The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1891-08-20
FISHES OF alaskan WATERS
one species us'd for Caudles-Sunt-
ing " hite Whales.
brom re IVaslinQton 81


From the WASHINGTON Star
There are all sorts of interesting fishes in
AiasKa' said government ichthyoiogist
10 star reporter. Take for example the
candle hsh," which is about as remarkable
d creature for varied usefulness as swims.
IL Is a sort of smelt and swims in vast
schools along the coast. There is no better
pan hSh, Tor 1t Is of delightful favor aud
as lat as possible. In fact, these finnv
delIcacieS are so fat that the natives
used them dried for candles. fixing them
In forked sticks, lighting one end and per
Inlttlng them t. burA until consumed.
Iher Tat % Eskimo also fry out for
butter, and as substitute it is not so bad as
You might suppose. Prepared in the shape
OF Oil, 1t serves excellsntly as a substitute
tor that obtained from cod livers, and great
Quantities OF itace sold by apothecaries now
as a substitute for the latter article.
''Of coursa the great fish wealth Of Alaska
lies in the abundance of salmon. The big
| gest variety, called the king salmon. is
gigantic, growing to from sixty to ninety
| pounds In weight. 1t leaves the ocean about
June each year for the purpose Of spawn.
Ing, going 200 miles up the rivers. The
natives dry these salmon for winter use.
cutting hem into three slices after remov.
ing Inc heads and leaving the
so that all three slices are con
nected by the tail. Thus prepared,
the fish are called 'chowichee ukah,' aud
two or three Of them dried weigh at least
nifty pounds. One is considered @ sufficient
food supply for one day for six men and
the dogs that haul their sledges. Bought
from the natives on the great Yukon river,
single ukai is valued at ono leaf of to-
bacco or five or sixsmuskets balls The
ahoUfNhaa of tba Vukou 10 haId e,,ob
high esteem that the Russians used to salt
down several hogsheads OF it annually for
the czar's table when that monare h owned
Alaska. rr-
'In Alaska every native is a fisherman.
because almost the entire population de-
ponds upon the resources of the waters for
food supply The men spear and net and
trap the salmon, 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 70
club to death the scaly victims that get en-
tangled. Dressing and curing the fish
fall naturally 10 the lot of the fe-
males. The usual annual supply of
salmon put up by a family Of four per-
sons Is 800 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 inclemency of the weather about Nov.
l renders tishing no longer practicable. AS
a rule, by the time May | arrives and fish
ing becomes again practicable, the reserve
supplies have been exhausted, and starga-
ton all but threatels. Each family, in ad-
dition TO its dried stock, puts up for the
winter half barrel or 80 Of dried salmon
roe.
The Alaskan waters fairly swarm with
food fishes, of which there are not less than
seventy five species-seyen-eig of them
useful for the table, while the rest have
value as half OF the coast Goldfish banks
equal In produotiveness those Of the New
England shore. Several kinds of rock cod
swim Ia vast hunters in the ocean near
land. Among these is the palatable green
fish, so called because its flesh is of a
green color, but the unusual hue disap-
pears in cooking, In the rivers very
far north different varieties of while fishes
take the place of the salmon abundantly,
growing to thirty pounds in weight and OF
delicious favor. Grayling are abundant
also in the rapid streams. Dolly Warden
trout simultaneously populate the rivers
and tidal waters, growing to fifteen pounds.
But these are only few of the valuable
hnny species in this great territory that
seems designed as paradise for the fisher
man. Pike, reddish and 'doghsh' are mostly
utilized as food for the dogs.
''ln such enormous schools do the COM
mon herring OF the Pacific navigate the
northwest coastal waters-most delicious
and fat they are said to be--tnat 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 for the same purpose. 1t is q
forked stick shod with sharp iron at one
extremity and baited with whole herring
When swallowed it holds the mouth of the
fish open, 30 that it quickly browns. Lines
provided with these hooks are commonly
set oyer night, with buoys to hold them
made out of the inflated stomachs of sea s.
"The hunting of white whales is az i'm
portant industry among the coast Indians
of Alaska. The animals are very timid,
and, coming in with the tide, they are
easily driven into shoal water by shouting
and splashiug with oars, whereupon they
are dispatched with fint-shoi spears. No
other weapons can be used for this purpose,
because to do 30 would be sure TO
entail Notwithstanding TO the
native superstition. When q whale is taken
but the whalebone belongs to the captors.
The jawbones are employed for shoeing
sled runners. and the ribs and jaws are used
in constructing the frame work Of winter
dwellings. Fresh or d-indifrerently-
the meat is esteemed delicacy for eating.
"Strips of whalebone are folded into tue
shape OF the letter N enveoped in hunks of
fat and frozen that way. The hunks of fat
thus prepared are left in promising spots
for great white bears to devour. Along
comes one of the monsters, gulus hunk
| down whole; the gastric Juices melt the fat
and eat away the strings Of tendon with
which the whalebone is bound; the whale
bone springs out straight across the ami
mails stomach, and presently it dies of lock-
Jaw. Next day Mr.. Eskimo comes along
and gathers in big benrskin worth several
quarts OF whisky.
at is the custom that, while hunting
white whales, no native shall chop wood,
dig in the earth, sew or tau 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 CORES
ponding superstitutlon directs that all osse-