St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-08-13
THE INDIAN WHALERS.
THE ATTACK or TIE SMASH INDiARS
IN THEIR LIGHT CANOES.
COAST TRIBES on THE DEEP.

NVaSA ON u
The Operations of the Red Men
o. Among School OF Hump
Back WhaIers Described in an
Exciting Letter From an OBJ
server.
On the extreme northwestern coast of
Washington live the remnants of a race
of Indians who comparatively short
time ago were fierce and War-llke, who
had little commerce with the white in
habitants, who captured their sup3ist-
ence from the turbulent ocean and
lived life of hardy independence and
constant danger. They frequently bat
tied with the indians of Nootka Sound,
across on the British Columbia side,
and there exist today many legends and
stories of those fierce struggles.
In stature they are unlike the natives
of the interior-the YakimaS, the Snakes
and other tribes. The latter are tail.
we'll proportiOned, expert horsemen and
excellent runners. The Indians who
lived on the coast at the entrance to the
Straits of Euca ana little further south
toward the Columbia river were short,
clumsy on their feet and almost crab
Ike in their motion. Their legs were
SeEawney and most Indifferent, while
from the waist up many of them were
splendid specimens of wild manhood
chests broad, deep, straight; arms of
marvellous development and unusual
length.
This peculiar disproportion is easily
accounted for. The life of the coast
Indian was passed in his canoe with
paddle or spear in hand. His seat in
the canoe was not unlike the doubled
and cramped position of tailor on his
bench. Through a series of genera
lions his legs became dwarfed. crooked
and insufficient: but his spine, should
ers, arms and all the muscles of his
upper body answering to constant prac-
tice reached splendid vigor and ability.
The BedOuin of the plain. the COsSack
of the steppeS, the Comanche of the
West were not half SO familiar to their
horses as these Indians were to their
canoes, which were their means Of
chase and capture, of their dangerous
Journeys, of their fight and purs nit,
says writer in the San Francisco Call.
In their canoes the coast Indians of
Washington do not hesitate to attack
any monster of the deep, and the writer
has seen them successfully give battle
to the largest hump-backed wales and
brlng the leviathau of the ocean into
camp. During certain seasons of the year
1t is The belief of those Indians that the
''tyhee" fish regularly makes migration
along the coast of Washington. A such
time sharp watch is kept, and upon
the appearance of the humpback a gem
oral alarm iC tnrnnH in (which
with an enthusiastic response.
The writer once happened to be at
Ossett, ali Indian village, a few miles
below the entrance to the Strait de
HarO, when the signal came from the
keen-eyed, half-naked sentry perched
high UP on a Jutting prOmOntOry that
school of whales was seen. in a mo-
ment the lazy, inert SavageS were all act
ivity. No bugle-call ever produced
more instantaneous effect than the sig
nal from the lookout. Suddenly half a
dozen canoes were pushed off, although
there was a heavy swell and the water
was breaking in threatening manner
on the beach. ''ShUu-iSi ShOo-isI" was
shouted from fifty Threats, and almost
as quick as thought the big canoes
were pointed seaward and were dancing
over the waves to the vigorous strokes
of the Indians paddles.
IIhe weapons employed In whale hunt
ing consist of long barbed spear. The
body is made of wood, and is perhaps
fifteen feet IN length. 1t is so made
that the moment the sharp, iance-like
barb enters the thick skin of the whale
the wood becomes detached, but the
barb stays deeply imbedded in the har-
pOOned fish, attached to che boat by
small line. There are in each canoe
several of these spears and a number
of dog sealskius inflated with air, which
are made fast to the line, whose end Is
again fast TO the lance. Thus, when
whale is struck and goes down he has
to carry with HIM this inflated bag The
Indians also had shorter spears, which
are employed at closer quarters.
At the time indicated the big game
was several miles out to sea, but there
were seven Stalwart SiWaSheS in each
canoe, dipping their oars in the water
with the rhythm of machinery. and it
was not long before the little fleet lay
directly in the course OF the leviathans.
They formed horseshoe with the ends
haring toward the fish. In every bow
there stood a sportsman with lance par
italy appraised, whose rigid form, tense,
streined, eXpectant, seemed carved.
Every paddle except that of the steers
man was lifted from the water ready to
descend with Instant precision and send
the light craft literally leaping over the
waves.
Thus the Indians sat for perhaps fif-
teen minutes. Finally in moment a
monster humpback whale broke through
the water 100 yards to the right and
further seward. A moment more ana
second whale spOuted a stream sky
ward not fifty feet from the canoe next
the one in which | sat, an excited and
somewhat frightened observer In
absolute silence the two canoes on
either side of the fish slipped over the
water toward the unSuspecting game,
and in another second the spear from
one of them shot through the air, hurled
by giant Indian. Ii was well aimed
and struck the whale hard and deep,
burying the lance deep i'll its side.
Swifter than thought the wounded
monster struck the water With his
fiukeS, breaking into small pieces the
long shaft OF wood, and, sinking. sent
two big bladderS skimmlng over the
water for a moment and then out of
sight downward.
Amateur oarSmen or professionals
who think they can prOpel their racing
boats should have seen the canoes liter
aIlV fly after that wounded humpback
Every stiff paddle threatened 10 break,
and the muscles stood out across the
naked breasts and barred arms of the
hunters as they shot along. After lit
tie one after another dropped behind,
and they were strung out over quite a
distance. This was in order to cover
as much water as possible, for it was
impossible to tell where the wounded
whale would rise to spout. But lie did
not long remain below, and before he