The Lafayette gazette. [volume] (Lafayette, La.) 1893-1921, 1894-10-06
INDIAN SEAL HUNTERS.

D0 BETTER Than the White Mon.
Nearly all of the crack seal bunter'
OF the Makah Indians are commonly
known as Neah Bay Indians.
The Indians go out upon the chase
without guns and ammunition, relying
on their Prowess as spearsmen for the1,
success in catching the game. The
! schooners will carry the regulation
sealing flag, something new in the line
OF bunting, at the mast head. The
nag is a square yellow and black. cut
diagonal, and foated beneath the Stars
! and Stripes. 1t is to be not less than
four feet square. and is made conp,,l.
sorry under the new regulations of the
modus vivendi. The Indians will sign
for the voyage before the United States
! Indian agent at Neah Bay. They go
contendedly, knowing that anything
he does for them is for the best. One
| third of the catch of the trip goes to
| the schooner and two-thirds to the
hunters. and each canoe will give so
many skins to pay for the provisions
| they use.
! The Indian seal spears are curious
! implement of the chase. They can not
be better described to those who have
| ever seen the salmon spear than by
| saying they look just like such a
weapon, only built much stronger and
heavier. Long fir sticks without any
knots are trimmed down and rounded
by the Indians themselves. and forms
The arrow of the spear. At the lighter
or feather end the Indians fasten a very
f1attened 'and curiously cut shingle-
like piece of wood, which holds the
spear plumb in it's swift passage
through the air. The spear end of the
long arrow is branched by firmly bind
ing two light but hard wood sticks to
the longer stick at an angle that leaves
the two ends about seven or eight
inches apart. One of these prongs is
cut about ten inches or a foot shorter
thrown forth they are armed with the
sharp steel spearhead. If in throw
ing the longer one misses the
mark, the next may prove better and
find resting place in the flesh of the !
seal The steel spears made |
shape by the Indians themselves The
barb is made by filing out a piece after !
the file has been ground down to the |
sharpness of a knife blade. It gets it's !
proper position by inclining the process
of filing SO that it extends toward the
sharp point.
Fastened to the dull end of the steel
spear are couple of pieces of elk horn
divided into halves and SO bound to the
steel that a socket is left between the
two, into which the end of the spear
prong is stuck when it is to be thrown |
The steel spear is attached to the long
wooden handle by a string of elk sin
ews about one and one-half yards long
and carefully wrapped in small silk
thread. AS soon as a seal is struck by
one of the spearsmen the long arrow
comes out of the socket and the steel
barb holds firmly like a hook in a sal
mons mouth. The elk sinews, how
ever, form Il connection with the han
die, which in turn is attached to
the hunting canoe by means of Il
long cord. which is made too strong to
be broken by a seal laundering from
The end of it. If pains were not taken
to have the barb free from the handle
the seal in its founderings would snap
it off instantly. All the hardwood
orongs of the spears brought in recent
md Scared in dozens of places by luck
ess and frantic seals in their struggles
20 get away.
One popularity in the construction of =
he seal spear is the manner of binding
he two hardwood prongs into the
onger stick. This is done by Wrapping =
cry light strips of bark of a species Of
'cgetation well known to the Indians y
'ut hard to acquire by the whites 1t
S a very tough fiber, and the strips are
o thin that they scarcely increase the
isible size of the sticks around which .
hey are bound. The white men fire.
uently pay the Indians big prices for !.
his bark, which is secured about Neah
Jay The whole spear is painted a dull
ed by the Indians in their crude way,
no with mixtures they make them | =
elves from the native extracts of the =,
orest. When properly fixed for -
hrowlng the spear readily bal
noes in the hand. and Can't
rving says the hunters will throw it
18th accuracy distance of six or eight r,
lthoms. In the main less distances arc =,
referred by the hunters. who stand
p in the bows of their light cedar ca | r,
oes, while the oarsmen squat rieidlv | r.
l the stern and paddle along over the n,
wells as silently as if they were n,
amping barefooted on the trail of an n
k in the mountains.
The hunting canoes arc no less an NJ
oject of interest than are the spears h;
the spearsmen. They look as if
ley would not live moment in any "
md OF sea, but in the dexterous h,
inds of the natives they are perfectly W
fe. The oarsman has his eyes about
m as well as the hunter. While one
looking for seal the other carefullvt
ans the sea for svvells, and he seldom yc
lis to be ready for one when it comes kl
ION his frail craft. He takes the swell
an oblique course, never meeting it co
em on, nor does he ever allow his boat ia
be caught parallel with the swells in
e trough between them. Meeting
e swell obliquely, the canoe rises like
gull over the crest and down on the be
her side, and in this way will pass
er swells that would capsize an ordi- da
~ ships boat.-Seattle Telegraph. mi