NETTING WINTER'S FISH SUPPLY 163 



feed, Fall fishing on an extensive scale is yearly 

 undertaken by the Indians. When the weather 

 turns cold in late September or early October, 

 all the Indians of a permanent camp depart to 

 their well-known fishing-grounds — women, chil- 

 dren, dogs, teepee-covers, cooking-dishes are bun- 

 dled into canoes by their menfolk, and all set 

 out for the various river outlets, where fish at 

 that season congregate in their quest of spawning 

 grounds. Each Indian will set from three to 

 four long gill-nets (usually 200 feet x 4 feet, with 

 2-inch mesh — manufactured, not native made), 

 and those he visits once a day in the cold grey 

 autumn dawn before wind rises ; and as a rule 

 he brings in between one hundred and two hun- 

 dred fish. When landed the Indians and their 

 squaws slit the fish through the body some little 

 distance from the tail, and truss them in tens on 

 green willow-rods of about two feet length. They 

 are placed in groups of ten so that one stick 

 conveniently allots a day's rations to a five-dog 

 train — the usual number driven in northern terri- 

 tory. Large stages constructed with the trunks 

 of trees are erected, and across the stalwart 

 framework, from side to side, poles are spaced 

 overhead to form racks that receive the short 

 rods of trussed fish, which then hang suspended, 

 head-downwards, well, out of reach of dogs or 

 wild animals. Here the fish are frozen — some- 

 times completely, sometimes partially, depend- 

 ing on weather; and keep, on the whole, almost 

 completely fresh until the hour the thermometer 

 drops to zero and the great freeze-up sets in. 

 When heavy snow has fallen, and sleds are out, 



