Democratic Sentinel, Volume 9, Number 5, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 February 1885 — The Candle Fish. [ARTICLE]

The Candle Fish.

I first observed the candle fish when I was on the shore of British Columbia. I had lived in an Indian village for nearly a week before I heard anything about the fish, and one beautiful moonlight night was standing on the beach when I saw something that appeared exactly like the reflection of the moon, only it was in the wrong direction. I called the attention of a native, who was not far off, to it, and immediately it seemed to throw him into the greatest excitement. He sang out, “Eulachon!” as loud as he could, and in a few moments at least fifty men were on the beach launching their t canoes. There was so much confusion that I could not learn what was the matter, but I tumbled into one of the canoes, and off we went. There were two men in all the boats but ours, I making a third. One sat in the stern and paddled, while the other stood in the bow with a curious instrument in his hand that until now I had not observed. It looked like an enormous rake, or comb, made of a piece of pine at least eight feet long, with a hole for a grip at the top, the lower part thinning off to an edge, into which was driven sharp iron or bone teeth, from three to four inches apart, so that the weapon resembled a great comb held by the back. The ripple I had seen on the water was an enormous school of fishes, and to surround them now seemed to be the chief object. The canoes were swiftly paddled out until they were all upon the outside, and then they rushed at them full speed, each man wielding his comb-like scoop and dashing it into the sparkling mass that gleamed like silver, and at every stroke, so thick were the fishes, that the teeth of the comb came up covered with their impaled forms. These were quickly jerked into the boat and another dash made, and so on until the school was finally driven in shore, where the excited natives leaped into the water, knee-deep in the throng, and fairly scooped them into their canoes, where their vivid phosphorescence made them look like molten gold. The school seemed so terrified and demoralized that they hugged the shore, and if the men had nets instead of those outlandish combs, they could have captufel millions where they only took thousands. The boats were rapidly filled, however, and in an hour the excitement was over and the canoes were hauled by the exhausted fishermen upon the beach.— A Na'turalisCs Story.