The remainder
of the casks I left as they were, for I presently intended to preserve
their contents by smoking.
To do this, the boys and I built a small hut of reeds and branches, and
then we strung our herrings on lines across the roof. On the floor we
lit a great fire of brushwood and moss, which threw out a dense smoke,
curling in volumes round the fish, and they in a few days seemed
perfectly cured.
About a month after the appearance of the herrings we were favoured by
a visit from other shoals of fish. Jack espied them first, and called
to us that a lot of young whales were off the coast. We ran down and
discovered the bay apparently swarming with great sturgeon, salmon, and
trout, all making for the mouth of Jackal River, that they might ascend
it and deposit their spawn amongst the stones.
Jack was delighted at his discovery. `Here are proper fish!' he
exclaimed, `none of your paltry fry. How do you preserve these sorts of
fish? Potted, salted or smoked?'
`Not so fast,' said I, `not so fast; tell me how they are to be
caught, and I will tell you how they are to be cooked.'
`Oh! I'll catch them fast enough,' he replied, and darted off to Rock
House.
While I was still puzzling my brains as to how I should set to work, he
returned with his fishing apparatus in hand: a bow and arrow, and a
ball of twine.
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