lS92-9;5.] NOTES ON THK WESTERN U^NES. 87 



The nazrwat and its correlative, the Kps, are exclusively designed for 

 the capture of the salmon. A second fishing device, less restricted in its 

 use, is the ' ki%n-tzai.* It works on the same principle as \\\.q. yutasY^ai or 

 terminal fish-box. It is a large cylindrical basket about 15 feet long and 

 at least four in diameter. Its bottom end is made of sticks radiating 

 from the centre, while its entrance is provided with the tapering conduit 

 or " heart," as it is cillcd by the natives, which we have already noticed 

 in Xho^yutasl^ai. Only in this case it is much longer, since the apex or 

 inside end of the truncated cone-like aperture reaches almost to the 

 middle of the whole basket. To make the safe keeping of the fish doubly 

 sure, the converging sticks of this inner conduit are made to project insiile 

 beyond the small hoop to which they are fastened. These pin- like stick- 

 ends easily dissuade the fish from trying to escape. 



The 'kuntzai was formerly used in connection with beaver trapping, 

 and to-day it does duty in several localities against the musk-rat. In 

 such a case the lattice work is made of sticks so broad as to resemble 

 laths more than rods, while the interstices between its component parts 

 are so small that they leave no room for the rodent's snout should it 

 attempt to gnaw off pieces of it. As an additional measure of safety for 

 the trap, stones are also scattered on its bottom, upon which the game is 

 said to direct its attention in the hope of effecting its escape. When 

 used as a trapping implement these baskets are laid in the bed of sluggish 

 rivers or creeks previously jammed with branches and boughs of conifer- 

 ous trees. 



But what we are presently concerned with is fish trapping. The 

 'kuntzai are used here (Stuart's Lake) in conjunction with the nazrwat. 

 They are likewise deposited in the bed of the stream, but with their 

 mouth or entrance end in inverse positions relatively to the direction of 

 the current. I think that no words of mine can better explain their use 

 and respective positions than the accompanying diagram showing both 

 nazrvvat and 'kuntzai weirs with their hurdle corrals and baskets. A is 

 the 'kuntzai weir which is semicircular and extends to the middle of the 

 stream only. For this reason, though it is built on the same principle of 

 piles and braces as that of the nazrwst, the necessary strength is more 

 easily obtained. Its shape precludes the possibility of being latticed as 

 the former, yet every issue is carefully stuffed with spruce boughs. B 

 and (7 alone are regular hurdles similar to those forming the corrals of 

 the main or up stream barrier. D represents a partial trellis left open at 

 the proper intervals to receive the mouth of the 'kuntzai e, which are laid 



* Apparently a contraction oi p'kihi-Pstzai, "fish-ova are lying down," which etymology is hard 

 to explain, since those fishin;^ implements have ()iow at least) no relation to fish ova. 



