88 



The northern Labrador natives also under- 

 stood the making of dams across streams empty- 

 ing into the sea, in which the salmon are shut 

 off at low tide. It is not definitely known 

 whether before their contact with the whites the 

 Labrador Eskimo used fish nets or not. A 

 discussion of this point occurs in the historical 

 introduction. 



For trout (e'rkaluk, northern Labrador; 

 exa'lupik, southern Labrador) the Eskimo fish 

 with an iron hook set into a piece of wood and 

 bound fast with sinew. In old specimens the 

 material for the hook is of ivory or fish-bones. 

 The line is of twisted sinew or whalebone fibre, 

 and is wound up on a short notched pole, when 

 the fish is caught and hauled in. Tomcod are 

 caught through the ice in winter. Trout are split 

 and dried in the same manner as salmon. The 

 native method of curing was dealt with in the 

 section on food (page 34). 



HOUSEHOLD TOOLS AND UTENSILS. 



b E 



3 U 



H 



,U 



LAMPS AND KETTLES. 



One of the items of Eskimo material culture 

 is the use of the stone lamp (qii'dlik), a feature 

 which marks them off sharply from the Indian 

 tribes of North America. The wlw , or ' 'woman's 

 knife," has been copied by the Cree, Monta- 

 gnais, and other northern Indian tribes, and 

 the "crooked knife" perhaps borrowed from 

 them in turn; the Athabaskan has copied the 

 Eskimo fur a-'tige in his clothing; the stone 

 kettle, as Wissler suggests, may possibly be a 

 copy of the square bark kettles of the Indian, 

 although this does not seem very probable; the 

 Eskimo waterproof skin boot and deerskin sock 



