THE FOOD FISHES OF ALASKA. 389 
Hudson Bay men have a method of passing the seine under the ice, and 
obtaining a number of fish. 
In strong contrast to the above awkward and clumsy method, is that 
practiced by the Tinneh tribes of the Yukon, the Innuit of the Lower 
Yukon, and the other tribes near the sea-coast to the south and east. 
This method has been copied by the Russians, and seems to be worthy 
of more extended use. I refer to the Yukon fish-t traps, the morda of 
the Russians, and Talpiakniat of the Innuit of the Kuskoquim River. 
While the ingenuity of the white man can greatly simplify the native 
method in making the traps, the principle “would seem to be hard to 
improve upon. We give a concise account of the manufacture and 
use of these traps, describing the winter traps, which differ but little 
from those used in summer. In the fall, or during the summer, spruce 
trees about six inches in diameter are obtained and laid aside for use. 
These logs must be green and full of sap, straight-grained, without 
twist or knots of any kind. When the cold weather sets in, these logs 
are taken into a warm room or Indian hut, and when the sap, which 
renders them tough and pliable, is thoroughly liquefied, they are barked, 
and split by wedges into pieces about an inch thick and three or four 
inches wide. The workman then sits on the ground, and taking a knife, 
makes an incision, into which he inserts a wedge, and carefully splits 
these pieces, partly by hand and partly by the wedge, into pieces an 
inch wide and thick, and the length of the log. These pieces are then 
picked over, all in any way imperfect are rejected, and the best are 
selected to make the materials for the basket, or receptacle of the trap. 
The rods are split at one end, and taking one-half in his teeth the work- 
man gradually and carefully strips it off, until the whole are reduced to 
tough, pliable wooden rods a quarter of an inch each way, and about six- 
teen feetlong. These rods are then carefully trimmed with a sharp knife, 
all the corners and splinters being removed, until the result, a smooth, 
cylindrical wooden thread, sixteen feet long, and about a quarter of an 
inch in diameter, is attained. The refuse rods, and all which are in any 
way knotted or imperiect, are reserved for the mats. These are quad- 
rangular nets of wooden rods, some of which are an inch in diameter, 
to stiffen and strengthen the mat. They are perfectly flat, and about 
eight feet by ten or twelve feet. The rods are tied to each other at 
right angles by stout green-willow withes, a full supply of which can 
be obtained on any beach. 
The basket is made as follows: The Indian women go out among the 
willow brush, and, selecting straight shoots without knots, strip off the 
bark, outer and i inner coming off together. This is taken into the house, 
and the coarse outer bark ‘stripped off, leaving the tough, white inner 
bark in broad strips six feet or more in length. This is split into strips 
an eighth of an inch wide, which are twisted into a kind of twine, similar 
to that employed for nets. A stout, flat, wooden hoop is made, to the 
circumference of which the wooden rods before mentioned are tied, at 
right angles; other rods are then curved in a spiral form, and the longi- 
tudinal rods firmly lashed to them. About twelve feet from the boop 
the basket is tapered off to a point. The hoop at the mouth is about 
two feet in diameter; the opening at the other end is about eight inches 
in diameter, and here a small flat cover, or door, is attached in such a 
way that it can be readily opened or closed. The next thing is to make 
the funnel. This is done by lashing four stout sticks so as to form a 
square eight feet high by six wide, to all sides of which rods similar to 
those of which the basket is made are lashed, and a spiral series is passed 
around these to which they are again lashed, so that the opening at the 
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