Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1891-02-12
FISHING IN ICELAND.
The Utensils With which the Eskimo
Fishermen Capture Their Prey.

The Utensils With Which the Eskimo
Fishermen Capture Their Prey.
Wherever there is level field of this
seasons ice inclosed by lines Of hum
mocks, the fish are sure to be plenty.
Such field as this, about half a mile
long,. practically afforded living to
most of the people in the village during
the season of 1888, because that year
the ice was very unfavorable for seal
ing and food was pretty scarce in the
village.
The fishing is carried on mostly by
the women and children, though one or
two old men generally go out, and one
or two of the younger men, when they
can not go sealing and food is wanted
at the house, will join the fishing party.
Each fisherman is provided with a
long-handled ice-pick, which he fire.
quently leaves sticking in the snow
near the fishing ground, a long line
made Of strips of whalebone, reeled
lengthwise on a slender wooden shuttle
about eighteen inches long, and pro-
vided with a copper sinker and two
pear-shaped ''jigs,' of walrus ivory
armed with four barbless hooks of cop
per, and a scoop or dipper made of rein
deer antlers, with a wooden handle
about two feet long. Hardly an Eski-
mo, and especially no Eskimo boy
stirs cut of the house in the winter with
out 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 fish. Arriving at the fishing grounds
each proceeds to pick hole through
the ice, which is about four feet
thick, clearing out the chips with the
scoop. The ''jigs" are then let down
through the hole and enough line I'M
reeled to keep them just clear of the
bottom where the fish 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 the new ice, which, of course, is con-
stantly forming. The new line is kept
in constant motion, jerked up quickly
short distance and then allowed to drop
back, so that the little fish that are
nosing about the white ''jigs" after the
manner of Goldfish, are hooked about
the jaw or in the belly.
As soon as the fshman feels fish on
his hook he catches up a 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 fish is brought to the surface, when a
skilful toss throws him off the barb
less hook on the ice, where he gives one
convulsive flap and instantly freezes
solid. The elastic whalebone line is
thrown off the sticks without tangling.
and paid out through the hole again for
trial. If fish are not found plenty at
the first hole the fisherman shifts his
ground until he strikes a school. They
are sometimes so plenty that they may
be caught as fast as they can be hauled
up. One woman will frequently bring
in upward of a bushel of little fish-they
are generally about five or six inches
long-from a single days fishing. This
fishing lasts until about the middle of
May, when the ice begins to soften. A
good many are also caught along the
shore in November in about a foot of
water when there are no tide cracks
in the ice. At this season the Esl1i-
mo use a little rod about two feet
long, with short line and little ivory
squid, at which the fish bite.-Forest
and Stream.
mud. Jewellers Weekly.
Miss Rowena-"Th;nk of a wishy-
washy, phlegmatic girl like her being
named Stellar Mr.. Parham-"' Stella
means a star. Perhaps they called her
that not because they thought her
bright but because she was beautiful
in the dark. "-Harper's Bazaar.
He Suffered Just the Same. EN-
are very late this morn:
ing, Mr.. Threads" Clerk-"Yes sir;
suffered severely from insomnia last
night and when 1 finally got to sleep
oversight myself" Employer-'I
didn't know you had insomnia" Clerk
81 haven't; hut my baby has,
Judge.
Charlie, dear, what IS a monopoly
she asked, look ng up tenderly, as she
rested submissivcly in his arms with
her dainty head nestled against his
Well" replied Charlie,
struggling to bring his mind
to cope with abstruse b;ects, and ia i
ing altogether TO get beyond concrete
facts 81 sincerely hope that this is. -
Journal
- ~ yNu -" nH'r ilc;ve no cna,i:c.
THAT'S ,.a-5--ul"r'y tue IN regard to
poetry. !.i,ayv s.A.c ciiito-5 who re
ieet D.. 81 r g.. .-=-o.- than that
,ba,-.,. ....-.,-, :,;fE.