THE RAY COLLECTION FROM HUPA RESERVATION. 225 



As soon as a salmon is speared or taken from the trap it is opened 

 (the spawn always being saved as a luxury) aud split and hung on a 

 bush or fence made lor the purpose in the open air. In the dry air of 

 California the drying process is sufficient to preserve them without salt. 



The Indians never use salt in preserving their salmon aud will not 

 eat salt meat of any descri[)ti()n. When the salmon are sufiiciently 

 dried they are tied together in buiulles aud i)acked away arouiul the 

 sides of the lodges. These, repulsive as they seem, represen-t the nuiiu 

 supi)ort of the Indians during the winter and are highly valued b^^ them. 



The(lii)-nets used in taking eels and young salmon are made triangular 

 in shape, 10 feet by It feet, ()[)en along the long side of the triangle and 

 closed on the other side and base. They are knit of two-ply twine made 

 from tough fiber. The meshes are three-fourths of an inch S(|uare, made 

 with the regular fisherman's knot or becket hitch. (Fig. 8l*.) 



Their seines are also made of this twine, hard twisted, which is itself 

 manufactured from the leaf of a very tough grass or sedge. Each blade 

 of grass i^roduces two strands of fiber. It is strii)i)ed when the gi'ass 

 is green by scraping with the thumb nail or a mussel shell fastened on 

 the thumb, similar to the tool employed in scraping down sinew on the 

 bows. 



No spindle is used, the fiber being twisted with the palms of the hands 

 on the thigh. The net is knotted like tliosc of civilized [leople ; that is, 

 the thread of each mesh is brought down around the mesh-stick, then 

 through the bight of the stitch above, and fastened by a half hitch quite 

 around both strands of the same iiicsh. 



Specimens of the raw material, fiber, twine, and nets were sent by 

 Lieutenant Ray. The uet is in shape of an elongated isosceles triangle, 

 with a long side open, 10^ feet long and 4 feet deep at the base. 



The seine needle has a long and slender shaft (Fig. Sli), the two 

 ends resembling a duck's head in outline, the thread passing between 

 the two phalanges of the beak into a wide elliptical space. Length 10^, 

 iuches. 



The Hupa had well-established laws and riparian rights to hunting, 

 fishing, nutting grounds, laws of murder, injury, insulting words, etc. 



The sling of the Ilupa is a very intricate, alfair made of buckskin. The 

 thongs of sinew or tough cord arc united to the leather by first i)assing 

 through it and then coiling on themselves. The ordinary loop on one 

 end and knot on the other are also used by thejn. (Fig. 83.) • 



BOWS AND ARROWS. 



' The methods of the northern Californiau bowyer and tletcher are now 

 pretty clearly understood. For ordinary flaking of jasper or obsidian 

 (Fig. 85) he nses a common pebble hammer-stone, but for detaching- 

 flakes of the best quality he uses between his hamiher and his core a 

 ''pitching tool" or sort of cold-chisel of the hardest antler, (Fig. do.) 

 For shaping his iioiuts he has an arrow-sharpener of bone or antler 

 H. Mis. 170 15 



