The Pleasantville press. (Pleasantville, N.J.) 1912-1929, 1924-03-22
HOW ESKIM0s CATCH
EELS TO FEED DOGS
Dip Nets Used Tarouza
Holes Cut II Ice.

WINTER @fSt numbers of "ct= Hf
down The Yukon riser toward tie
and the methods used rs E-kiI5as
catch them for dog feed is move.
The lower Yukon Freezes ea9Ix II
] 4" 'ember and when fHa ice il aboal
six inches thick the Eskimos Wafr8
for the arrival Of eels.
Eskimo villages are scattered aIaae
the lower river up 10 8ayik. the di9id-
ing line between the Yukon India4Is
and Eskimos. Anyik Is $50 miles feefa
the mouth. The villages have from sIs
to twenty families. each with five or
more children.
The natives prepare dip nets IL
inches in diameter. of seal or WaIrlIs
hide. the size Of q leather shoe string.
and made with one-quarter-inch mesh,
fastened to a willow hoop and four
foot pole.
When the Ice is strong enough the
Eskimos who own dogs ind the river
eddies where cells have regular lanes
of travel year after
Holes Cut in Ice.
Each dog owner cuts a hole two
feet square in the ice. then some dis
lance further along another one. and
so on until five or SIX are made, all in
a line up and down the river. cross
wise to the current. Over the holes
are placed grass mats piled with snow
to prevent freezing. A stick is frozen
upright near each hole as a guide and
warning. Near each hole heaps Of dry
woods are piled.
Eels do not ru1i in small numbers
first, they increase to the high peak.
They come in a wriggling, writing
mass of snakelike forms. They pass
a given point in from seven to twenty
minutes, a few stfagglers follow for
half an hour. They are Is inches long,
dark brown. with a leather-like fin on
back and belly. Each has seven small
round holes the size of d pinhead on
both sides Of the skull and a mouth
like a sucker. Their digestive organs
are in the head. The backbone is a
hairlike gristle running the entire
length of the body. They are all fat,
not a trace of lean meat to be found
on n of them.
When the ice is six inches thick the
natives are ready for the greatest
event of the year.
The tribes have an unusual system
of notifying each other when the cells
have arrived. -Four young men are
sent to watch at a water hole three or
four miles beyond their village, day
and night, until eeis are sighted. Sleep
is impossible, for If they should miss
the eel run the natives would be minus
dog feed for the long winter.
The river water comes up through
the ice holes to within two or three
inches of the top and as the wriggllng
masses of cells come down stream they
push water ahead of them so that each
hole overlows. This is the sign to the
watchers of the arrival of the antici-
pated hosts.
Much of Work at Night.
Eels run so close to the shortest
days that it is generally night work
harvesting them. It is the queerest of
northern sights TO observe 30 to 80 fur
clad Eskimos and many dogs on the
snow-coyered ice, the rows of small
wood fires burning brightly at the wa
ter holes.
AS the water begins TO rise in the
hole. an Eskimo plunges his dip net
in. At once it is filled with writhing
cells; he pulls it up, dumps the con-
tents upon the ice, then another
plunge, another net full.
The last hole cleaned, the Eskimos
gather to inspect their catch. Each
family has from five to seven or eight
piles of eels already frozen stiff, the
sum total caught numbering well up
in the hundreds.
The piles are left on the ice during
a great part of the winter except
when a sled load is wanted for dog
feed.
Eels are cooked with dried dogfsh
and the native sledge dog receives one
full meal per day, which is served at
night.
The eels are too fat even for the
o~illoving Eskimos, but the grease is
used for cooking and lamps.