does not find its use.

From the middle of May, till our departure on the 24th of June, we caught
great quantities of excellent flat-fish, trout, and herrings. Upward of
three hundred of the former, besides a number of sea-trout, were dragged
out at one haul of the seine, the 15th of May. These flat-fish are firm,
and of a good flavour, studded upon the back with round prickly knobs, like
turbot, and streaked with dark-brown lines, running from the head toward
the tail. About the end of May the first herring season begins. They
approach in great shoals, but do not remain long on the coast. They had
entirely left the bay before we sailed out of it the first time, but were
beginning to revisit it again in October. It has been already mentioned,
that the herrings were remarkably fine and large, and that we filled a
great part of our empty casks with them. The beginning of June large
quantities of excellent cod were taken; a part of which were likewise
salted. We caught too, at different times, numbers of small fish, much
resembling a smelt, and once drew out a wolf-fish.

Notwithstanding this abundance of flat-fish, cod, and herring, it is on the
salmon-fishery alone that the Kamtschadales depend for their winter
provisions. Of these, it is said by naturalists, there are to be found on
this coast all the different species that are known to exist, and which the
natives formerly characterized by the different months in which they ascend
the rivers. They say, too, that though the shoals of different sorts are
seen to mount the rivers at the same time, yet they never mix with each
other; that they always return to the same river in which they were bred,
but not till the third summer; that neither the male nor female live to
regain the sea; that certain species frequent certain rivers, and are never
found in others, though they empty themselves nearly at the same place.

The first shoals of salmon begin to enter the mouth of the Awatska about
the middle of May; and this kind, which is called by the Kamtschadales
_Tchavitsi_, is the largest and most valued. Their length is generally
about three feet and a half; they are very deep in proportion, and their
average weight is from thirty to forty pounds. The tail is not forked, but
straight. The back is of a dark blue, spotted with black; in other respects
they are much like our common salmon. They ascend the river with
extraordinary velocity, insomuch that the water is sensibly agi