PACIFIC AND BEERING'S STRAIT. 75 



which purpose he generally selects places which are 

 overgrown with long grass. This stratagem seldom 

 fails to entice several of the herd within reach of his 

 arrows, which are frequently sent with unerring aim 

 to the heart of the animal, and he falls without alarm- 

 ing the herd ; but if the aim should fail, or the arrow 

 only wound its intended victim, the whole herd is im- 

 mediately put to flight. 



Their method of taking ducks and geese and other 

 wildfowl is equally ingenious. They construct large 

 nets with bulrushes, and repair to such rivers as are 

 the resort of their game, where they fix a long pole 

 upright on each bank, with one end of the net at- 

 tached to the pole on the opposite side of the river to 

 themselves. Several artificial ducks made of rushes 

 are then set afloat upon the water between the poles 

 as a decoy ; and the Indians, who have a line fas- 

 tened to one end of the net, and passed through a 

 hole in the upper end of the pole that is near them, 

 wait the arrival of their game in concealment. When 

 the birds approach, they suddenly extend the net 

 across the river by pulling upon the line, and inter- 

 cept them in their flight, when they fall stunned into 

 a large purse in the net, and are captured. They also 

 spread nets across their rivers in the evening, in order 

 that the birds may become entangled in them as 

 they fly. 



The occupation of the men consists principally in 

 providing for their support, and in constructing the 

 necessary implements for the chase and for their own 

 defence. The women attend to their domestic con- 

 cerns, and work a variety of baskets and ornamental 

 parts of their dress, some of which are very ingenious, 

 and all extremely laborious. Their closely wove 



