390 © AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 
small end of the funnel is not more than six inches in diameter, and 
somewhat resembles the opening to a rat-trap on a large scale. The 
small end of the funnel is put into the large end of the basket, and the 
two are firmly lashed together. For this lashing, stout hempen twine 
is used by the Russians in preference to the trouble of getting willow 
twine made by the Indians. 
The next step is to lay the different portions of the trap in their proper 
positions. When the ice is strong enough to bear the weight of a large 
party, a suitable place is chosen to lay the trap. This is usually a place 
where the shore slopes very rapidly, and the water is deep and flows phaelaes | 
Stout stakes of some sweet wood, such as birch, willow, or poplar, are 
eut of such a length as to project some feet above the ice while firmly 
implanted in the bottom of theriver below. The Indians say that stakes 
of resinous wood drive away the fish. These stakes are then driven into 
the bottom in a line at right angles to the current, the ice being cut 
through with four-sided iron chisels fastened on ‘to heavy wooden 
poles, and very sharply pointed and edged. The stakes being driven, 
the mats are lashed to them on the side from which the current comes. 
The mats overlap each other a little, and at each junction a stake is 
driven, to which they are lashed. They are pushed clear down to the 
bottom, so that when finished the mats and stakes form an impervious 
fence, with interstices so smail that, though the water flows freely through, 
no fish can pass. For the sake of convenience, the mats are usually 
lashed to the stakes before the latter are driven down, a procedure which 
requires some little care, to avoid breakage. This fence is carried out 
into water at least eight feet deep; it is supported by the mud into 
which it is driven at the bottom, and by the ice, which soon freezes 
firmly at the top. 
At the end of the fence a cross-piece, or short fence, composed of two 
mats, is placed so that the whole resembles the letter T in shape. The 
whole is strongly supported by stakes. The baskets and funnels are 
now brought. The cover at the small end of the basket is made tight by 
lashing with a piece of twine. One long, stout, pointed pole is lashed, 
about three feet from the pointed end, to the small end of the basket, and 
two others to the sides of the funnel. A rectangle of ice, three feet wide 
and about sixteen feet long, is then cut out on each side of the fence, and 
the two baskets are put down so that one has the small end of the funnel 
pointing up stream and the‘other has it pointing down stream, while 
the outer side of each funnel is pressed close to the stake which forms 
the ear of the cross-piece of the T on the respective sides of the fence. 
The slender network of the basket offers little resistance to the water, 
as the meshes are an inch wide and two or three long, but it is maintained 
in its position by the pointed poles before mentioned, which are pushed 
deeply into the mud, and by another stake on thei inner side of the funnel. 
The accompanying "Roures will illastrate: 1. Small stream closed with 
fascines and two basket traps. The arrow indicates the course of the cur- 
rent. 2. Diagram of an ordinary trap on the bank of a wide river——o, 
mouth of funnel; b, basket; /, fence; oo, river bank; x, poles attached 
to funnel and basket. 3. Side view of same——79, river bank ; s, stakes ; 
w, w, water line; m, mats of fence; o, funnels; b, baskets; p, p, poles 
attached to baskets by which they are held in position against the 
current. 
It is evident that any fish coming up or down stream in the shallow 
and more quiet water near the river bank (as they invariably do, always 
avoiding the current) will meet an obstacle to its progress in the fence. 
It will follow this in search of an opening until it arrives at the eross- 
