The new trout of Sunapee Lake

March

18, 1886._j

FOREST AND STREAM. 149

salmon which pass the

McCloud

hatching station in the summer,on their

way

up the river to spawn,die in the riverandnever returntothe ocean."

The chapter on thebrooktroutof theEastisareprint of Mr. Goode's essay onthissubjectinScribner's

"Game

Fishes of theUnitedStates,"andcontainsno

new

matter.

We

had hopedto seesomethingsaiduponthe so-called"seatrout" of

New

Brunswick.

Following the fishes

come

^the mollusks, the crustaceans andthesponges. Takingtheworkasa whole,

we

regardit as one of the mostvaluable popular publicationsthathas been issued under theauspicesofthetJ.S. Commissionof Fish and Fisheries,which has publishedso

many

valuable works For somereason the

number

ofcopiesissuedto

mem-

bers ofCongress has been limited to one,and

many

persons have been disappointed in being unable to procure them.

They

can,however, be obtainedfromthepublicprinter ata moderatecost,andtheworkshouldfindaplaceinthe library ofevery anglerand naturalist.

>.

THE NEW TROUT OF SUNAPEE LAKE.

EditorForestandStream:

Ihave read withgreat interest thearticlesyou have pub- lishedon the

new

troutof SnuapeeLake,and hold myself some original correspondence inregard to their size and origin. Allow

me

briefly toexpress

my

opinion.

In1874Icarried

my

boat seventeen milesover themoun-

tains,andlaunched her on Sunapee. Itwasa caseoflove atfirstsight. Ibegan

my

addressesinanhumble

way

as a tent-dweller byits"crystal waters; to-dayI

own

threecot- tages

embosomed

inits pines, and If milesof its shore.

Duringthelasttwelve yearsIhaveindustriouslyprosecuted the gentleart,andfranklyadmit thatIhave neverhooked oreven seenoneof these,Oqtiassa trout; moreover,

among

the host of anglersand frequentersof ttielakewith

whom

I

am

acquaintedI

know

not,one

who

has.

The

troutwere seen forthefirsttime last October, spawning on

my

sand shoals, byColonel E. B.Hodge, our Fish Commissioner, and Mr. A. H. Powers, exCommissioner.

The

problem

iseasily solved; and

my

esteemed friend. Colonel Hodge, I fear

may

not figure asthe discoverer of a

new

species indigenoustothe lake—an inhabitant of Suuapee'sdepths from time immemorial,yet never before noticed by any of thethousands of poachers and anglers

who

have cast flies, fished with

worms

and salt pork, or swept seines in the lake for a century! Impossible.

The new

trout, arethe giantoffspring ofRangeley"blue-backs," introduced afewyearssince asfoodforthe largebrook trout,andfur-1 nishedinSunapeewithphenomenalconditions,notonlyfor sustenance,but also forenormous growth. Allfishexcept pickerel attain an unusual sizeinthewatersof thislake

—

yellow perch,two pounds and upward; land-locked salmon, twelvepounds(sevenyearsfromtheovum); brooktrout,six tonine pounds,andblackbasstheunprecedentedweightof sevenandahalfpounds(twopounds beyondthe limit of the naturalist).

Sothe little "blue-backs"of liaugeley have found here thefoodandwaterto

make

them growaslarge as their con- genersof Disco IslandandLabrador,andeventoexceedin weightthose famous native dark-skinned, brilliant-spotted trout,in pursuit of which the aborigines

made

frequent journeysto"Sunapee's shoreofrock,"andbarrelsuponbar- relsofwhosejuicypinkfleshhavebeensalted

down

by the whitesettlersandtheirdescendantssince thetimethe coun-

trywasopened.

John

D. Quackenbos.

EditorForestandStream:

The

lettersofProf.BairdandDr.Bean,in the last For- est

and

Strkam, seemconclusiveas tothepointof the

new

troutdiscovered byMessrs.

Hodge

andPowers,in Sunapee Lake, beingof the oquassa type,andItakeitwere written before the publication of Mr. Powers'sletter,which I sent you,giving the date

when

the genuineSalvelinus oquassa wereplantedthere.

There is another question whichIhave hadin

my

mind forayearortwo,andthatis,as totheexactclassification of the celebrated

Dimond Pond

trout.

Had

Ibeenable to havevisitedthosepondsthissummer,

itwas

my

intention tohave forwarded someofthemtoDr.

Goodeforexamination,butI failed to get there.

Mr.Prime givesavery graphic account of fly-fishing in theupper pond,in "I

Go

a-Fishing,"butIhavenever been able to takea single fish in that pond in several visits, althoughIhave always. taken them, both with flyand bait, inthelower pond.

When

there two years since Iwhippedtheupper pond faithfullyone evening and the next morning,in

company

withanexpertfly-fisherman,

who

had beenverysuccessful a fortnight previous,withouteither of usgetting arise;but 1sawtheoutline,on apiece of birch bark, of a2^-pounder which hetookontheformer occasion, nailedupagainstthe door postofMartNoyes'scamp.

Now,

1 have never seen a troutoverone-halfpoundin weight takenfromthelower pond.

The

fishthere are very uniforminsize,from 9 to 12 inches long, round, slender, andwithnomottlingof thefins andverylittleoftheback (whichisdarkandbluish),withtheredspotsvery smalland the flesh a very deep red, looking

when

rawlikea beef- steak.

Theseponds are ontheAndroscogginwatershed,which they drain into through

Dimond

Stream;andthetrout of theUpper

Mohawk,

sixmiles tothewestward on theCon- necticutwatershed, are white-fleshed,deeperbelliedand more distinctlymottled.

The

tailof the

Dimond Pond

trout, too,is inclined tobe bifurcated,and,infact,the first time Ievercaughtone, I wasinclined todoubtitsbeinga trout until1 foundthered spots. I believe thattheyalsobelongtotheoquassavariety, andshouldIget up thereagainshall tryandsendsome to Washingtonfor identification.

Samuel Webber,

Charlestown,N. H.

— —

—

The South Fork

Fishing

and Hunting

Club,ofPitts- burgh, at their last meeting, decided to erect on their propertyinCambriacounty,a large club house or hotel to beusedforthe exclusive benefit of

members

oftheclub,and a^limited

number

of then friends. Plans of the proposed structurehavealready been prepared, Itwill be ofunique design, three stories high,and will belarge enough to ac- commodate150guests. It will be located on

Conemaugh

Lake, abodyofwatertwomiles long and three-quarters of a mile wide,situatedtwomilesbackof South Fork,onthe Pennsylvania Railroad,and about nine miles southeast of Johnstown.

The

club,which has a membershipof about jiixtysubstantialcitizens,

now

owns betweenl.fOOand1.800

#$"flsoflandinCambriacounty. ^{'' '}:

MASKINONJE, MASCALLUNGE, MASKl- NAUGA.

EditorForestandStream:

I findthat Ihavegotintoa veryseriousscrapebywriting aboutthe etymology ofmaskinonje. In a reminiscence ⁱⁿ

Forest and

Stream, of Dec. 31, I

made

afoot note, in whichIcalled the attention ofetymologiststo the derivation oftheword "mascalonge" anditsvariations,and drew upon

my

very limited stockoftheOjibwatongue, obtainedthirty yearsagoandnearlyforgotten. In thisIsaid^.

"My

spellingoftheOjibwa

name

of pike,Kenosha, isen- tirely phonetic. I have no idea

how

^{itmight be} spelled.

Givethe o a nasalsound andtwist it into 'Kinoje' anditis nota farcry to'maskinonje,'which most authoritiestry to twist intoaFrench derivation with 'mask' asa

synouym

of 'face.' Idonot pretendto decidethis matter, forI

am

not learnedenough in either Frenchor Ojibwa, and

know

that thelattertongue has received

many

additions since the 'Chemokman' came

among

them.

As

an instanceof this:

A

poor Indianhad beeged around

camp

forsomedays with moreorlesssuccess,

when

onemorninghecame in and re- quested 'pungee pegushigun.'

To my

untrained ear this

meant 'pungee' (little) 'pequishigan' (bread), and I told

him

'gowin pequishigan' (no bread); heinsisted,andtaking upa"gun showed

me

that'pegushigun' meantpercussion capsforagun andnotbread

—

^{showingthat he}had

made

a word,or others had, forsomethingnew."

Thiswasfollowed by one of your correspondents,

who

openedupn

new

fieldtome, andcreateda desire to gointo thematter further. This correspondent,in your issue of Jan.7, said:

"Inthe footnotetothearticle entitled'A

New

Year^Fish- ingTrip,'Mr. Matherventured an etymology of the word 'mascalonge.'

He

might, safely havegonefurther. It is

.hardly necessary to remind so accomplished an Ojibwa scholar that

mas

means 'spotted' or 'speckled.' Thus: the NipigonIndians (Chippewas)call the lake trout (Salvelinus namui/eush)'namaycush^;' thebrook trout'mas-namaycush,' andthey assured

me

that

mas

hadthemeauing abovegiven.

Ifthe distinct spots ofthe mascalonge becomparedwiththe broken-line markings of the northern pike, the reason ofapplyingthe adjective will be evident. 'Maskinonge'is saidbythe'Encyclopaedic Dictionary'to be the Algonquin name, and in 'Hiawatha' 'kenozha' and 'maskinozha⁵ are usedassynonymous. Icanhave little doubt that 'mas-ki- nonge'meanssimply'spotted pike.' Butlike Mr. MatherI

havelearnedthe difficulty of expressing Indian sounds in our usualnotation.

—

^X."

An

editorialnotesaid: "This opens a

new

mine for ety- mologists

who

have alwayslookedto the French and have concludedthat the

name

wasderivedfrom'maskallonge' or longface. Itseemsmoreprobable that theFrenchtwisted the'Ojibwa

name

into theirvernacularand

made

'maskinoje' intomascallonge,maskanonge,etc.

We

willbe pleased to hear furtherfromourOjibwascholars."

"X." gave

me

creditfor agreat dealmore knowledgethan I possess, for it never occurred to

me

that"mas" meant

"spottedorspeckled."

As

hetruly says, "itisexceedingly difficulttoexpress Indian sounds in our usual notation,"

Ishouldhavesaid forredor spotted_(?)"mis,"thus: "Mis- quah"isred, as IunderstandtheirOjibwa;and"mis-qua-bo,"

red bloodorfluid; "misqua-walk," red cedar,etc.

Itoccurredto

me

then towork this matter up andsee whatIcould

make

of thisvariouslyspelled

name

ofmaskin- onjeormascalongeand wroteto

my

old friend,D.H.Fitz- hugh,Jr.,of

Bay

City, and asked

him

to inquireof our guide, thefamousLen. jewel,

how

nearlycorrect this might- be, asLenspoke the language quite fluently,and

when

in the

woods

with

him

Ihaveattemptedtobrushupwhatlittle

knowledge Ihad obtainedof the Indian, byconversation.

This and the attempt at alittle"patter"in Ojibwa with JackShephard,the noted

Brown

tractguideofthe Adiron- dacks,isallthechanceI have had to airthefew wordsin

my

Ojibwavocabularyinthirtyyears.

The

resultwasthat Ihadtodependverylargelyupon

my

^knowledgeofEnglish inorderto get alongat all. Mr. Fitzhugh kindlyreplied to

my

^letter,but beforeitsreceipt1read the obituarynotice ofLenJewelinyourissueofJan. 28.

Mr. Fitzhugh said:

Bay

City, Jan.11, 1886.

My

Dear Sir—

Your

favorre- ceived: "In re maskinonge"

— ^Some

^{thirty years} ago the question was agitated in Porter's Spirit,and the saine dis cussion took place. GenioC.Scottwasin correspondence with Mr.

W.

A. Fitzhugh, a cousin of mine,whose gun andtacklefellto

my

lot at his demise.

They

agreed that the proper

name

was maskinonge, sharp accentonthe"e,"

and Genioquoted him as authorityfor the correct name.

Now

as to whether the "mas" means "spotted" or not,I can'tinformyou

—

Ialways thoughtitmeanta pikeof larger growth, and

when

1haveaskedtheIndians they alwayssaid

"Yes," butyou

know how

harditistoget a correct interpre- tation from an^Indian,astheywill always pleasantly agree toanysuggestion. Itisastonishing

how

far alittle Indian lore,alittle

money

andalittlewhiskywillgoto

make

these noblenativesagreetoallyou

may

sayor do.

Len

don'tknow, but thinks ^it means a large pike.

The

fearful march of civilization (much to be regretted) has swept

away

the Indians in this vicinity, also the intelligent traders

who

might give

me

some information.

When

IgotoNepigon next summer, where the purest 'Castilian' issaid to exist

among

the Chippewa tribe,I will try to find outfromthe Menominees,

who

are goodfriends of mine, and report to you. The Chippewa language hereiscorruptedby mixing with theOttawasonthe east ofCanada. IntheNorthwest, whereyoupickedup yourjargon,itwas mixedwithMeno- minee, but

we

had notrouble atNepigonwithLen to inter- pret. Although but veryfew of our guides could under- stand English,more could speak French. Isend you by mail an Indian primer,which

may

guide you inyourre- searches. 'A little book for you to look upon.' Sendit

backtome,as I value itand cannotreplaceit.

The

nota tions in pencil were

made

by

my

cousin,

W.

A. Fitzhugh,

who

was an enthusiastontheOjibwalanguage.

You may

finditinteresting. OldLenissick in the city hospitalwith gravel and inflammation of the bladder. I

made

him go there forgoodtreatment,and

we

visit

him

daily; butI fear hewillnotbeable togowith usinto thewilds

much

more, although hewentwith ustoNepigonlastyearaftera similar attack,and did good light service. Truly yourfriend,D.

H.Fitzhugh."

Itwillbe seenfromthisletter

how

difficultitisfora

man who

has picked

up

alittle lingo in one portionof a tribe whichhas not preserved its language in its purityto con- verse or eve'n tounderstand what isspokenbymembers of thetribe residingatadistance.

The

admixtureof French

IpudEnglishwordshas tendedto confuse, thetonguesof the

differentbranchesofthesame^tribe. Thus, while I spelled thewordforlarge"kigee,"I find thatLongfellow,in "Hia- watha,"spellsit"gitchee,"and intheOjibwaprimer,com- piledbyRev. PeterDougherty. 1844,kindlysent

me

by Mr.

Fitzhugh, hespellsit "geche."

As

nearas IunderstandtheOjibwaor Chippewaasithas been Anglicized, they have one general

name

for fish,

"kego." While I undeistand the piketobe"kenosha"or

"kinoje" (Dougherty spells it "kenozha") the trout tobe

"noo-may-gus"(which has been twisted by ichthyologists intonamaymsU); theblackbass tobe "oo-she-gun, ""whichI seeProf.Goode makes"achigan"inhis

"Game

Fishesofthe UnitedStates."

InthefollowingIhavegivenallthe variousspelliugs that I have been able to find inAmerican works on^fishes,and wheneveran author has attemptedtogivea definition of the

name

ofthefish,or to trace itsderivation, I give his lan- guageinfull.

Much

of the spelling isevidently corrupted, andsomeinstances areno doubtprinters' errors. Ihavealso given the

number

of syllables thatshould besoundedin the differentnames, andwillsaythatineverycasethegshould besoft.

In Reportof the Geological Survey of Ohio,Vol. IV., Part I., Zoology, Columbus, 1882, p.917, Jordan gives:

"EsoxnobiUor,

Thompson

Muskallooge; Mascalonge, Mas- kinonge, Great Pike. 'Esoxmasquinongy,Mitchell' (quoted, 'Mirror, 1824, 297,'butitisnotthere; 1cannotfindthe de- scriptionanywhere),"

Hallock, "Sportsman's Gazetteer,"1878, gives "niuskel- lunge,mascalonge,and maskinonge," and says: "This fish is

known

inthelawsof Canadaas the 'maskinonge,' from theChippewa wordmaskanonje,meaninglongnose; butin the Statesit iscalled'mascalonge,'fromtheFrench masque andallonge(elongated)longface!"

Igive below,inalphabetical order, such various spelliugs as Ifind,and where an author has attemptedto trace the derivation, 1quotehiswords;

Roosevelt,

"Game

Fish of the North," Chap. XIV.,

"mascallonge. synonyms: Esoxeslor, masqueallonge, mus- kellunge, muscalinga, masquinongy, maskinonge, rnusca- nonga." * * * '"The

name

of thisfishisderived from masqueallonge, long snout, whichisa translationfrom the CanadianIndiandialectofmascanonga, words which have thesamesignification; and from corruptions of these two designationsarisenurnumerousnames. Itook greatpains toascertain precisely

how

theCanadianboatmen,

who

are a crossof theIndian"andFrenchman, pronounced^thisname, although,intheirFrenchpatois,heisordinarily calledBro- chat,andthe best

my

earscould

make

ofitwas mas ormus- callung,thelattersyllablebeinggutteral.*

Rut

as themost sonorous, expressive,and appropriate

nam

3ismascallonge,

it isdesirable thatallsportsmen shouldemployit."

mascalonge

(threesyllables).

"Frank Forester" (Henry William Herbert), "Fish and Fishing," no date, pp. 151.281.

Asa synonym

hegives,

"Masqucallonge,CanadianFrench." Perhapstheeisa typo- graphicalerror. Page152,hesays:

"The

mascalonge owes

its

name

totheformationofthe

head—

masque allonge, long face or snout, CanadianFrench

—

but whichhas been trans- latedfrom dialectto dialect, maskinonge, muscalunge, and muscalinga,untileverytrace oftrue derivationislost."

Norris,Thaddeus,

"The

AmericanAngler's Book," 1865, p.135.

Sterling,Dr. E., paper read before the Mass. Angler's Ass.,nodate.

Jordan. D. 8.,"Geological Surveyof Ohio," 1882,Vol.

IV.,p.917.

"Kingfisher,"

Forest and

Stream,Vol. XVI., p. 72,de- scribesoneof32 pounds.

"Dr.

K

^,"

^{Forest and}

Stream,Vol. XX.,p.308,"Does

itleap?"

"B.,"ibid, p.348.

"Canuck," in

Forest and

Stream,Vol.XXII., p. 107.

Catches a bigone.

MASKAiiONGE(threesyllables).

Dr.C.A.Hewers,

Forest and

Stream,Vol.XIX.,p. 30, tellsofonecaughtof33pounds, with alivegullforbait.

Elihu Phinney,

Forest and

Stream,Vol.

XX,

_{p. 231,}

doesitleap?

maskeenonjai(foursyllables).

Writerin

New

YorkCommercialAdvertiser,Dec. 10,1824, quoted by

Thomas

F. Devoe,

"The

Market Assistant."

OrangeJudd

&

Co.,nodate.

maskellonge

(threesyllables).

G.M. Skinner,

Forest and

Stream,Vol. XVII._,p. 212, tellsofoneof10andoneof18 pounds.

MASKINAVGA.

Ihave somewhereseenthisspellingbut cannotfinditnow, thisisdoubtlessa printer's error for maskinonge.

maskinonge

(foursyllables).

Jordan,

D

8., ReportOhioFishCommission, 1S77,p.92.

"Antoine,"

Forest and

Stream,Vol.XIX.,_p.70, one bitesaman'sfoot.

Scott,Genio

C,

"Fishingin AmericanWaters,"1875,p.

277.

"The

Ojibwa

name

of thisfishis 'maska?ionja,'mean- ing'long snout.'

When

Canada was a Frenchcolonythe habitans

named

itmasque-longue, signifying longvisage. 1 submitthattheOjibwawasentitledbypriority to theright ofnaming thefish; but as the Dominion of Canada has

named

itagain,andinalllegalenactmentsthere inreference toitthe

name

of thefishiswritten 'maskinonge,'Iwillingly acceptthemodificationinstead of either the Indian or the French name."

Jordan, D.S., Geological SurveyofOhio,1882,Vol.IV., p. 917.

Scott,J.,

Forest and

Stream,Vol.III., p.395.

Roof, Clarence M.,

Forest and

Stream,Vol.III., p.322.

maskinonje(foursyllables).

Forest and

Stream,Vol. XIX., _p.369, describesoneof 34 pounds.

masqualongus

(four syllables).

Jordan andGilbert,ReportOhio Fish Commission.1875- 76, p.82.

muscalonge

(threesyllables).

Forest and

Stream, Vol.

XL,

p. 324:

"A

Monster Muscalonge.—Belle vue, Ont,, Nov.12 [1878].

—

Thismorn- ing(Tuesday,Nov. 11) the largestmuscalongeever captured inthe

Bay

ofQuinte, and probably one of the largest ever caughtin freshwater,was taken in a seinenearBelleville.

Ipersonallymeasuredthefish and found itsdimensionsto beasfollows; Length,fromtipofnosetoendoftail,5feet

*Hereiathe oolyipstaiioeof.a terdQwhichThavemet^i<iicuikim

upthis subject., ^{-' •} .?