PROCEEDIXGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 2GI 



a good run of fish, each net ought to catch about two tous each tide. 

 When a sufficient supply of fish has been obtained they are not boiled 

 down at once, but are left on the ground in heaps from six to ten days, 

 according to the state of the weather. This is done to facilitate the 

 boiling, as the grease separates more rapidly from the fish after a partial 

 decomposition than when fresh. The perfume which permeates the at- 

 mosphere at this time is certainly not to be found among the extracts 

 and essences of Lubin or Pamrael. As has been said of the odor of the 

 skunk, "it may be healthy, but is very offensive, and a little of it goes 

 a great way." As an Irishman once remarked to me of a similar stench, 

 '•the smell of it would kill flies," which is saying a great deal for its 

 energetic power. 



After the fish have remained exposed on the ground five or six days 

 a portion of them are strung up for drying by having their heads inter- 

 woven with thin strips of bark ; they are then washed and hung on 

 racks to dry ; they are not covered up, but are thus exposed to the at- 

 mosphere in all weathers for three or four weeks and get perfectly dried 

 and firm, and form a chief article of food for the Indians, who either 

 toast them over the fire or boil them. They also use them as torches. 

 It is only necessary to set them on fire and they will continue to burn 

 until consumed. 



In extracting the grease from the fish the Indians place them in large 

 wooden boxes and boil them by means of red-hot stones. As the grease 

 rises to the surface it is skimmed off', and when all has risen the residue 

 of the fish bodies is taken out and pressed to get all the still adherent 

 portion. A ton of fish makes from 24 (o 30 gallons. This is then put 

 in wooden boxes and any convenient receptacle, and forms a lucrative 

 article of trade among the natives, and is known in Sitka and other 

 white settlements as small-fish grease. 



Within a few years, and since the Indians have seen the "rockers" of 

 the miners, they have introduced wooden boxes, with sheet-iron bottoms. 

 These answer very well, and save time, labor, and trouble. About the 

 same time a white man attempted the plan of extracting the grease 

 by heating the fish in a basin floating in boiling water and then subject- 

 ing it to pressure, but the attempt proved a failure. Another plan at- 

 tempted was to cold-press the fish, and for the purpose a powerful screw- 

 l)ress was erected, but that also proved a failure. My own impression 

 is that the grease could be successfully extracted by steam, as is now 

 done at the oil works at Skidgate, Queen Charlotte's Islands, in extract- 

 ing oil from dog-fish livers. Still, there may be some chemical reason 

 why the grease yields to incipient decomposition, which may suggest 

 some preparation which can produce a similar result. 



The ordinary price for the grease at Nass is twenty-fiva cents per gal- 

 lon, but in seasons of scarcity the price advances from one dollar to one 

 dollar and twenty-five cents per gallon, although the latter figure is 

 seldom attained. 



