Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 5.djvu/278

268 fastened round a hoop and held by a pole twelve or fifteen feet long, is then dropped into the channel, which it exactly fits, and the current of the water carrying it down, the poor salmon swims into it without being aware, when the individual who watches the net instantly draws it and flings the fish on shore. The handle of the net is secured by a rope to the platform, lest the force of the water should drive it out of the fisher's hand. The hoop is made of Acer Circinatum, the net of the bark of an Apocynum, which is very durable and tough, and the pole of pine wood. The salmon is of good quality, generally weighing from fifteen to twenty-five pounds, sometimes more. I measured two the first was three feet five inches long from the snout to the tip of the tail, and ten inches broad at the thickest part, it weighed thirty-five pounds; the other was three feet four inches in length, nine inches broad, and a little lighter. Both were purchased for two inches of tobacco (about half an ounce), and value two pence. In England the same quantity of salmon could not be obtained under £2 or £3, nor would it eat so nicely crisped (a great point with epicures) as mine has done; when cooked under the shade of a princely pine far removed from the abodes of civilized life. It is wonderful how much comfort, at least how much of the feeling of it, can consist with such a place, and under such circumstances, where I have been surrounded by hundreds of individuals who had never seen such a white face as mine before, and whose intentions, were I only to judge by their weapons and appearance, were very hostile. Great was their astonishment when, after having eaten my salmon, I prepared an effervescing draught, and swallowed it, boiling, as they believed. Their belief in good and bad spirits made them consider me as one of the latter class, and when, besides drinking this "boiling water," they saw me light a tobacco pipe with my lens, they called me Olla Piska, which in Chenook language signifies Fire. A pair of spectacles which I placed on my nose caused no less surprise, and the hand was immediately laid on the mouth in token of dread and astonishment. On sandy shores the salmon is caught as