Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-07-18

One Species That Are Used for Candles-N
tions About white Whales.

xCGG1 AAASAAN E16nESs
One Species That Are Used for candles-No-
tions About White Whales.
ssTNHERE ARE ALL SORTS OF INTER-
= esting fishes In Alaska" said . gov
eminent ichthyologist to o star reporter
Wake for example the candle fish, which
Is about as remarkable . creature for va
ried usefulness a. swims. It 10 Q sort of
smeit and swims in vast schools along the coast.
There Is no better pan fish, for il is Of delight
fui flavor and as fat as possible. In fact these
hnny delicacies are so fat that the natives use
them dried for candles, fixing them In forked
sticks, lighting one end and permitting them
to burn until consumed. Their fat the Eskimo
also try ont for butter, and as Q substitute it il
not SO bad as You might suppose. Prepared in
the shape OF OIL 1t serves excellently as q SUBJ
stitute for that obtained from cod ivers, and
great quantities of 1t are sold by apothe carries
now as substitute for the latter article.
:. "Of course. the great fish wealth of Alaska
lies in the abundance Of salmon The biggest
variety. called the king salmon. is gigantic,
growing to from sixty to ninety pounds in
weight. 1t leaves the ocean about June each
year Tor the purpose of spawning, going 1900
miles up the rivers. The natives dry these
slices after removing the heads and leaving the
backbone in the middle slice, so that all three
slices are connected by the tail. Thus pre-
pared, the fish are called 'chowichee ukali.' and
two or three Of them dried weigh at least fifty
pounds One is considered q sufficient food
supply for one day for six men and the dogs
that haul their sledges. Bought from the ma
tlves on the great Yukon river, = single ukali ie
valued ut one leaf Of tobacco or five or six
musket balls. The chowichee Of the Yuken is
held in such high esteem that the Russians
used to salt down several hogsheads of it an
nually for the cars table when that monarch
owned Alaska.
EVERY NATIVE FISHERMAN.
I'm Alaska every native is fisherman, be-
cause almost the entire population depends
upon the resources Of the waters for food sup
ply. The men spear and net and trap the sal
mon, while the women do what they can to
help, dragging great strings Of the captured
animals along the waters edge and watching
the gill nets, in readiness to seize and club to
death the scaly victims that get entangled.
Dressing and curing the fish fall naturally to
the lot of the females. The usual annual sup
ply OF salmon put up by a family Of four per-
sons Is 500 fish. averaging five pounds each
before they are cured and half pound each
when dried. The stores accumulated in the
warm season are not touched until the inclem-
ency Of the weather about November l rem
GERS hshlng no longer practicable AS a rule.
by the time May arrives and fishing becomes
again practicable. the reserve supplies have
been exhausted and starvation all but threatens.
Each family, in addition to it's dried stock, puts
up for the winter half barrel or so of dried
salmon roe.
THE Alaskan waters fairly swarm with food
fishes, Of which there are not less than seventy
hve species-seven-eighth of them useful for
the table, while the rest have value as bait.
Oh the coast Goldfish banks equal in productive
ness those OF the New England shore Several
kinds Of rock cod swim in vast numbers in the
ocean near land. Among these is the palatable
green fisE, SO called because its flesh il of q
green color, but the unusual hue disappears in
cooking. In the rivers very far north different
varieties of white fishes take the place Of the
salmon abundantly growing to thirty pounds
In weight and Of delicious flavor Graylng are
abundant also in the rapid streams. Dolly
Warden trout multitudinously populate the
rivers and tidal waters. growing to fifteen
pounds But these are only few Of the valu-
able Jimmy species in this great territory that
seems designed as a paradise for the fisherman.
Pike, red fish and 'dog-fish' are mostly uti-
LIKED as food for the dogs.
ENORMOUS SCHOOLS OF HERRING
I'm such enormous schools do the common
herring OF the Pacific navigate the northwest
coastal waters-most delicious and fat they are
said to be-that vessels sail for hours through
shoals of them, and a lazy Indian with stick
full Of nails can impale enough for boat load
within short time. Often it happens that
acres OF grass on shore are found covered with
herring eggs, which an unusually high tide has
left stranded. The natives collect the eggs
thus deposited and dry them.
The hook for catching halibut used by the
Alaskan Indians is much more effective than
the weapon used by white men Of New England
with sharp iron at one extremity and baited
with whole herring. When swallowed it
holds the mouth Of the fish open, 90 that it
quickly browns. Lines provided with these
hooks are commonly set over night, with buoys
to hold them made out of the inflated stomachc
Of seals
''The hunting of white whales is an impor-
tant industry among the coast Indians of
Alaska. The animals are very timid. and,
coming in with the tide. they are easily driven
with oars whereupon they are dispatched with
fint-shod spears. No other weapons can be
used for this purpose. because to do so would
be sure to entail Misunderstanding to the
native superstition. When a whale is taken
the flesh and bubber are common property,
but the whalebone belongs to the captors
The Jawbones are employed for shoeing sled
runners and the ribs and jaws are used in con-
structing the framework Of winter dwellings
Fresh or ed-indifferently-the meat ia
esteemed delicacy for eating.
HOW TO CATCH BEARS.
'Strips Of whalebone are folded into the shape
Of the letter N, enveloped in hunks of fat and
frozen that way. The hunks of fat thus pre-
pared are left in promising spots for great
white bears to devour. Along comes one of the
monsters, gulps hunk down whole; the gastric
juices melt the fat and eat away the strings of
tendon with which the whalebone is bound;
the whalcbOne springs out straight across the
animals stomach and presently It dies Of lock-
jaw. Next day Mr.. Eskimo comes along and
gathers in big bearskin worth several quarts
OF whisky. An ingenious beast is the native Of
that northern cline
1T is the custom that, while hunting white
earth. sew or tan skins. To do any OF these
things would offend the god of the white
whales, who might not permit those useful
cetaceans to come back the next season. When
the whaling is over all the bones OF the animals
must be gathered and burned for the same
reason. and "a corresponding superstition directs
that all osseous remains Of the walrus, seal
and bear shall be consumed likewise by fire