1892-93.] 



NOTES ON THE WESTERN DEN^S. 



91 



the Carriers simply bridge the fall over and with bark ropes suspend 

 therefrom a sort of lattice, seven or eight feet wide, the lower extremity 



of which is curved up like a pot hanger 

 (fiS- 79)- When the fish attempts to jump 

 over the fall, he strikes the latticed barrier 

 and drops back into the basket-like bottom."* 



Lastly, where none of the above described 

 modes of capturing the salmon are available, 

 the Carrier or Tsi^Koh'tin has still a seventh 

 expedient, more inconvenient and less profit- 

 able it is true, left at his disposal. This is 

 fishing with the bag-net (fig. 152). Unless 

 the run of salmon be exceptionally large, 

 this method is rather tedious, and either dire 

 necessity or the passion of a sportsman only 

 can be adduced as an excuse for this kind of 

 fishing, inasmuch as it is impracticable except 

 at night. I still remember coming up some 

 ten years ago, the mighty Fraser then swollen 

 up to the brim by the July freshets. As we were making very poor 

 time painfully poling up stream, I had resolved to profit by a beauti- 

 ful moonlight to compensate by night boating what we necessarily lost 

 on account of the slowness of our progress during the day. As we 

 neared the Indian village we were making for, we frequently sighted 

 from a distance human forms standing motionless on every available 

 rocky promontory projecting into the river. Upon approaching them,, 

 we would perceive that they were intently gazing on one spot in the 

 water, and when questioned as to their success, their almost invariable 

 answer would be : Siikrak ! thallo huldW ! " Not a bit ; there is nO' 

 salmon.!" They were bag-net fishing. 



Where the natural rocky projections are not pronounced enough 

 wharf-like scaffoldings are erected for the convenience of the fishermen. 

 Some such are to be seen on the HwotsotsanKwah which evidence no 

 mean engineering capabilities. 



In describing the Dene fishing contrivances, I have occasionally used 

 the foot measure as the best, because the most common, means of deter- 

 mining their dimensions. Useless to say that this is not the recognized 

 standard of length measure among the natives. Before proceeding 

 further, it may not be irrelevant to enumerate their various measures. 



The Western Denes, p. 1 29. 



