658 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1818. 



vhich they lie down upon their 

 belly, having first made a small 

 hole near the large one, through 

 which they let softly down a 

 perch, sixteen or twenty yards 

 long, headed with a harpoon, a 

 strap being fastened to it, which 

 one holds in his hand, while ano- 

 ther (for there must be two em- 

 ployed in this sort of capture) 

 who lies upon the bench with his 

 face downwards, watches the 

 coming of the seal, which when 

 he perceives, he cries "Ka;;" 

 whereupon he, who holds the 

 pole, pushes and strikes the seal. 



The fourth way is this : in the 

 spring, when the seals lie upon 

 the ice near holes, which they 

 themselves make to get up and 

 down, the Greenlanders, clothed 

 with seal skins, a\id a long perch 

 in their hand, creep along upon 

 the ice, moving their head forwards 

 and backwards, and snorting like 

 a seal, till they come so near him, 

 that they can reach him with the 

 perch and strike him. A fifth 

 manner of catching seals, is when 

 in the spring ihe current makes 

 large holes in the ice, the seals 

 flock thither in great shoals; there 

 the natives watch their opportu- 

 nity to strike them with their 

 harpoons, and haul them upon the 

 ice. There is yet a sixth way of 

 catching seals, when the ice is not 

 covered with snow, but clear and 

 transparent; then the catchers lay 

 under their feet foxes or dogs' 

 tails, or a piece of a bear's hide, 

 to stand upon and watch the ani- 

 mal, and when by his blowing and 

 snorting they find wiiat course he 

 takes, they softly follow him and 

 strike him. 



In fishing they make use of 

 hooks anil angles of iron or bones. 



Their lines are made of whale- 

 bones cut very small and thin, 

 and at the end tacked together ; 

 and with such lines they will draw 

 one hundred fishes to one which 

 our people can catch with their 

 hemp lines. But to catch halibut 

 they use strong lines made of 

 seal skin, or thick hemp lines. 



Their way of fishing the small 

 salmon or sea trout is this : nt low 

 water they build small enclosures 

 with stone, near the river's mouth, 

 or any other place where the 

 salmon runs along; and when it 

 begins to flow, and the tide comes 

 in, the salmon retreats to the 

 river, and in high water passes 

 over the enclosure, and remains 

 in the river till the water again 

 falls ; then the salmon wants to 

 go to sea again ; but the fisher- 

 men way-lay him at the enclosure 

 and stop his passage. And soon 

 after, when the water is quite 

 fallen, and it is low ebb, ths 

 salmon remains upon dry land, 

 and may be caught with hands. 

 And where they are left in holes, 

 they take them with an instru- 

 ment made for this purpose, viz. 

 a perch headed with two sharp 

 hooked bones, or with one or two 

 iron hooks. 



The rogn fish, or roe fish, so 

 named from the great quantity of 

 roe that is found in it, as he is 

 commonly found in shallow water 

 and upon the sands, so he is 

 caught like the salmon with the be- 

 fore-mentioned instrument. There 

 is such abundance of these fishes, 

 that, as they cannot consume 

 them all fresh, they are obliged 

 to dry them on the rocks, and 

 keep them for winter provision. 

 When roe fish catching is over, 

 which happens in the month of 



May, 



