472 



TRAPS OF THE AMERICAN INDIANS. 



tive forms of dead fall; one, for foxes, eonsists of a heavy stone slab 

 worked between two upright slabs for wings. One end of the prop 

 rests above against the stone; the other end rests on a cobblestone 

 beneath. The least touch of the prop rocks the cob- 

 blestone and lets the weight down upon the fox. In 

 another form, used for taking birds, the box and the 

 fall, or stone slab, are similar. The release consists of 

 the following parts: First, the upright and the notched 

 catch, precisely as in the h'gure-4 traps. To the bottom 

 of the notched catch a short string is tied, having at 

 the other end a small wooden toggle, which is held by 

 a little rod resting against it and caught at its other 

 extremity in the grains of the sandstone slab. The 

 Least touch overcomes the friction between the trigger 

 and the slab. This sets free the toggle, which unwinds 

 from the post, the hook catch flies up, and the weight 

 falls. 



(k) Point traps of the highest order were not com- 

 mon in America; that is, the use of arbalest or bow for 

 the purpose of driving an arrow or bolt into the victim 

 or for impaling, or the use of sharpened sticks in the 

 pathway of land animals; but the throwing in the way 

 of carnivorous animals of sharpened whalebone splin- 

 ters wrapped in fat was practiced. 



Bancroft mentions a bear trap, used by the Aleuts, 

 consisting of a board 2 feet square and 2 inches thick, 

 furnished with barbed spikes, which was placed in 

 Bruin's path and covered with dust. The unsuspecting stepped upon 

 the smooth surface, when his foot sank and was pierced by one of the 

 barbed hooks. Maddened with pain, he put forth another foot to 



Fig. 4. — Gamo spits. 



Fig. 5. — Fox or wolf trap with sinew spring. 



assist in pulling the first away, when that, too, was caught. When all 

 four of the feet were spiked to the board the beast fell over on its 

 back and its career was soon ended by the hunter. 



