DISTRIBUTING THE SALMON OVA.

Waikato Times, Volume X, Issue 548, 23 November 1875, Page 2

DISTRIBUTING THE SALMON OVA.

In a letter to a Hfortmg friend at home, Mr J. C. Firth gives some account of the doings of the AoqHwritisatioji .Society, iand a graphic anjd interesting jutepun& of his expedition to the head wafers to £6e> kfcte for the purpose of the salmon ova lately ai rived from San Francisco. We • extract that portion of itho letter which has more special reference to .tke Uitftr-^u^jeot, Allt»dtng-tar tfo -ttilf from Auckland with 10,000 ova, he. says ; — "The railway and a river-steamer ll^ i me 100 miles South in a few hours. * I had telegraphed -tor a BpoTtffig~TrTend to have his trap ready, and the next morning we started bright and early for the mountain streams. .Fortunately the weather tnrned bitterly cold, and by dint cf con stant attention and an abundant use of ice and cold water, I kept the ova in the primest and healthiest condition. Besides my sporting friend, Mr B Kirk wood, I had requested my manager at Mataraata, Mr "Williams, and Mr Chitty, of the Armed Constabulary, to be ready to lend! a hand. This latter gentleman, besides being a true sportsman, is a most excellent officer,, wkorn'.l hope, to see shortly 'get the promotiou he well merits. Resided these, I had pressed into the servico O'Neill, an A. C, well up in salmon, Bjtj, one of my own Maoris, and Turner, a fine specimen of the half-caste. My little party were a hearty lot, and went at it c jcon amore.' We had two days' real hard work but very pleasant nevertheless. Up in the mornings early, with the help of good horse-flesh, cushions of 'elastic fern to prevent vibration, ice, water, anil bundles of fern to keep eut' the -heat, wo conveyed our ova over bag distances and rough roads as tenderly as though we were conveying delicate children. -Fortunately, the sun considerately kept well behind the clouds, whilst the bright moon* light of the clear cold nights served us admirably. During those two days and nights, with two meals a-day, and very little time for sleep — though what we had was sound as you may faney — we .got through an amount of work which pleased me greatly. Nothing conifl bo finer than the ' esprit* of the whole party. I do not know when 1 enjoyed anything more. The enemies we had to fear were wild ducks, shags aad eels. The apparatus I had provided to defend oar littlo 'protegees' .from their attacks w«s very simple, and I hope may be effective, lit consisted of twelve sets of boxes and covers — boxes three feet long and nine inche3 broad, with a ledge runnings rround each, the covers were of two boards same. length nailed together ridge-board fashion, svith each end closed by wire netting of half inch mesh. A keen -sportsman like you will not think me tedious .if. l describe how we made our plants. ,Tue «trearaa were high and the water intensely cold. Taking off our boots anl coats, rolling up trousers and shirt sleeves, KirkwooJ madu a smooth bottom, and spread -some sand aud pebbles in the box whilst I prepared the ova, (which is like senui -transparent red peas)- Scattering- the ova amongst the sand and pebbles in the box — I held it at; the bottom of the stream at about twfr feet deep, to provide ag-aiust the stream 1 falling, und leaving- uU p plant high and dry ; which, of course, wou'd have ruined the wh >le .thing". Kirkvvood h.i-l the cover ready, aud placing it firmly oa the b>x,i held .it down whilat he pile.l over it 1 heavy boulders to keep iti in position. Both now set to work to jaake a little breakwater of holders anil shingle up stream, to defend our little ark from -the i\ipid current ; and scattering a further supply ef ©va amongst the shingle, to give a double ehanca to the expertrneilt, the operation was compete.p etc. Some of "the points we chose were charming. One took my fancy particularly. bad started -before breakfast, and, after a drive and a tedious tramp on foDt, we reached the stream. We had completed our preparations, and in two minutes more our plant would have been made, wheuailoud voice, in broad Scotch, hailed me with, "Hey, mon, ye ro&unna pit the aawmon.iu there; -that place is foo' o' eels ; the Maori chiels catch bushels oVeoi." Looking up I said, *.' My good man, what do you know about salmon ?" " Eh, naon, I cam frae Blair Athol, an' I ken about sawmon ; dinaa pit 'em there. I can show ye a muckle better spot Come we me an' aw'll «hoir it the noo." The old man was so earnest that, though «I was anxious to put them, under water without delay — for the sun on this last morning was coming out hot, and our ice hadjust run out — that I at once put up my ova and told the old man to lead the way to a better place. They reach the spot after a toiUome journey over the the hills, Justin time with the last lot of ova, Mr Firth expecting that they would hatch before -the water would be reached. Having deposited them in a splendid place, he goes,oa to say : " Gathering up our traps we turned joyfully homewards, for we noticed that the ova were already hatching, coming out of their shell as we put them in the water. The King Maoris, and, indeed, everybody, ware delighted with our work — the former greeting us with •' Kapai te hamona ; all same as the tin " — meaning that salmon was very good, being like the salmon (preserved in tius, which they appreciate highly. I ought to say that at every stream where -I made a plant, I posted up a notice in Maori and English, requesting everyone not to disturb -the ova, so that in a few years there might he abundance of food for both Maori and European. And now our work was done. We had been enabled to. place this salmon ova in ten streams falling into the rivers Thames, Piako, Walkato, and , Waipa, in the hope I hat, by God's blesftingi this "king of fishes" may, incoming time, increase and- multiply, so - that* abundance of food may be provided for poor as well as rich, for — - £11 things liring H<» dotU^Md, •His fall hand fappUta tbei* need. ' ' " Pardon this long-, but I hope not tiresome stoiv aad boiievo me — Yours truly, J C FiHi-H, An-jxhn^ NZ, Novl6 !3"5