NO. 4 UPPIiR YUKON NATIVE CUSTOMS — SCHMITTli;K 9 



The eagle cannot be shot with an arrow, but is snared. For this 

 purpose a small fence having a snare at one side is built on a moun- 

 tain peak and baited with a caribou lung. The Indians say that the 

 eagle is very wary and will not go in at the top of the snare, but 

 usually alights near it and inspects it carefully before entering, 

 which he eventually does and is caught. 



COOKING 



Baskets for cooking are made of spruce roots, and, though they 

 leak when new, they soon shrink and the crevices become filled with 

 grease. Each Indian woman keeps near at hand during the winter 

 a stone which is used in cooking, as follows: First it is heated in 

 the fire, and when it is red hot the ashes are brushed oflf and the 

 stone dropped into a basket of water, making it boil in about a 

 minute. These stones are hard to procure in the winter and are 

 guarded most carefully. Sometimes birch-bark baskets are used, 

 but, since they break easily, are of little service except for cooking 

 and drinking utensils on a hunting trip. The spruce basket is pre- 

 ferred, since it is collapsible and can be rolled into a small package. 



Meat is roasted by suspending it on a string from a cross-bar on 

 two supports near the fire, where it is continually twirled until 

 roasted. Salmon is cooked a little differently. Usually it is hung 

 at rest with the flat inner surface toward the fire. Rabbits, ptarmi- 

 gan, moose-foot, and other small things are roasted in a pit-oven, 

 made by building a fire on the ground in the sand. After the fire 

 has burned for some time it is brushed aside and a hole dug beneath 

 it in the sand. The meat is placed in the pit, covered with hot sand 

 or dirt, and over this the fire is rebuilt and kept burning until the 

 roasting is finished. Ducks, geese, and swans are boiled in a large 

 basket of water by means of the hot stone. 



NATIVE DEVICES AND IMPLEMENTS 



One method of starting a fire was by the flint and iron-pyrites 

 method, in which a piece of flint fastened to a stick about three 

 inches long was struck against a piece of pyrite to produce a spark. 

 Punk to catch the spark was usually secured from a fungus growing 

 on birch trees. The Indian word in the Porcupine language for 

 flint was "vetrih," and pyrites "tshi tlya." Another method of fire- 

 making was with the whirling stick. The stick was braced between 

 the body and a piece of punk. A string was wound round the stick. 



