CANDLE-FISH. 91 



feet long, made round for about two feet of its 

 length, at the place of the hand-grip ; the rest is 

 flat, thick at the back, but thinning to a sharp 

 edo-e, into which are driven teeth about four 



o 



inches long, and an inch apart. These teeth 

 are usually made of bone, but, when the Indian 

 fishers can get sharp-pointed iron nails, they 

 prefer them. One Indian sits in the stern 

 of each canoe to paddle it along, keeping 

 close to the shoal of fish ; another, having 

 the rounded part of the rake firmly fixed in 

 both hands, stands with his face to the bow 

 of the canoe, the teeth pointing stern wards. 

 He then sweeps it through the glittering mass 

 of fish, using all his force, and brings it to 

 the surface teeth upwards, usually with a fish 

 impaled, sometimes with three or four upon 

 one tooth. The ' rake being brought into the 

 canoe, a sharp rap on the back of it knocks the 

 fish off, and then another sweep yields a similar 

 catch. 



It is wonderful to see how rapidly an Indian will 

 fill his canoe by this rude method of fishing. The 

 dusky forms of the savages bend over the canoes, 

 their brawny arms sweep their toothed sickles 

 through the shoals, stroke follows stroke in 



o 



swift succession, and steadily the canoes fill 



