AND STRANGE FISHERMEN 



It is necessary to add a few lines concerning other 

 Arctic fisheries than those which we shall presently touch 

 upon. There is not much to be said. The Eskimos would 

 be willing enough to catch the fish, but there are so few 

 to be caught; the coitus, a spiny-headed creature which 

 British fishermen call the " Father Lasher, 11 with a small 

 kind of cod, the Arctic shark, the salmon, and the mysis 

 or opossum-shrimp, are almost the only fish that will 

 venture so far north. In winter time the Eskimo makes 

 a hole in the ice when possible and, with his bone-headed 

 spear or barbed fork, patiently sticks such fish as come 

 near the surface ; in summer he goes in his canoe or kayak 

 which he has cleverly made from what odd bits of wood 

 he can scrape together, and covered with skin and, with 

 a line made of sinew and a fish-bone hook, angles for 

 whatever he may be lucky enough to catch. 



217 



