are Illuminated by a eulachon,
which if unusually large, may burn for an
hour or more before it sputters out at
the tail
The Alaskans also use these fish at their
rude religious ceremonies Rows OF czndle-
ftsh are stuck in a board with their heads
upward. Before the ceremony an old man
lights the fish. They burn like a row Of
candles and throw a weird light over the
congregation at their devotions.
These fish are so common in the waters
OF Alaska that The natives scoop them up
with board. A large plank like paddle
is studded with nails, and an Indian
standing on The shore or in a boat sweeps
il through the water, gathering in great
numbers OF these natural candles when
the shoal is thick. At New Westminster
the catch OF candle fish was so large that
they were frozen by the ton, and it is pro-
posed o ship them to different points as an
appointment LIS " III JeOpdTulZe tie oil
monopoly all along the Pacific coast.
another advantage about these creatures
is that II they are not available as candles
they may be- eaten, and they also make an
excellent substitute for cod liver oil. They
are sofall Of fat as to be almost Transparent.
The scientific name Of these creatures
is Ihalelchthys pacificus, but none of the
natives OF Alaska would recognize them
other than as water candles They are
described as an aDadromous deep sea sal
monoid fish.
They resemble the smelt in form, but
with weaker dentition and smaller scales.
and they are OF dusky coloration, growing
20 nearly foot in length In the sDrinp,-
time immense shoals OF these fish are 10
be met with along the whole north
West coast OF America, and they ascend all
the FLYERS north OF the Columbia to spaw n
The natives OF British Columbia call the
eulachon the panfish, and use it as a candle
Dy inserting in II the pith OF q rush or
strip OF bark as wick.
1t would only need a shoal of natural
matches now TO complete the happiness
OF the Alaskan Indians and the Destruction
OF the oil monopoly in our arctic province
Ihe saBply OF ocean candles gathered this