A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Volume 17: Arranged in Systematic Order: Forming a Complete History; of the Origin and Progress of Navigation, Discovery, and; Commerce, by Sea and Land, from the Earliest Ages to the; Present TimeKerr, Robert
History
A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Volume 17: Arranged in Systematic Order: Forming a Complete History; of the Origin and Progress of Navigation, Discovery, and; Commerce, by Sea and Land, from the Earliest Ages to the; Present Time
Kerr, Robert
Voyages and travels
The other sort is of a smaller kind, weighing only from eight to sixteen
pounds. They are known by the general name of the red fish, and begin to
collect in the bays and at the mouths of the rivers the beginning of June;
from, which time till the end of September, they are caught in great
quantities, both upon the eastern and western coast, where any fresh water
falls into the sea, and likewise all along the course of the rivers to
their very source. The manner in which they draw their nets within the bay
of Awatska is as follows: They tie one end of the net to a large stone at
the water's edge; they then push off in a canoe about twenty yards in a
right line, dropping their net as they advance, after which they turn and
run out the remainder of the net in a line parallel to the shore. In this
position they wait, concealing themselves very carefully in the boat, and
keeping a sharp look-out for the fish, which always direct their course
close in with the shore, and whose approach is announced by a rippling in
the water, till they find that the shoal has advanced beyond the boat, when
they shoot the canoe to shore in a direct line, and never fail of inclosing
their prey. Seldom more than two men are employed to a net, who haul with
facility, in this manner, seines larger than ours, to which we appoint a
dozen. We at first met with very poor success in our own method of hauling,
but after the Kamtschadales had very kindly put us in the way, we were not
less successful than themselves. In the rivers, they shoot one net across,
and haul another down the stream to it.
The lakes that have a communication with the sea, which was the case of all
those that I saw, abound with fish that have very much the resemblance of
small salmon, and are from four to six pounds weight. I could not
understand that the inhabitants thought it worth their while to fish for
them. As these lakes are not deep, they become an easy prey to the bears
and dogs during the summer; and, if I might judge from the quantity of
bones to be seen upon, the banks, they devour vast numbers of them.
The inhabitants, for the most part, dry their salmon, and salt very little
of it. Each fish is cut into three pieces, the belly-piece being first
taken off, and afterward a slice along each side the back-bone. The former
of these are dried and smoked, and esteemed the finest part of the fish,
and sold, when we were at Saint Peter and Saint Paul's, at the rate of one
hundred for a rouble. The latter are dried in the air, and either eaten
whole as bread, or reduced to powder, of which they make paste and cakes,
that are not unpleasant to the taste. The head, tail, and bones are hung
up, and dried for winter provision for the dogs.
_List of Animals found in Kamtschadale, communicated by Mr Pennant_.[75]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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