tated by
their motion; and the Kamtschadales, who are always on the watch for them
about the time they are expected, judge of their approach by this
circumstance, and immediately let drop their nets before them. We were
presented with one of the first that was caught, and given to understand
that it was the greatest compliment that could be paid us. Krascheninnikoff
relates, that formerly the Kamtschadales made a point of eating the first
fish they took with great rejoicings, and a variety of superstitious
ceremonies; and that, after the Russians became their masters, it was for a
long time a constant subject of quarrel between them, to whom the first
should belong. The season for fishing for this species lasts from the
middle of May till the end of June.

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