COMMERCIAL FISHERIES OF ALASKA I.N L905. 37 



are cracks, or "leads," as they are called, open 6 or 7 miles from the 

 shore, extending often for miles parallel to the land, but continually 

 changing, frequently disappearing altogether as the \\ ind veers. It is 

 in these "leads" of open water that the whales work their way to their 

 unknown breeding grounds in the northeast, passing by Point Barrow 

 chiefly during the months of May and June 



Each village fits out as many boats as il can supply with crews. 

 The crews, 8 or 10 men to the boat, or occasionally women when men 

 are scarce, are selected during the winter. The owner, who is always 

 the captain and steersman, sometimes hires them outright, paying 

 them with goods, and sometimes he allows them to share in the 

 profits; he always feeds them while the boat is in commission. The 

 harpooner is posted in the bow, while another man, armed with a 

 bomb gun, is located amidships. As soon as a whale is seen the boat 

 is launched and the pursuit begun. Instead of harpooning the whale 

 and keeping the end of the line fast in the boat, which the whale is 

 compelled to drag about until the crew can manage to haul up and 

 lance him to death, as is the practice of the white whalers, the Eski- 

 mos have but a short line attached to each harpoon, to the end of 

 which are fastened two floats made of whole sealskins inflated, which 

 are thrown overboard as soon as the harpoon is fixed in the whale. 

 Each boat carries four or five harpoons, and as many boats as possible 

 crowd around and endeavor to drive a harpoon into the whale each 

 time he comes to the surface, until he can dive no longer and lies 

 upon the water ready for the death stroke, which is given with a lance. 

 Occasionally an opportunity occurs to use the bomb gun as soon as 

 the whale is struck, and the contest is then ended at once. As soon 

 as killed, the whale is towed to the edge of the solid floe and the work 

 of cutting him up begins. The skin, blubber, and flesh, according to 

 a custom universal among the Eskimos, belong to the whole com- 

 munity, no matter who killed it, but at Point Barrow the whalebone 

 must be equally divided among all the boats that were in sight when 

 the whale was killed. Everything is soon carried home to the village 

 The blubber is not tried out, but is packed away in bags made of 

 whole sealskins, and with the meat is stowed away in little under- 

 ground chambers, of which there are many in the villages. 



There is very little data showing the extent of the whaling as fol- 

 lowed by the Eskimos. In 1891 they took from 10 to 15 whales, 

 while in 1892 — a very poor season, owing to the large quantities of ice 

 on the eastern shore at the time the whales were passing north — about 

 15,000 pounds of whalebone were secured. In 1905, 8,057 pounds of 

 bone, valued at $51,197, were taken. All of the bone secured by the 

 natives is sold to the whaling vessels, and it is very probable that 

 large quantities so obtained in barter are reported at the home port as 

 part of the catch of the vessel. In 1880 it is estimated that natives 



