About the beginning
of February, a small kind of fish, about six inches long, called by the
natives the uthlecan, and resembling the smelt, made its appearance at
the mouth of the river. It is said to be of delicious flavor, and so fat
as to burn like a candle, for which it is often used by the natives. It
enters the river in immense shoals, like solid columns, often extending
to the depth of five or more feet, and is scooped up by the natives with
small nets at the end of poles. In this way they will soon fill a canoe,
or form a great heap upon the river banks. These fish constitute a
principal article of their food; the women drying them and stringing
them on cords. As the uthlecan is only found in the lower part of the
river, the arrival of it soon brought back the natives to the coast;
who again resorted to the factory to trade, and from that time furnished
plentiful supplies of fish.
The sturgeon makes its appearance in the river shortly after the
uthlecan, and is taken in different ways by the natives: sometimes
they spear it; but oftener they use the hook and line, and the net.
Occasionally, they sink a cord in the river by a heavy weight, with a
buoy at the upper end, to keep floating. To this cord several hooks are
attached by short lines, a few feet distant from each other, and baited
with small fish.
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