The fish merchants of these two cities have by their enterprise developed the fisheries of the Island of Yezo, and great rivalry exists between the fish merchants of each port.
The fish caught and cured in the Ishi-kari district are shipped direct from the Ishi-kari river.
At At-sta which is the next district, north of the Ishi-kari, the salmon fisheries are on the sea coast. Here they use very large seines, some of which are 4,000 feet in length. One pair of these each making three hauls will sometimes catch 20,000 salmon in one day.
All the fish taken on the coast are bright fish. Two or three days after they enter the river the scales commence to lose their metallic lustre. This is followed by large patches of discoloration, at the same time, the jaws become inflamed and teeth commence to grow. The hump also begins to form on the back of the male fish, in fact, after being some twenty days in fresh water they have very much changed in appearance, and also in value. The spent fish are almost bloodless, and when on their way down to the sea, they are utterly exhausted. Large numbers of dead spent fish are left on the shingle banks after every freshet to the manifest delight of myriads of crows who do the work of scavengers on the river’s bank.
I will now conclude this description of the Ishi-kari River and its resources, with a few observations on the large stretches of clear grass land that exist both in the upper and lower plains through which the river flows.
At present they are uncultivated and are consequently valueless to mankind. Hundreds of thousands of acres lying idle within five days steam of Yokohama!
