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PART III.

FISHES.

CHAPTER IX.

Salmon; its Decadence-Object of my Excursion to the Schoodic Lakes-Forest Scenery-Incidents of Travel-Maine and its Liquor LawsLewey's and Long Lakes-Silvery Salmon Trout-Fly Pest-Trout Fishing-Description of the Silvery Salmon Trout-Grand Lake; its Scenery-Glacial Erosion-Parasites in Fishes-Effects of Light on Coloration of Fishes-Sea Trouts of Europe and America.

THE

HE extermination of the land animals, water birds, and shell fishes before noticed, contrasts, in the modes by which they have disappeared, with that of the salmon, which used to abound from the frozen region to the 40th parallel of latitude; now it is rarely met with south of 44°; but although it has been long known, there are several interesting features connected with its natural history and its connections with northern forms to be worked out. The chief migratory movements of the fish in New Brunswick waters are such as usually obtain elsewhere, a good deal depending on the breaking up of the ice. The spawning season is over by the beginning of November, when the majority make a rush for the sea. Parr are common in April and May in the rivers, and its smalt are taken in vast numbers by fly and bait towards the end of August, when, like the former, they are possibly on their way to the sea. No doubt, however, although the chief runs of fish towards the sea are in

April and May, and the return takes place before the rivers are frozen over, there is a general and continuous passing up and down throughout the year, as obtains in the Old World rivers; moreover the shrouding of the Canadian fresh waters in ice for lengthened periods, makes it difficult quite to settle the up and down courses of migratory species.*

I started with my friend Professor Loring Bailey, of the University of New Brunswick, in the month of August, 1866, on an excursion to the great chain of lakes, on the southwestern frontier of the province, known as the Schoodic Lakes, which drain into the St. Croix River. One of the objects of my journey was to ascertain the truth of certain reports made to me in connection with a belief which prevailed in the district, to the effect that the salmon exist in these inland reservoirs, and their effluent and influent waters, but is so much stunted in growth, that its average weight seldom exceeds three pounds, the largest rarely attaining seven pounds. This so-called pigmy race is supposed by European fishermen to have been brought about by a constant residence in fresh water, the individuals having been prevented from getting to sea by dams and artificial barriers, and having, as it might be, lost themselves among the network of lakes which covers the frontiers of Maine and New Brunswick.

The scenery between Fredericton on the St. John, and St. Stephen on the St. Croix, n othe western frontier of New Brunswick, presents a monotonous sameness. The country

* Some idea of the extermination of the salmon through human agency may be gathered from the following data in connection with this region. It is in the recollection of persons now living that the Kennebeckasis, a large influent of the St. John, literally swarmed with salmon; now it is rare to find a single fish. Mr. Vinning, in his report to the Local Government, says: "The inhabitants appear to be actuated by an insane desire to destroy every salmon that appears in its waters." The same may be said of other branches of the St. John, such as the Oromocto, Nashawaak, etc., once famous salmon waters, now without a single fish, in consequence of the mill dams which stretch across them, and the wholesale ion of the fish on its spawning beds.

Physical Features of New Brunswick.

203

is flat, and for the most part covered with wood and forest clearings, or, in other words, sparsely settled, and that only, for the most part, along the line of our route. One of the chief physical features in the otherwise level country, is Bald Mountain, about twenty miles west of Fredericton. This eminence or hill, to which further reference will be made in the sequel, rising only a few hundred feet above the surrounding district, is composed of trap, and forms a portion of the igneous belt which fringes the great coal basin of this and the adjoining province of Nova Scotia. The view from its top shows an unbroken expanse of forest, stretching far and wide on every side, and as far as the eye can reach, with long-drawn ridges alternating with valleys, whilst here and there the blue waters of a forest tarn, a gap, or a clearing, are seen peeping through the tree-tops. The dark shades of the spruce and pine consort well with the lighter green of the maple and other hard woods, whilst far above their brethren stand the charred and weathered forms of many a noble tree that perished in the afore-mentioned conflagration of 1825, which swept almost diagonally across the entire province. Along the road to St. Stephen's, a distance of eighty-five; miles from the capital-as, indeed, anywhere throughout this portion of the continent-the geologist is constantly impressed by indications of the Glacial Epoch, in the shape of rocks planed and polished, as if by a lapidary, with grooves and scratches running for the most part north and south, whilst long trains of granitic and other boulders, with their concomitant drift and clay, strew the surface everywhere, more especially on the sides of slopes and valleys, where vast accumulations of sorted sand and gravel form great mounds and "horsebacks." These seem to indicate, as will be pointed out in another chapter, at least two periods in the above far-back epoch-one when the land was for ages clad in an enormous mantle of moving ice; another when the climate became less rigorous, and the country was subjected to considerable further denu

dation from the thaws that took place towards the close of that glacial period. This was the idea presented to my mind's eye on viewing these phenomena, and it seems to me to accord best with the facts as they now stand; better, no doubt, than the theory that the land had all been under the ocean, and that of polishing and scratching the rock was done altogether by icebergs, which no doubt is true enough to some extent, where the land was clearly submerged under the sea. But these wide-spread indications can scarcely be put down altogether to the latter, at all events in the case of the inland portions of this continent.

To return to the journey and its agreeable concomitants, which always add to the naturalist's pleasure when contemplating objects of interest. With unusual delight I recall to mind many incidents of the above excursion, the more so as my companion's tastes were congenial with my own. Indeed, one is better without a companion than in the society of an individual who will not fulfil the behests of good fellowship and friendship; more especially the selfish man, who looks on every one else's occupation as secondary to his own; he is surely best alone! I met two persons on the Nile who had been travelling together for many weeks, and through their own faults had managed to make each other as uncomfortable as possible. One ridiculed his companion because he was always hunting beetles, whilst the latter retaliated with sneers of contempt on an utter absence of intelligent curiosity on the part of his comrade! But bad as is the want of affinity in such cases, what must it be when the companionship extends to a lifetime, in the shape of husband and wife? and verily like instances are not rare. We are familiar with the appellation of "nonsense books," given by Lady Scott to the productions of her gifted partner, and we see daily examples of men of science and learning, making permanent alliances with natures absolutely incapable of estimating the aim and object of their lives; hence, marriage often makes or mars

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