Porpoise -Shooting. 



Ml 



THE CAMP AT INDIAN BEACH. 



constructed of drift-wood, are placed just above high-water mark, 

 and under the shelter of the overhanging cliffs. 



Drenched with salt water, and as hungry as wolves, we unpacked 

 the canoe and carried our "possibles" to Sebatis's camp. 



Porpoise-shooting affords to the Indians of the Passamaquoddy 

 tribe their principal means of support. It is practiced at all seasons 

 of the year, but the fish killed in the winter are the fattest and give 

 the largest quantities of oil. The largest-sized porpoises measure 

 about seven feet in length, about the girth five feet, weigh three 

 hundred pounds and upward, and yield from six to seven gallons of 

 oil. The blubber is about one and one-half inches thick in summer, 

 and two inches thick in winter, at which time the creature is in its 

 best condition. The blubber from a large porpoise weighs about 

 one hundred pounds. The Indians try out the oil in a very primitive 

 manner, and with rude but picturesque appliances. The blubber 

 is stripped off, then cut into small pieces, which are placed in huge 

 iron pots and melted over a fire. All along the beach were placed, 

 at intervals, curious structures, consisting of two upright pieces of 

 wood surmounted by a cross-piece, from which the pots were hung 

 by chains. Under this cross-piece large stones were piled in a semi- 

 circle, inside of which a fire was made that was allowed to burn 

 fiercely until the stones were at a white heat. The fire was then 



