CRUISE OF THE STEAMER CORWIK 87 



water of the upper rivers, where the fish cau be seen lying almost motionless in the quiet pools 

 with their heads turned up-stream, this method of taking fish is employed with varying skill and 

 success by the natives. 



Implements of special crafts. — The most important article of native domestic economy is the 

 knife. In the past a rude imjilement was made of stone, bone, or ivory, but now iron has replaced 

 the use of the primitive implements to such an extent that only in rare instances could the latter be 

 found. Iron and steel knives are imported into the country from the United States, and he is a 

 very poor hunter who has not purchased one at least of these necessary articles. As a usual 

 thing the larger they are the better. They are woru strapped to the thigh, and are carefully 

 protected from injury from damijuess by a sheath made of hair-seal or deer-skin. In their hands 

 the knife is used eitber as a weapon or a tool ; as a tool it is remarkable what a degree of perfec- 

 tion the natives have reached in its use. Spears, bows, arrows, etc., which require great nicety 

 of finish, are made with the knife alone. The shafts of arrows specially attracted my notice on 

 account of their symmetrical appearance, being as round and smooth as if lathe-turned. 



Womanh Icnife, made of chipped flint, jade, or sharpened slate, with a wooden or bone handle, 

 is still common among the interior tribes. It is used principally in the work of splitting fish during 

 the fishing season. 



Drills made of iron or rarely of stone were seen. The point of the drill is inserted in the end 

 of a handle made of soft wood. Drill-bows are made of ivory, bone, or wood, with holes in the 

 ends to which are attached a thong of rawhide or sinew. The upper end of the handle is rounded, 

 and in use is rested against a small stone socket hfild between the teeth. 



Ice-drill. — A short piece of pointed antler made to be lashed to the end of a shaft. 



Fire-drills. — A piece of hard wood iu shape like an ordinary drill shaft. This method of 

 obtaining fire is now obsolete, but the operation was performed for me by a very old woman after 

 much labor. 



Flint-faker. — A short piece of iron, evidently the remains of a knife with a bone handle. The 

 use of iron aud the introduction of fire-arms is doing much to render the use of stone obsolete, and 

 the occupation of chipping flints, which was once pursued with profit by these inland river people 

 and especially by the natives of the Kowak, will soon be entirely gone. 



Feathering tool. — Made of a small wedge-shaped piece of bone, used for fixing feathers on 

 arrows. 



Needles. — Steel needles from the United States are used almost entirely. I saw only two 

 specimens of bone needles of native manufacture, one of which was made for me by our guide 

 A-ta-ta-rok. 



HOUSEHOLD UTENSILS. 



Under this subdivision I include, for the sake of brevity, several articles which can not properly 

 be classed separately, but which are not, strictly speaking, used exclusively iu the work of the 

 household. 



Vessels for holding water, cooJcing, etc. — Wooden tubs for boiling fish, meat, etc., in are made 

 of a thin, pliable piece of spruce bent into the shape of a circle aud having a bottom fitted of some- 

 what heavier material. No better idea of the appearance of oue of these tubs can be had than is 

 furnished by an ordinary cheese-box without the cover. The vessel is made watertight by pitch- 

 ing the seams with melted spruce gum. The manuer of cooking food in one of these tubs has 

 already been described. (See Food.) 



Small bowls for serving food are made by carving them out of some soft wood. During the 

 summer season very neat and serviceable platters are made by bending a piece of birch bark into 

 the required shape and securing it by a few stitches of willow-bark thread. 



Baskets for carrying fish from the beach to the racks are made by weaving thin splints of 

 willow together. They are very shallow, the native basket-maker apparently not having yet 

 learned to make deep ones. 



Horn dippers made in one piece of the sknll of the mountaiu slieeji. Used in skimming grease 

 from the surface of water in which food is being cooked and for dishing out the food. 



