92 FISH HAKVESTING. 



with their harvest of ' living silver.' When they 

 have heaped as much as this frail craft will 

 safely carry, they paddle ashore, drag the boats 

 up on the shelving beach, overturn them as 

 the quickest way of discharging cargo, relaunch, 

 and go back to rake up another load. This 

 labour goes on until the moon has set behind 

 the mountain-peaks and the fish disappear, for 

 it is their habit rarely to come to the surface 

 except in the night. The sport over, we glide 

 under the dark rocks, haul up the canoe, and lie 

 before the log-fire to sleep long and soundly. 



The next labour is that of the squaws, who 

 have to do the curing, drying, and oil-making. 

 Seated in a circle, they are busy stringing the 

 fish. They do not gut or in any way clean them, 

 but simply pass long smooth sticks through 

 their eyes, skewering on each 'stick as many as 

 it will hold, and then lashing a smaller piece trans- 

 versely across the ends, to prevent the fish from 

 slipping off the skewer. This done, next follows 

 the drying, which is generally achieved in the 

 thick smoke at the top of the sheds, the sticks of 

 fish being there hung up side by side. They soon 

 dry, and acquire a flavour of wood-smoke, which 

 helps also to preserve them. No salt is used 

 by Indians in any of their systems of curing fish. 



