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260 PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 
The fish usually swim in deep water till they reach the mouth of the 
river, and during their passage up the strait are followed by innumera- 
ble enemies. Porpoises, seals, dog-fish, ground-sharks, and halibut 
harass them in the strait, and if they rise to the surface they are attacked 
by clouds of gulls, ducks, and other sea-fowl. 
The bishop of British Columbia, who visited the Nass River in 1863, 
writes concerning the fisheries: 
“Such a scene of life—man life, bird life, fish life—I had never before 
conceived. Over the fish was an immense cloud of innumerable gulls; 
so many and so thick were they as they hovered about looking for the 
fish that the sight resembled a heavy fall of snow. ‘The fish are caught 
in vast quantities. I saw hundreds of tons collected together, and the 
nets hauled in bushels at a time.” 
When the fish reach the mouth of the river they generally rise to the 
surface of the water, and are caught by the natives with a pole about 
18 feet long, slightly flattened into an oar-shape at the lower end. Into 
one edge of this flattened blade are stuck a row of wooden pins or pieces 
of wire sharpened. This implement is thrust down and with both 
hands drawn rapidly through the water, and the fish are impaled on the 
pins and are shaken off into the canoe in the same manner as the Indians 
about Puget Sound take herrings. The number of Eulachon caught in 
this way form a good estimate of the probable run of the fish for the 
season, whether they will be plentiful or not. 
As soon as the fish make their appearance at the sand-bars fishing 
operations begin in earnest. In former years a sort of large landing 
net, called by the natives Bdnak, was used, but of late these have been 
discarded for purse-nets. About an hour after the tide has begun to 
ebb two strong poles are driven into the sand at the bottom of the river 
about 12 feet apart; to these the net is attached, the mouth being kept 
open by inserting two small sticks across it. It is then depressed in the 
water until the under rim rests on the sand; the fish are drawn into the 
aperture by: the force of the current. 
The nets are generally six or eight fathoms long. <A long crooked 
stick is used for raising the narrow end of the net. If it contains fish it 
is hauled into the canoe and, by loosening a string, its contents are 
easily shaken out. Sometimes the net for its whole length becomes 
blocked with fish. The greatest care and skill are then necessary to 
prevent its being carried away by the current. 
Another difficulty, and the cause of much damage to the nets, is the 
loose ice. The fish first come about the time the ice begins to break up. 
Of course, there are exceptions to this rule. Some years the ice remains 
solid until after the fish are caught, in which case holes have to be cut 
in the ice to put down the nets; other years, again, the ice has all dis- 
appeared before the fish arrive. 
When the tide begins to flow, the nets are all taken in and all the fish 
caught are thrown in heaps on the ground close to the wigwams. With 
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