is it not more probable
that he has only been in the habit of frequenting some lake at a short
distance from the sea, and returning thence in time to escape death from
exhaustion? The large specimens of the other species might also be
accounted for in this manner.

The second point is merely a fact, and does not require any explanation,
except that it may have some bearing on the matter of the adult fish not
taking the fly. I would not go so far as to say that these young fish
have never been known to take a fly, but I never remember catching one
myself, and they certainly do not take it as the salmon parr do in our
waters. It is of course possible that many may be taken and supposed to
be trout. But if such were the case, it would surely be more commonly
known and noticed. Very little appears to be known of the habits of the
young fish or the time they spend in fresh water before they go down to
the sea.

It has been a much debated question as to whether the British Columbia
salmon takes the fly, and it may be stated once for all that it does do
so, but only in tidal waters. In the up-country lakes and rivers it
takes nothing, and those who may have seen its migrations will easily
understand the reason. The fish have no time to feed or rest; they may
be seen ceaselessly though slowly pressing on in the shallow water at
the sides of the Fraser or Thompson, as if pressed on by the weight of
those behind, impelled by some all-powerful desire to get to their
journey's end, to spawn and die. None return, and the lakes and pools of
the rivers are filled with corpses, on which bears, eagles, and all
creatures which can eat fish are filled to the full.

There is no time to look at bait of any kind, for it is a terrible
journey through the rapid waters of the Fraser, and many fish show the
marks of bruises and cuts, while few are in an eatable condition by the
time they reach Kamloops Lake.

This journey would seem to take them three or four weeks from the time
they appear at the Fraser mouth, about 200 miles in distance. Anyone who
has ever seen Hell's Gate, in the terrible canyon of the Fraser, and
these millions of struggling fish slowly pushing their way upwards
without a moment's rest, impelled by the _vis a tergo_ of the swarms
behind, and each one anxious only to move forward, can easily understand
how impossible it would be in such a struggle for mere existence that a
fish should pause to take bait. Even in our own