ECONOMIC BOTANY OF ALASKA. / 8 
with many of their vegetable foods by the natives, a descrip- 
tion of the native method of its preparation from this very 
oily fish may not be out of place here. The fish, which enter 
the larger streams in enormous numbers during the spawn- 
ing season, are usually caught in small drag-seines and piled 
in a heap and allowed to remain for about two weeks, more 
or less, as the temperature of the season may require, until | 
putrefaction has begun. They are then put into a wooden 
tank about 6 feet long, 3 feet wide, and 23 feet deep and 
heated thoroughly for a whole day by having hot stones 
placed upon them three or four times during the day. Next 
day a piece of lattice-work made of cedar sticks is pressed 
down upon them and the expressed oil is scooped off with a 
wooden canoe-bailer. The residue is then taken out of the 
tank, placed in buckets, and the remaining oil pressed out. 
The oil is then put into the native oil crates or boxes made 
of spruce or cypress, though empty lard-pails or coal-oil cans 
are now frequently used for this purpose. This oil solidifies 
at a much higher temperature than does seal oil, and conse- 
quently is much more portable in summer. It is more nu- 
tritious and more digestible than the latter and is more 
highly relished by the natives. Owing to the uncleanly 
method of preparation, one conceives a prejudice against it, 
though the taste of it is not worse than that of lard, and the 
natives much prefer it to the latter. It is not used for illu- 
minating purposes by them, as is seal oil. The fish run 1n 
all the larger streams from the Skeena to the Chilkat and 
possibly farther north, and are eaten both salted and smoked 
by whites as well as natives. 
