The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1891-08-30
SOME aunER ALAsKAN FIsHns.
One Species That Are Used for Can
dles-Notions About White Whales.


One Species That Are Used for Can
dles-Notions About White Whales
From the Washington Star.
"There are all sorts of interesting fishes
in Alaska" said government ichthyolgist
to Star reporter. Take for example the
candle fish, which is about as remarkable
a creature for varied usefulness as swims.
1t is a sort of smelt and swims in vast
schools along the coast. There IS no better
pan fish, for it is of delightful flavor and as
fat as possible. In fact these tinny delica-
cies are SO fat that the natives use them for
candles, fixing them in forked sticks, light
ing enS snd and permitting them 70 burn
until consumed. Their fat the Esklmos also
try out for butter, and as a substitute it is
not so bad as you might suppose. Prepared
in the shape Of oil il serves excellently as a
substitute for that obtained from cod liv-
ers, and great quantities of 1T are sold by
apothecaries now as a substitute for the lat
ter 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 l each year for the purpose of spawn
ing, going 1900 miles up the rivers. The
| natives dry these salmon for winter use,
ing the heads and leaving the ba ,kbone in
| the middle slice, so that all three slices are
connected by the tail Thus prepared, the
| fish are called 'chowichee ukali, and two or
three of them dried weigh at least fifty
| pounds. One is considered a 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
| ukali is valued at one leaf of tobacco or i've
or six musket balls. The chowichee Of the
Yukon is held in such high esteem that the
| Russians usei to salt down several hogs
heads of it annually for the cars table
when that monarch owned Alaska.
EVERY NATIVE A FISHERMAN.
TN Alaska every native is fisherman,
because almost the entire population de-
| peuds 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 readi-
ness TO seize and club to death the scaly vic
| Tins that get entangled. Dressing and cur
| ing the fish fall naturally to the lot OF the
females. The usual annual supply Of SAL
mon pat up by family Of four persons is
| l,500 fish, averaging five pounds each
| before they are cured and half pound eacu
| when dried. The stores accumulated in the
warm season are not touched until the in
| clemency of the weather about Nov. reu-
| ders fishing no longer practicable. AS
rule, by the time May l arrives and fishing
becomes again practicable, the reserve sup
| plies have been exhausted and starvation ali
but threatens. Each family, in addition to
! its dried stock, puts up for the winter half
a barrel or so of dried salmon roe. ..
1.-THE Alaskan waters fairly swarm with
| food fishes, of which there are not less Than
seventy-five species-- seven-eighths Of them
useful for the table, while the rest have
value as bait Off the coast Goldfish banks
| equal in productivenesS those of the New
| England shore. Seyeral kinds Of rock cod
swim in vast numbers In the ocean near
land Among these is the palatable green
fish. SO called because its flesh is Of q greea
| color, but the usual hue disappears ia cook
ing. In the rivers very, far north different
varieties of white fis9es take the place of
the salmon abundantIy, growing to hirty
| pounds in weight aud OF delicious flavor.
| Grayling are abundant also in the rapid
streams. Dolly Warden trout mlltitndi-
nously populate the riYeEEfI and tidal ga:ers,
growing to fifteen pounds. But these are
only few of the valuable finny specihs in
this great territory that seems deslg53ed as a
paradise for the fshefMsn. Pike, 'reeSdsh'
| and 'dog-fish' are mostly utilized as food
| for the dogs. T
| ENORMOUS SCHOOLS. OF uHERREAlR
SIN such enormous Soho ,l5do the common
herring of the Pacific navigate the snorth-
| west coastal waters-4TTlOst delicious ami fat
they are said to be41bhat vessels sAAfor
hours through shoals of them. and a. lazy
| Indian with suck full of nails can iffipale
enough for boat fSad within shofb time.
Often 1t happens that acres Of grassoa shore
| are found covered with herring eggs which
an unusually high tide has left Stranded.
The natives collect the eggs thus dep0si ed
and dry them. 9vHf fs doUz
"The hook for catching halibut used by
the Alaskan Indians IS much more effective
than the weapon used by white men4ef New
England for the same purpose. 1t is aforked
stick shod with sharp sron at one extremity
and baited with q whole herring. u When
swallowed it holds the mouth of the fish
open, 50 that it quickly browns. Lines pro-
vided with these hooks are commonly set
over night, with bloys TO hold them made
out of the inflated stoalachs Of seals. noih
"The hunting of white whales is an i'm
portant industry among the coast Indians
OF Alaska. The animals are very tinnid,
and coming in with the tide, they are easily
driven Into shoal water by shouting and
splashing with oars, whereupon they are dis
patched with fiint-shod spears. No other
weapons can be used for this purpose, be-
cause to do so would be sure to entail mis-
mountaineering to the native supersti-
ton. When whale is taken the flesh and
bluober are common property, but the
whalebone belongs to the captors. The jaw
bones are employed for shoeng sled runners
and the ribs and jaws are used in construct
ing the frame work of winter dwellings.
Fresh or tainted-indifferently meat is
esteemed delicacy for eating.
ROW THEY CATCH BEARS.
"Strips of whalebone are folded into the
shape of the letter N, developed in hunks Of
fat. and frozen that way. The hunks of
! fat thus prepared are left in promising spots
for great white bears 10 devour. Along
comes one of the monsters, gulps a chunk
down whole; the gastric juices melt the fat
and eat away the strings of tendon wi tn
which the whalebone is bound; the whale
bone springs out straight across the animals
stomach, and presently it dies of lockjaw.
Next day Mr.. Eskimo comes along and
gathers in big bearskin worth several
quarts of whisky. An ingenius beast is the
native OF that northern cline
1T is the custom that, while hunting
white whales, no native shall chop wood.
dig in the earth. sew or tap skins. To do
any OF these things would offend the god OF
white whales, who might not permit those
useful cetaceans to come back the next sea-
SOD. When the whaling is over all the
oones OF the animals must be gathered and
burned for the same reason, and COR
responding superstition directs that all
osseous remains of the walrus, seal and bear
shall be consumed likewise by fire lest their
divlnitfes be offended