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The Journals
of Lewis and Clark: The Fish
The following
excerpts are taken from entries of the Journals of Lewis
and Clark - Fish. A general description of the beasts,
Fish and Fish, &c. found by the party in this expedition.
The fish, which we
have had an opportunity of seeing, are, the whale, porpoise,
skait, flounder, salmon, red char, two species of salmon
trout, mountain, or speckled trout, bottlenose, anchovy,
and sturgeon.
•1. The whale is sometimes pursued, harpooned and taken
by the Indians, although it is much more frequently
killed by running foul of the rocks in violent storms,
and thrown on shore by the action of the wind and tide.
In either case, the Indians preserve and eat the blubber
and oil; the bone they carefully extract and expose
to sale.
•2. The porpoise is common on this coast, and as far
up the river as the water is brackish. The Indians sometimes
gig them, and always eat their flesh when they can procure
it.
•3. The skait is also common in the salt water: we saw
several of them which had perished, and were thrown
on shore by the tide.
•4. The flounder is also well known here, and we have
often seen them left on the beach after the departure
of the tide. The Indians eat this fish, and think it
very fine. These several species of fish are the same
with those on the Atlantic coast.
•5. The common salmon and red char are the inhabitants
of both the sea and rivers; the former are usually the
largest, and weigh from five to fifteen pounds: they
extend themselves into all the rivers and little creeks
on this side of the continent, and to them the natives
are much indebted for their subsistence: the body of
the fish is from two and an half to three feet long,
and proportionably broad: it is covered with imbricated
scales, of a moderate size, and gills: the eye is large,
and the iris of a silvery color: the pupil is black,
the rostrum or nose extends beyond the under jaw, and
both jaws are armed with a single series of long teeth,
which are subulate and inflected near the extremities
of the jaws, where they are also more closely arranged:
they have some sharp teeth of smaller size, and some
sharp points placed on the tongue, which is thick and
fleshy: the fins of the back are two; the first is placed
nearer the head than the ventral fins, and has several
rays: the second is placed far back, near the tail,
and has no rays. The flesh of this is, when in order,
of a deep flesh-colored red, and every shade from that
to an orange yellow: when very it is almost white: the
roes of this fish are in high estimation among the natives,
who dry them in the sun, and preserve them for a great
length of time: they are of the size of a small pea,
nearly transparent, and of a reddish yellow cast; they
resemble very much, at a little distance, our common
garden currants, but are more yellow. Both the fins
and belly of this fish are sometimes red, particularly
the male: the red char are rather broader, in proportion
to their length, than the common salmon: the scales
are also imbricated, but rather larger; the rostrum
exceeds the under jaw more, and the teeth are neither
so large or so numerous as those of the salmon: some
of them are almost entirely red on the belly and sides;
others are much more white than the salmon, and none
of them are variegated with the dark spots which mark
the body of the other: their flesh, roes, and every
other particular, with regard to the form, is that of
the salmon.
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