224 PAPERS RELATING TO ANTHROPOLOGY. 



tliiis he inserts his head iuto the noose. This trap is made of grass or 

 fibrous roots twisted iu a rope as large as a man's arm and attached to 

 a pole iu such fashion that the elk drags it down, whereupon he speed- 

 ily becomes entangled in the contiguous bushes and anchored fast. 



The eel-trap of Eel River is made of splints, tunnel-shape, with a fun- 

 nel-shaped entrance at the large end through which the creature could 

 wriggle, but which closed on him and detained him inside. Traps of 

 this kind they weight down so that they float mostly below the surface 

 of the water ; they then bind them to stakes planted iu the river bottom. 

 Thus they turn about with the swish of the tide, keeping the large end" 

 always against the current, that the eels might slip in readily. The 

 stakes are driven into hard i)ack shingle by patiently driving and 

 working them until they are firmly settled. (Powers, 103.) 



They construct the toggle-heads of their salmon harpoons (Fig. 80) as 

 follows : A point of antler, bone, or metal from 2i to 3i inches in length, 

 more or less flattened, and sharp at the tipo, is armed nt its lower ex- 

 tremity with two barbs laid alongside, lashed down, and covered with 

 l)itch. (Fig. — .) In the same lashing is included one end of the leader, 

 a short strap of deer raw-hide. Into a slit at the other end is spliced 

 the line, a piece of rope from ] to 3 feet long, attached at its opposite end 

 to the side of the shaft. Some spears have two or more prongs, each 

 armed with one of these toggle-heads. 



When the fish is struck its struggles detach the toggle-head and it is 

 retrieved by means of the line and pole. Toggle-heads of similar type 

 are in use among all the salmon eating Indians or northwest California. 

 The Ilupa annually dam the Klamath at intervals by a structure ar- 

 ranged so that no fish can pass through with the flow of water. The 

 McCloud Indian trap consists of stakes or bushes built out into the 

 river at a fall or rapid in the form of the letter V, having the angle down- 

 stream and a basket-trap at the angle. This method proved perfectly 

 worthless, as of course it must be, for catching healthy fish, as this con- 

 trivance cntrajis only the exhausted ones that are going down the river 

 and none that are coming up. They do not use salt in drying their fish, 

 the air of California being dry enough to preserve thim without it. 



Most of the salmon used for drying are taken in August and Septem- 

 ber when they are spawning or lalling down the river alter spawning. 

 They are then easily captured by spearing (Fig. 81.) or by traps. Their 

 spears are verv long and carefully made. 



The trajjs are ujeiely baskets of bushes placed at a fall or rapid and 

 winged on each side by a fence of stakes or bushes running at a slight 

 angle up the river, so that the exhausted fish coming down the river 

 finally find their way iuto the basket and are there trapped. 



The McCloud Indians do not try to trap the fish coming up the river, 

 but only those going down, which is just the contrary of the principle 

 of the white man's trap and nets. The Indians very singularly prefer 

 the exhausted aud dying salmon for drying, 



