The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1890-12-22


are plentiful in winter and ducks and
geese In summer. In the sea there are
whales and beIuga in great numbers, and
seals. also, are plentiful. No doubt If /
had got there / could have sent you
pretty good account of the tsh TO be found,
together with specimens. -. - ~.
Barrow and consequently were Obliged to
winter at that place, in Elson bay. No
fish are taken there in winter except TOM
cod. These are legged along the coast in
from ten to fifteen fathoms of water. They
are caught mostly by the. women and chill
dren. Fishing is done through holes in
feet in thickness. The icepick repre-
scented in the sketch is used
for drilling holes. 1t is a piece of
pointed iron fastened upon wooded shaft
The spoon about 81 inches long, made Of
two thin pieces OF reindeer horn, curved
into suitable shape and fastened to .
wooden handle about 2 feet III length, is
used to clear the surface water in the hole
of scum ice. The natives use whalebone
line made from strips of baleen, which
they are very expert in getting out OF
the required size. With this line
they can ash in any temperature, often 40
degrees below zero. A line made OF this
material does not ice up like twisted
line of cotton or linen. They never put
their hands to the line in cold weather,
but haul il in with the stick on which they
reel the line and the spoon used for keep
ing the hole clear of ice. With these two
implements they raise the I.sh and lower
the line, and they do this with wonderful
rapidity.
taking small white tish and salmon trout
is very skiilfully made by months of hard
labor. The net is twelve fathoms long
and one fathom deep; it Is made OF strips
of bone from yearling whales.
1.-THE Iish spear or native grains ] was
assured is very old. l obtained it from an
old doctor, who was very loath to part
with it, and / think there is no DOUBT
about the age of this implement, because
in these latter days the Esquimaux have
plenty of iron and steel, and this spear is
made of bone. Ii was used in the capture
OF fresh-watcr fishes.
During the past spring whaling was nm
precedently bad. Only one whale of any
size having been taken on the entire coast,
and none on the Siberian coast or st. Law
rence's island.o
In u paper read before the American
Fisheries Society in May 1884, Mr.. John
Murdoch gave description of fish and
hshing at Point Barrow. Arctic Alaska,
based upon his observations two years
preceding among the Esquimaux of the
region. In this article he gave a sketch
DDS employed in capturing them. After
describing the hunting and fishing of the
natives, who 90 OFF to the large rivers
to the eastward TO catch whiteAsh and
burbot, he tells in the following language
how those who stay at home obtain their
supplies of fish food: ''In the meantime
those who have remained at home have
not been without supply of hsh food.
There is a small species of GOLDFISH, the
polar cod tBoreogddns saidd), which APP
pears along the coast in large schools
about the end of January. or when the
sun again begins to rise. We were unable
TO Ind out whether the fish really leaves
the coast to return in January, but at all
events the Esquimaux do not lsh for them
until then and say there are none TO be
found. They would be likely TO hsh for
them were any to be caught, because just
st this season of the year they are apt TO
be pinched for food, as no deer are TO be
had, and if the ice happens to be unfavor-
able seals are very scarce.
Wherever there is level field of this
seasons ice inclosed by lines of hummocks
the Ish are sure TO be plenty. Such Leld
as this, about half a mile long, practically
afforded living 10 mostof the people in the
village during the season of 1883, because
that year the ice was very unfayorable for
sealing, and food was pretty scarce in the
village.
women and children, though one or two
old men generally go out, and one or two
OF the younger men, when they cannot go
scaling and food Is wanted at the house,
viii join the fishing party.
Each fisherman is provided with long
handled ice pick. which he frequently
leaves sticking in the snow near the asii-
ing ground, long line made of strips OF
whalebone, reeled lengthwise on q slender
wooden shuttle about eighteen inches long
and provided with a copper sinker
and two pear-shaped 'jigs' of walrus
ivory armed with four barbless
hooks of copper, and scoop or
dipper made of reindeer antlers, with
wooden handle about two feet long,
Hardly an Esquimaux, and specially no
Esquimaux boy, stirs out of the house in
the winter without one of these scoops in
his hand. To every party of two or three
there Will also be a good-SiZed bag of seal
skin, generally made of a piece of an old
kayak cover, for bringing home the Lsh
ceeds to pick hole through the ice,
which is about four feet thick, picking out
the chips with the scoop. The 'jigs' are
then let down through the hole, and
enough line unreeleed to keep them Just
clear of the bottom, where the iIsh are
playing about. The reel is held in the
right hand and serves as a short rod,
while the scoop is held in the left hand
and used to keep the hole clear of the
scum of new ice, which, of course, is con-
stantly forming. The line is kept in con-
slant motion. jerked up quickly short
distance and then allowed TO drop back, so
that the little Hsh that are nosing about
the white 'jigs' after the manner of cod
Lsh, are hooked about the jaw or in the
belly.
LAS soon as the fisherman feels q fish on
his hook he catches up blight of the line
with his scoop and another below this with
his reel and thus reels up the line ON these
two sticks in loose coils until the I.sh is
toss throws him off the barbless hook on
the ice, when he gives one convulsiye
flop and freezes solid.