This apparatus is often set towards night, and by the
next morning several sturgeon will be found hooked by it; for though a
large and strong fish, it makes but little resistance when ensnared.
The salmon, which are the prime fish of the Columbia, and as important
to the piscatory tribes as are the buffaloes to the hunters of the
prairies, do not enter the river until towards the latter part of May,
from which time, until the middle of August, they abound and are taken
in vast quantities, either with the spear or seine, and mostly in
shallow water. An inferior species succeeds, and continues from August
to December. It is remarkable for having a double row of teeth, half an
inch long and extremely sharp, from whence it has received the name of
the dog-toothed salmon. It is generally killed with the spear in small
rivulets, and smoked for winter provision. We have noticed in a former
chapter the mode in which the salmon are taken and cured at the falls
of the Columbia; and put tip in parcels for exportation. From these
different fisheries of the river tribes, the establishment at Astoria
had to derive much of its precarious supplies of provisions.
A year's residence at the mouth of the Columbia, and various expeditions
in the interior, had now given the Astorians some idea of the country.
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