126 THE ESKIMO ABOUT BERING STRAIT [eth.ann. 18 



when the hunting and trapping are resumed and continued until the 

 sun in April renders the fur too harsh and brittle to be of value. 



The hunting of seals, Avhales, and walrus is conducted in a variety 

 of ways, according to the season. 



Each year about the first of September the hunters on the coast of 

 Norton sound begin to overhaul their seal nets, repair broken or weak 

 places, and rig them with sinkers and floats. The nets used are from 

 10 to 15 fathoms in length and from IJ to 2 fathoms in depth, made 

 from rawhide, with a mesh large enough to admit easily the head of a 

 seal; they are buoyed with wooden floats, or sometimes with inflated 

 bladders; the floats are frequently made in the form of sea fowls or 

 the heads of seals. The lower side of the net is strung with sinkers 

 of stone, bone, or ivory, and is anchored at each end by a large stone 

 tied with a heavy rawhide cord. These nets work precisely like the 

 gill nets used for salmon fishing, and are very efl'ective. 



By the middle of September fur seals of two or three species begin to 

 come in shore and pass about the rocky points or around reefs which 

 guard the entrances to the bays and coves which they are in the habit 

 of entering. The nets are watched by the owners, and when a seal is 

 caught the hunter goes out in his kaiak and brains it with a club or 

 stone, fashioned for the purpose; then if the net has been damaged it is 

 repaired and reset. 



During the dark nights of midwinter seals are netted beneath the 

 ice. The blowholes of the seals are located during the day; at night 

 the hunters go out and make four holes in the ice, in the form of a 

 square, at equal distances from the seal hole; a square net is then 

 placed under the ice by means of a long pole and a cord, so arranged as 

 to cover the access to the hole from below, and held in place by cords 

 passing up through the holes in the ice. When the seal rises to breathe 

 it becomes entangled in the net and is captured. This method of net- 

 ting is common from Bering strait to Point Barrow. 



Another method of netting seals through the ice was observed on 

 the shore between Bering strait and St Michael. In swimming along 

 the shore the seals are obliged to pass near the rocky points and head- 

 lands. Taking advantage of this, the hunters make a series of holes 

 through the ice at intervals of from 10 to 15 feet, and then, by use of a 

 pole a little longer than the distance between the holes, a stout sealskin 

 line is passed along from hole to hole until the cord is run out to the 

 distance desired, and is used to drag the long net below the ice. Sink- 

 ers are fastened to the lower edge of the net, and it is held in position 

 at each end by a stout cord tied to a crossbar at the hole or to a stake 

 set in the ice. While swimming beneath the ice during the night the 

 seals become entangled in the net and drown. 



For light sinkers on these nets, long, pointed, ivory weights are used 

 by the people from the northern end of Norton sound to the coast of 

 Bering strait. 



