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



manner. A stout cord held one end fast to a stake on the shore, while 

 the owner, by means of several slender poles lashed together, pushed 

 the anchor stone on the outer end out to its place, thus setting the net. 

 \Yhen the floats gave indication that ftsh had been caught, the net was 

 pulled in hand over hand, the fish removed, and the net reset. This 

 plan appeared to work very successfully, as evidenced by the large 

 number of fish on the drying frames close by. 



On Kotzebue sound, in the month of September, I saw a party of 

 Malemut catching whitefish with a seine. The net was fitted with 

 wooden floats and stone sinkers in the usual manner, and was about 

 60 feet long, the ends being spread by stout stalies secured by lashings 

 of cord. The shore end of the net was held by two men standing at 

 the water's edge; the other end was jiushed out from the shore to its 

 full extent by the aid of several long poles. A long, rawhide line was 

 made fast to the outer end of the net and another to the middle of the 

 string of poles, by which it was pulled along. One man carried the inner 



Fio. 49 — Seining on Kotzebue sound. 



end of the pole along the beach between the two rear line men and the 

 men holding the net. In this way the net was drawn along the beach 

 for 100 or 200 yards, and when the fish were running large hauls were 

 made. The accompanying figure 49, showing this method, is from a 

 sketch made at the time. 



Between Cape Eomanzof and the mouth of Kuskokwim river the 

 greater part of the fishing is done by means of di]>-nets, but great 

 quantities of stickleback and other small fish are taken in small nets 

 or seines of fine rawhide cord. Large dip-nets for whitefish are made 

 of the same material, and among the x^eople south of Cape Vancouver 

 this style of net is used more than the gill net. A dip-net obtained by 

 Lieutenant Stoney at the head of Kotzebue sound is about three feet 

 long, and is made of twisted sinew cord. The upper third of the net has 

 meshes about an inch in diameter; this is joined to the finer-mesh 

 lower portion by a rawhide cord, which is knotted into the adjoining 

 meshes of the two parts. The meshes of the lower portion are less 

 than half the size of those of the upper part. On the lower point 

 of the net is a rawhide loop, by means of which it can be raised and 

 the contents discharged. A small dip-net obtained at Ikogmut is 



