THE WHITE PORPOISE. 221 



rand catch them by means of a monster comb or rake — a 

 piece of pine-wood from six to eight feet long, made round 

 for about ivfo feet of its length at the place of the hand- 

 :gripe, the rest flat, thick at the back, but having a sharp 

 ^edge at the front, where teeth are driven into it, about four 

 inches long and an inch apart. One Indian, sitting in the 

 .stern, paddles the canoe ; another, standing with his face to 

 the bow, holds the rake firmly in both hands, the teeth 

 pointing sternwards, sweeps it with all his force through the 

 glittering mass, and brings it to the surface teeth upwards, 

 usually with a fish, and sometimes with three or four, im- 

 paled on each tooth. This process is carried on with wonderful 

 rapidity. This fish, although not larger than a smelt, enjoys 

 the distinction of being probably the fattest of all animals, 

 •comparatively speaking : to boil or fry it is impossible, as it 

 melts entirely into oil. Even in a dried state the Indians 

 use it as a lamp, merely drawing through it a piece of rush 

 pith as a wick, and the fish then burns steadily until con- 

 ;sumed. By a peculiar mode of preparation, these fishes are 

 preserved as a winter food, and notwithstanding their great 

 fatness, they are said to be of an agreeable flavor. Drying 

 is accomplished without any cleaning, the fish being fastened 

 on skewers passed through their eyes, and hung in the thick 

 ;smoke at the top of sheds in which wood fires are kept burn- 

 ing. They are then stowed away for winter. 



We will now glance at the White Porpoise fishing in the 

 iSt. Lawrence River. The animal mentioned is a species of 

 whale, and is chiefly common in those quarters, being valu- 

 able for its oil, which gives a brilliant light only surpassed 

 by gas, and its skin, which is manufactured into leather 

 which has no equal for quality. The fish was formerly taken 

 in enclosures made of light and flexible poles fixed in the 

 beach, within which the porpoise pursued the small mem- 

 bers of the finny tribe during high tide, and where, its 

 appetite once satisfied, it became heavy and almost asleep 



