IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 1.1 1.25 12.8 ■iO |Z5 2.2 £ 11° 12.0 I if y r a ^ /A '/ Photographic Sciences Corporalion ■^^' 33 V/BT h^AIN St MIT V/eBSTeR>. ' 14SS0 (71«)«72-4503 '^ CIHM/ICMH Microfiche Series. CIHIVI/ICMH Collection de microfiches. Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions / Institut Canadian de microreproductions historiques Technical and Bibliographic Notes/Notes techniques et bibliographiques The Institute has attempted to obtain the best original copy available for filming. Features of this copy which may be bibliographically unique, which may alter any of the images in the reproduction, or which may significantly change the usual method of filming, are checited below. D D D D D D Coloured covers/ Couverture de couleur I I Covers damaged/ Couverture endommagie Covers restored and/or laminated/ Couverture restaur^e et/ou pellicul6e I I Cover title missing/ Le titre de couverture manque I I Coloured maps/ Cartes g6ographiques en couleur Coloured ink (i.e. other than blue or black)/ Encre de couleur (i.e. autre que bleue ou noire) I I Coloured plates and/or illustrations/ Planches et/ou illustrations en couleur Bound with other material/ Relii avec d'autres documents Tight binding may cause shadows or distortion along interior margin/ La re liure serrde peut causer de I'ombre ou de la distortion le long de la marge int^rieure Blank leaves ridded during restoration may appear within the text. Whenever possible, these have been omitted from filming/ II se peut que certainer .ages blanches ajouttes lors d'une restauration :pparai8sent dans le texte, mais, lorsque cela ttait possible, ces pages n'ont pas iti filmies. Additional comments:/ Commentaires suppl6mentaires; L'Institut a microfilm^ le meilleur exemplaire qu'il lui a 6t6 possible de se procurer. Les details de cet exemplaire qui sont peut-Atre uniques du point de vue bibliographique, qui peuvent modifier une image reproduite, ou qui peuvent exiger une modification dans la m^thode normale de filmage sont indiqute ci-dessous. □ Coloured pages/ Pages de couleur D D D i/ D D D This item is filmed at the reduction ratio checked below/ Ce document est filmi au taux de reduction indiquA ci-dessous. Pages damaged/ Pages endommagdes Pages restored and/or laminated/ Pages restaur^es et/ou pellicul6es Pages discoloured, stained or foxed/ Pages d6color6es, tachet^es ou piqu^es Pages detached/ Pages ddtachdes Showthrough/ Transparence Quality of print varies/ Qualiti indgaie de I'impression Includes supplementary material/ Comprend du matiriei suppiimentaire I — I Only edition available/ Seule Edition disponible Pages wholly or partially obscured by errata slips, tissues, etc., have been refilmed to ensure the best possible image/ Les pages totalement ou partiellement obscurcies par un feuillet d'errata, une pelure, etc., ont M filmies Ik nouveau de fapon d obtenir la meilleure image possible. Tl to Til pc of fill Of be th( sic oti fin sic or Th shi Til w» Ml dif en be rig re< m« 10X 14X 18X 22X 26X 30X y 12X 1«X aox 24X 2tX 32X Th« copy film«d h«r« hat b««n reproduced thanks to tha ganarosity of: Library OivUion Proviricial Archivci of British Columbia L'axamplaira film* f ut raproduit grica A la g*n4roaitA da: Library Divition Provincial Archival of British Columbia Tha imagaa appearing hara ara tha bast quality possibia considaring tha condition and lagibility of tha original copy and in kaaping with tha filming contract spacif ications. Original copies in printed paper covers are filmed beginning with the front cover end ending on the last page with a printed or illustreted impres- sion, or the beck cover when appropriate. All other originel copies are filmed beginning on the first psge with a printed or illustrated impres- sion, and ending on the last page with a printed or illustrated impression. The lest recorded frame on each microfiche shall contain tha symbol ^»> (meaning "CON- TINUED"), or the symbol y (meaning "END"), whichever applies. Mops, plates, cherts, etc.. mey be filmed at different reduction retios. Those too large to be entirely included in one exposure are filmed beginning in the upper left hand corner, left to right and top to bottom, as many frames as required. The following diagrams iliustrats the method: Les imagaa suivantes ont At* reproduites ovec le plus grand soin, compta tenu de la condition at de la nattet* de I'exemplaire film*, et en conformit* avac les conditions du contret de filmage. Les exempleires originaux dont la couvarture en papier est imprimAe S'^nt filmte en commenpant par la premier plat et en terminent soit par la darniire pege qui comporte une empreinte d'impression ou d'illustrotion, soit par le second plet, selon le cas. Tous les eutres exempleires originaux sont filmte an commandant par la premiire page qui comporte une empreinte d'impression ou d'illustration at en terminent par la darniire page qui comporte une telle empreinte. Un des symboles suivants apparaitra sur la darniire image de cheque microfiche, selon le ces |0 symbole — ► signifie "A SUIVRE". le symbole V signifie "FIN". Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc., pauvant Atra fiimAs A des teux de reduction diffArents. Lorsque le document est trop grand pour Atra raproduit en un seul clich*. il est film* * partir de I'angls supAriaur gauche, da gauche i droita, et de haut an bes. en prenant le nombre d'images nicesseire. Les diegrammes suivants illustrant la mAthoda. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 /- u> f Cliaries Dickeue.] ALL THE YEAR HOUND, [^^aa•h 31, ISGH.] 2G9 "That's not the point. There are men in the world to whom you miglit show the monu- ment in Trafalgar-square at noonday and tliey wouldn't see it." "Indeed — yes," said the captain, with ex- traordinary eagerness, heartily assenting to this proposition, tiiough he did not in the least see its bearing upon Dr. Slader. But the truth was, Mr. Tillotson was infi- nitely better, and from that day began to re- cover ; yet very slowly. At the door Sir Duncan stopped, as if he liad suddenly recollected something. " By tiie way," he said, " the little girl who came to me last night — very cleverly done, too, it was— I wanted" to ask you about her. Deli- cate, eh ?" " Well, do you know," said uncle Diamond, confidentially, " I think so, now and then. She mi/s she's not." '" Of course," said Sir Duncan ; " we all know that. Tender about here ?" he added, laying his hand on his waistcoat. "Exactly," said Captain Diamond, with eager eyes; "you're like a prophet, doctor. And I was "thinking, do you know, if you'd just drop down and jiay her a visit, with that trumpet thing they use." " Stethoscope, my friend. Call things by their right names." "Exactly — of course. Sir Duncan, and bring — it," said uncle Diamond, not caring to trust liimself with that word ; " and, doctor— /jro/t's- siomlly, I mean," he added, his fingers seeking the chain purse. " Oil, I know. Very well," said Sir Duncan, " I will. Give me your address. I say, captain, lucky Lady Dennison is in the country — eh ? I wouldn't have her know of my trip in the cab last night for a fifty pound-note — eh ? Ha ! ha !" "Ah, Sir Duncan!" said the captain, enjoying it ; "a sad fellow, I'm afraid. You could tell us some stories — eh P" He came to the captain's house in a day or two. Mr. Tillotson was mending fast. He sat and talked. " Send up for her," he said, gaily ; " I want to see my cab-fellow." "Uncommonly good of him," said Captain Diamond afterwards. " Cab-fellow, you know — a tip-top alive fellow, that has read boo! s.'' But of late, since Mr. Tillotson's recovery iiad been assured, she had grown shy and retiring ; perhaps a little ashamed of her forwardness; perhaps, too, under the open scorn of Martha Malcolm. At the door a cough revealed her. "Come up here, ma'am," said the doctor, going towards her ; " I have you now " "What do you want, sir?" she said, colour- ing, and struggling to escape. " What, d'ye forget the cab— eh ? There's gratitude ! What's the meaning of that cough ? vVlicn did you get it ? Here, does that hurt you, or that— eh f" lie was going through the usual strokes of his profession, and had the " trumpet thing" in his hand. "Don't be foolish, had discreetly retired. said he. Tlie captain He met Sir Duncan in the hall, the chain purse in his hand. " Thanks," said the physician, taking his hand as if he was giving the Masonic grasp. "Look here, captain. AVe must look after our little friend up-stairs. Flannel jacket to begin, and, when the winter comes, pack her off to Men- tone, or some of those places. Mind, not an hour's delay after the winter begins. Fact i?, rather sensitive here. Hereditary consumption, you know." " God bless me !" said the captain, with a face of grief. " Not in her, old soldier," said the doctor ; "in her father, and so-and-so. Must come down to her in time, unless very careful." In course of time Mr. Tillotson became "convalescent," and was seen, very pale and a little weak, at the bank. Mr. Bowater wuj de- lighted to see him. " An excellent colleague," he always said ; "always go in the shafts till he dropped. In fact, we'd given him the Great Bhootan Report to work tl^^•ough, and he went to it with too much love, you know. Very glad to see you, Tillotson. I assure you no one has been allowed to touch the papers since. I gave special orders. Fetch down the "'Miootan papers for Mr. Tillot- son. Mackenzie nas been here every day since. There's a fire in the room, too." Mr. Mackenzie was in attendance. With a sort of sigh, and yet with a certain alacrity, Mr. Tillotson went to the work at once. In truth, while he lay on his bed, getting better, he had reflected a good deal. He was naturally a religious man, and had been reading what are called " good books " — at least one, which is really the best of all good books — the "De Imitatione" — not the maimed, garbled version which has on many occasions been " prepared " for English readers, just as wines are " prepared " for English drinkers, but the old, ripe, unadulterated Latin. As he read, perhaps the human passion — ^so absorbing as to wreck a whole life and nearly bring him into the Temple of Death —seemed to take less propor- tions. Perhaps there was a little shame, too, at the slight on the Mystery of his old great sorrow. But as he read, and as he grew better, it seemed as if what he had passed through was not at all so near, and was a thing lie could look back to far more calmly. And therefore he entered into business with Mr. Mackenzie with some zest. "As we finished with him," said that gen- tleman, " so we begin with Mr. lloss. His friend was here only a week ago, and I must say they have behaved in a very gentlemanly way." " Gentlemanly ! After those inhuman bar- barities " " Humours. Well, after all, still, we must not believe everything we hear, especially in those places. The lower Indians are notorious 270 [March 31, ISGC] ALL THE YEAR ROUND. [Conducted by for Hieir want of truth. His friend Grainger lias ilischarged all his obligations to the bank iu the fullest way." " But you told me witli such confidence " "Pray forgive me, sir, but I hope you liaven't been quoting me. It would injure me a great deal. Wild oats must be sown somewhere, and, as his friend says, he may bo soon mar- ried to a very desirable pairson," added Mr. Mackenzie, falling into his Scotch accent. "I cannot vooch for all the idle stories that float through a settlement." "Going to be married," repeated Mr. Til- lotson, mechanically. " Ah, at last ! And when ?" " I think he said immediately, but I cannot be sartain. A very beautiful creatur, too." Here Thomas ii Kemjiis came back strongly upon Mr. Tillotson's mind with a little commen- tary, " Weary nights, weeks and months, and nervous fever — all for this !" THE SALMON HARVEST. Salmox are harvested and garnered by the savages in North-West America as^-we in the civilised world reap the "golden grain" and store it for winter use. In the Columbia river, the salmon harvest commences early in June; in tiie Eraser, east of the Cnscade range of mountains, somewhat later. The modes by which salmon are captured by the Indians in tiiese immense streams are diiferent in every detail, and show how a slight change in the geological features of a valley may, oy altering the character of the streams flowing through it, change at the same time the habits, systems of fishing, nets, canoes, and wigwams, of the natives. The Columbia, as it hastens on from the bergs and floes of the Rocky Mountains to its home in the Pacific, offers numerous impedi- ments to the salmon's ascent, although none of them are insurmountable. When the summer sun melts the snow that crowns every hill, and fills the valleys and ravines, the mass of water trickles in myriad currents into the larger stream, causing the river to rise rapidly, often thirty-five feet above its winter level. Tliis increase of bulk enables the fisii (ascending to spawn) to clear falls, and thread their way tiirough narrow tortuous channels, that would be imprssable save for this admirable provision. Tlius reduced to simpl^ hindrances, the wily savage turn them to good account, and during the " run " harvests his crop of " swimming silver." The first salmon entering the Columbia are taken at Chinook-point, and are said to be the best that are caught. These fish usually find their way to the markets of San Francisco. This once famous fishery is situated in a snug bay, just inside the sand-bar which renders the entrance for vessels of any tonnage into the river, except during the calmest weather, both difficult and dangerous ; the very bay in which the ill-fated ship Tonquin cast anchor ; on her decks stood a terror-stricken crew and band of adventurers — the subsequent founders of famed Astoria. The unpretending village of wooden houses, nestling amid the pine-trees, little better than it was fifty year ago, is still visible to the traveller, as the huge ocean steamers splash past it, en route to Portland. Tlie Indian fishermen are gone ; the pale-face and his fire-water have done iheir work ; a few salmon are still speared and netted ; but the grand army now pass the outpost unmolested, and, marcliing on, have nothing to stay or hinder their progress until they reach the first rapids, called the Cascades, about one hundred and eighty miles from the sea. At this point the whole river forces its way through tlie Cascade range of mountains. Dash- ing in headlong haste for many miles, whirling round masses of angular rock, like snrall islands, rushing tiirough narrow channels and over vast boulders, not even a canoe, manned by the most skilful Indian paddles, dares risk its navigation. On either side rise walls of rock six hundred feet in height, on whose bare face the pine clings, as if it sprouted from the solid stone; small waterfalls, too numerous to count, tumble down like lines of silver over the basaltic columns and coloured tuftas ; hence con cs the name the rapids hear, and perhaps the mountain range — the Cascades. The scenery of the lower Columbia, betwixt this gap (like a Titan canal cut through the mountains) and the flat region surrounding Port Vancouver, is indescribably lovely. The mighty stream rolls on its course, after clearing the rapids, past bold promontories a thousand feet high, under long lines of cliff thickly clothed with pine and cedar ; the monotonous, impene- trable foliage, like an ocean of sombre green, here and there relieved by open grassy flower- decked glades; thus on, by level swampy meadows frino-ed with the trembling poplar, the black birch, the willow, and vine maple, until it widens out into a vast estuary at its mouth, inside the sand-bar, seven miles across. The Indian, ever ready with a legend to ac- count for everything, says that the river once ran under an immense arch, which, spanning the width of waters, formed a natural bridge, over which was a trail that a bygone race used, anU thus spared themselves the trouble of swimming the stream above the rapids. An earthquake, stirred up by the Evil Spirit, shook it all down, and thus formed the rapids — a supposition, look- ing at the geological character of the sides, and detritus scattered about in the water, far from improbable. Tiic bad genii thought to dam back the salmon efl'ectually, but made a miserable mistake, and conferred a benefit where a punish- ment was intended. The impediment, simply hindering the salmon in its ascent, facilitates its capture A short time prior to the river's rising, severr.i tribes of Indians leave their hunting- grounds, assemble together, and camp along the sides of the rapids. Forgetting all old grievances, iu anticipation of the salmou harvest Charles Dickens.] ALL THE YEAR ROUND. [Marcb 31, 186G.] 271 (iiiul, for the time, as tlicy figuratively express if. "burying the hatcliet, and blunting the arrow"), they jointly labour to construct nu- merous stages, which look very like unsafe clumsy scaffoklings, placed over hollows, in- tentionally cleared amongst the boulders ; water- traps, of ingenious contrivance, the purpose of which is to allow a free sweep +■"> tlie net, and to cause an eddy. A tempting resting-place is so made, luring the tired fish to tarry awhile and recruit its wasted energies ; then the red-skin turns the occasion to his own profitable account. Tiic platform consists simply of four strong poles, firmly built in, with heavy stones to re- sist the rapid rush of the water and support the stage, which is made of lighter poles, lashed to the uprights with a rude rope of twisted cedar bark ; three or four very long poles, placed slantwise, make a kind of tramroad to tlie shore. This work is completed during low water. As many as a hundred of tlicse curious- looking contrivances are usually placed along the edge of the "long narrows." Three or four days after the river begins to rise, the salmon are expected, and one or two Indians take up their position on each stage, being equipped with a net, circular in form, and about three feet in diameter, and from seven to eight feet in depth of purse : tiie handle, made from some tough wood, is usually fifty feet in length, and springy like a fly-rod. Wiicn fish- ing, the Indian lies on his stomach, gazing from the platform intently into the eddying current. Tlie net is then plunged into the water, as far up stream as it is possible for tlie fislier to fling it, and is allowed to sweep past as far as the handle will reach ; thus, a fish idling in the eddy is pretty sure to get into the hoop of the net; the force of the water driving the hoop along, encloses it within the meshes, and, once there, escape is impossible. Rapidly the silvery captiye is draggea upon the stage, a heavy blow with a club stops its flapping, and again the lucky savage plies his net. Boys and squaws are waiting to clutch the prize and lug it to the shore, where the process of curing is performed by the women. This can be better explained when describin<5 the grand fishery higher up the river. By this system of netting, two hundred salmon are often landed in a single day on one stage. The men relieve each other at the work, and the nets are not relinquished from dawn to dark. A short passage from Washington Irving's delightful book, Astoria, may be worth tran- scribing, as showing how important tiiis fishery was to the Indians when first visited by the " wliitcs," and how rapidly the customs of abo- rigines change. No record of the tradino: village remains, or of the trade with other far-off tribes : neither is the described system of pounding the salmon carried on now — at least, 1 have never seen it in action. " Here the salmon caught in the neighbour- ing rapids were * warehoused,' to wait custom- ers. Hither the tribes from the mouth of the Columbia repaired with the fish of the sea-coast, the roots, bcrrirs, and especially the wappatoo, gathered in the lower parts of the river, together with goods and trinkets obtained from the ships which casually visited the coast. Hither also tl'.c tribes from the Rocky Mountains brought down horses, bear grass, quamasli, and other commociitios of the interior. Tiie merchant fishermen at the falls acted as middlemen or factors, and passed the object of tralfic, as it were, cross-handed ; trading away part of the wares received from the mountain tribes to those of the river and the plains, and vice versa; their packages of pounded salmou en- tered largely into the system of barter, and being carried off in opposite directions, found their way to the savage hunting-camjis far in the nterior, and to the casual white traders who touched upon the coast." x.ie next station is forty miles above the Cas- cade rapids, at the Dalls. There the river passes in numberless channels through a solid mass of slaty rocks — an effectual stop to navigation, ne- cessitating a portage of ten miles. This has given origin to a brisk little trading town. Tlic mode of fishing being pretty nearly hke to that practised at the rapids, I must ask my reader to accompany me eight hundred miles further up the river to the Kettle Palls. These falls are situated very near one of the oldest trading stations of the Hudson's Bay Company, the site for which was selected with especial reference to the immense concourse of Indians that annually assemble at this spot during " the salmon run." The trading post, a solitary quaint old log-house, is built near the river-bank, on a wide gravelly flat, completely shut in by tree-clad hills. There can be little, if any, doubt that this dry patch of land was once the bottom of a lake, the imprisoned waters of which broke their way out at the falls ; in- deed, the water level of the lake is still clearly traceable round the bases of the encircling hills. About a mile above the falls, the Columbia re- ceives a large tributary, the Na-hoi-la-pit-ka river: an Indian name meaning boiling or bubbling up, and still in use among the natives to designate the falls ; by the white traders it is corrupted to the less poetical appellation of Kettle, the similitude of the foaming surge (wiiere the stream tumbles over the rocks) to a boiling caldron, being apt and truthful. The head-quarters of the North -American Boundary Commission, to which the writer was naturalist, were situated about a mile and a half up stream from this spot, on the bank of the Columbia, where its width is four hundred yards, and the distance from the sea, in round numbers, about one thousand miles. For twenty miles above our barracks, down to its confluence with the river before spoken of, the Columbia flows on smooth and glassy as a pond ; then, with rapidly increasing velocity rushing on, is split by an island, just prior to its dashing over a mass of volcanic rocks, oc- cupying the full breadth of the chasm through which it passes, and above five hundred yards wide. At low water this is an impassable 163575 272 [March 31, ISCC] ALL THE YEAR HOUND. [Condnoted by ^" barrier to the salmon, but the rise of the river enables them to leap it easily. On one side of the fall there is a wide flat plateau of rocks, the de"'"'nt to whicli is by a winding trail down an almost vertical cliff. Veiy early in May the Indians began to ar- rive ; day after day, and all day long, from every direction, strange processions, consisting of horses laden with lodges, squaws, children, together with the strangest medley of chattels (every atom of property possessed by the tribe is always carried along with them, even to the dogs, when migrating to attend the salmon harvest), wind down the various trails leading to the trading-post. Small villages of lodge , the encampments of different tribes, rapidly scatter over tne plain; bands of horses scamper, in wild confusion, up the green hill-sides, carefully guarded by their herders ; the smoke of count- less lodge fires coils slowly up in misty wreaths ; chiefs and braves lounge lazily about the trade- post ; medicine men — in other words, the con- jurors, doctors, and invariably the greatest scoundrels of the tribes — busy themselves at their incantations, making "salmon medicine " to ensure a prosperous haiTcst ; while squaws, old and young, pitch the lodges, carry wood and water, cook, and quell the perpetual riots going on amidst the newly -met children and dogs. In about a week, from nine hundred to one thou- sand Indians are camped in readiness for fishing. On their arrival, and during the fishing season, every chief is under the control of one (" the salmon chief") who manages and directs the fishery, settles all disputes, and sees to the equitable division of the take. When tlie assembly is completed, camps satisfactorily arranged, and all the details of this novel coloi'y adjusted, preparations are commenced at the falls. The drying-houses, about fifty in number, are first repaired. These are built on the plateau of rocks previously mentioned, and consist of sheds open at the sides, but roofed over with rush mats ; a series of parallel poles placed close together, like a ceiling (on which to hang the fish), complete each edifice. Then old and skilled hands set to work to make the Jishinff traps (I may mention, that neither nets, spears, nor canoes are ever employed at this fishery). These traps are huge ■woven affairs, the materials used in their con- struction being willow, hazel, birch, maple, and cedar ; the diameter is about twelve feet, and the depth from eighteen to twenty feet. Numbers of these are made : the young Indians bringing the materials for the supply of the skilled workmen. As these baskets are completed, others prepare to fix them in the places where, from long expe- rience, the fishers well know the salmon in- variably leap. This is both a diflicult and a dangerous service, as they have to hang them from trees, one end weighted down in the water with enormous stones and rocks. Of course, all this is accomplished before the river begins to rise. Nothing but the strength of numbers, com- bined with long practice, could ever enable these uncivilised men to accomplish so formidable a piece if engineering. Immense pine-trees are Jelled \'ith rude hatchets and cleared of their brancht s, dragged down on the rocks, rolled on other trees across deep chasms, levered, twisted, tugged, and turned about, until fixed securely and immovable in the desired position. When ready for tlie baskets, these trees, projecting over the surgin" water, look like gibbets for giants. The wicker baskets — giants, too, in their way — being completed, and long ropes, made from the inner bark of the cypress-tree, woven to suspend them, the next job is to hang them. To manage this final, but ticklish operation, all lend a hand, and as each has his say, young and old jabber in different Indian languages, until one imagines the days of Babel returned. By dint of many swimming, others bestriding trees, num- bers hauling at ropes, and greater numbers domg nothing except advising and hindering the rest, the vast wicker traps are hung safely, awaiting the rising of the river, and, with it, tiie salmon. Pending these events, a continual round of enjoyment is indulged in ; the gayest costumes are sported, vermilion is used in reckless profu- sion ; the rival tribes, young and old, struggle to outvie one another ; horse-racing, foot and hurdle-racing, hazard, dice, shufile-stick, even a savage " Aunt Sally," are in constant progress throughout the livelong day ; even during tlie night, the light of the lodge-fire, the drowsy chant and beating together of sticks, and a clumsy kind of tambourine, give warning to all hearers that gambling is going forward. High stakes are played for— horse, blankets, slaves, guns, traps; I have often seen wives and daughters risked on a race or a throw with the dice. The women game even more recklessly than the men. The salmon-sentries announce the appearance of the first fish, and all hands rush to commence the work of catching and curing. This may be the best place in which to mention, incidentally, that the salmon are indispensable to the exist- ence of the inLind tribes of Indians. Nature supplies the tribes with these fish with a lavish profusion, incredible to any who have not seen the " salmon run" in these wondrous rivers. Every stream becomes so filled with fish, that to throw a stone into the water without hitting one is next to an impossibility. When I say that the Commissioner (I need not mention names) and myself found it difiBcult to ride through a ford, in consequence of the abundance of tlie salmon thronging upward and onward to spawn, some idea may be formed of the incredible numbers that annually visit the rivers of the north-west. Soon after the arrival of the vanguard, the main army reach the falls, and the water be- come a moving mass of silverjr fish ; fifty, and even more, may be seen leaping the rushing cascade at a time; many succeed, but the greater number fall back into the baskets, so deftly hung to receive them — two hundi'ed sal- mon a day are frequently taken from a single basket. Two naked savages enter the wicker trap, each armed with a short heavy club, and stand amidst the struggUug captives, the water one IS [that the les) and i\ a ford, salmoa |?n, some lumbers Ih-west. lard, the later be- Ifty, and ' rushing Dut the Ikets, so Ired sal- single wicker llub, and Ihe water Charles Dlckeni.] ALL THE YEAR ROUND. [March 31, ISfla] 273 dashing over them like a monster shower-bath. A fisli seized, a sharp rap on the head knocks it senseless, tiien it is flung on to the rocks, a similar fate awaits another, and so salmon after salmon is pitched out, until the tired Indians are replaced by fresh. On tlie plateau, a scene equally busy is going on; the squaws and children drag the fish to the drying-sheds, split them open, remove the backbone and head, then hang them on the poles to dry — tiie liead, backbone, and a portion of the entrails and roe being the only parts at this time eaten. Small fires are kept smouldering under the dry- ing fish, to drive off the flies and aid in its pre- servation. When sufficiently dried, the salmon are packed in rush mats and tightly corded, about fifty pounds weight in each bale. Pack- ing them in tiiis manner facilitates their trans- port on the backs of horses. I have eaten salmon thus cured, after it has been packed two years, sound and free from taint as on the day it was caught. The salmon- run over, which lasts about tliree months — although the first three weeks produce the greater number — the equal distribution of the catch is made under the supervision of the salmon chief, tents are struck, horses packed, and each tribe wend their way back to their wintering.grounds, where, during the long snowy nipping winters, they live on the fruits of the salmou harvest. On the Fraser river there are no impedi- ments to tiie salmon's ascent as far up as any Indians reside. Its waters rise as those of the Columbia do, but with swifter course. In a few places — I may instance the solid wall of rocks (along the base of which the river dashes with great fury) betwixt the Sur- nass and Chil-uk-wey-uk rivers — stages are used, but are hung over the water by ropes made fast to the trees on the top of the cliff. A similar kind of net to that of the cascades is used in this case. But the sjstem by which the great take is managed is a most ingenious net Fastened between two canoes moored in the eddy. Poles, too, armed with sharp hooks, are used with great success to hook or gaff the salmon into the canoe. On this river there are no regular fisi\eries, nor any assemblage of tribes from far-off places, as on the Columbia. Each village works for itself; neither do they take the same care in preserving the fish as their bretiiren of the east take, I have weighed salmon at the falls on the Columbia, of seventy-five pounds. Eorty pounds is a common average. Why they obstinately re- fuse the most tempting baits, after quitting the sea where they spawn, why they go a thousand miles up stream, and what becomes of the tiny fry, are matters of interest to be considered at some future period. The whole system looks vastly like the combined links of one great mapificent chain of design, A race of people isolated in the far interior of a wild country, hundreds of miles from the sea-coast, are shut up for six months of the twelve in deep snow, subject to an arctic temperature. To en- able them to bear it, a great quantity of carbon, in some form, is absolutely requisite; roots, berries, or animals, the products of the soil, are alike inadequate to furnish the needful supply. Mighty streams, breaking down mountain ranges, dashing through narrow-bound channels, and leaping craggy ledges, thread their way to the ocean. Fish, proverbial for their fatness, prompted by a marvellous instinct, ascend these streams in myriads to deposit their eggs, wlien the snow-water forms salmon-ladders, of Na- ture's own contriving. In these fish the savage Qnds the carbonic life-fuel he must have. "'^ POOR SOLDIERING. Besides my son George, who joined the navy, I have a son who has entered the army. No- thing would serve him but that I should purchase a commission for him in a line regi- ment. At first he wanted me to get him into a cavalry regiment ; but this I objected to, on the score of expense. So he had to put up with an infantry corps, very much to his disgust. I did not find it as difiicult to obtain a commission in the army as a nomination for the navy, but the expense of the former is at least fiftjjr times that of the latter. No sooner had I oDtained from the Horse Guards the official intimation that, provided he could pass the requisite examination before the commis- sioners, my son would be appointed to an ensigncy in the 110th Foot, tnan I was in- undated with letters from gentlemen offering their services as what are vulgarly called " Crammers." How they got hold of my address, or how they knew that I had a son who was about to enter the army, is to this day a marvel to me. But they did so somehow, and they regularly hunted me down at last. From the time I received the conditional nomination for my son, to the day he would have to appear before the examiners at Chelsea, a period of about three months would elapse ; and m this in- terval my boy would have to prepare himself for an exanunation on special subjects, to which he had hitherto hardly turned his attention. But there was another condition with respect to his nomination. It was, that if he succeeded in passmg the commissioners, I should be prepared to pay the sum of four hundred and fifty pounds for his ensigncy. By the advice of a military friend, I selected from among the many candidates for my patronage, a gentleman who was briefly de- scribed to me as " an awfully good crammer," who had " pulled through" more dunderhead candidates for commissions than any other man in the same line of business. Not that my son was either a fool, or wanting in what 1 considered to be a good grounding for a/niUtary education. He could speak both German and French very fairly, and could even write the latter language well. Of general history, mathematics, aritnmetic in the higher branches, he had a knowledge above the average of lads of his age.