300 PREHISTORIC PISHING. 



deer's bone at the end, about three inches long, fashioned with a socket to fit on 

 to the main spear-shaft, to which it is also fastened by a string tied around its 

 middle. The Indian aims to drive this movable joint quite through the fish, 

 whereupon it conies loose, turns crossways, and thus holds the fish securely, 

 flouncing at the end of the string. The construction of this spear shows a good 

 knowledge of the gamy, resolute salmon ; the string at the end allows him to 

 play and exhaust himself, while a stiff spear would be broken or wrenched out 

 of him. A party of six Indians on McCloud's Fork speared over five hundred i 

 in one night, which would at a moderate calculation give five hundred pounds to 

 each spearman. In view of this, although an exceptional case, who can doubt 

 that the ancient population of California may have been very great?" (Page 

 233, etc.). 



[The Modok ; formerly southern shore of Lpwer Klamath Lake, Hot Creek, 

 Clear Lake, and Lost River]. " They formerly had ' dug-outs,' generally made 

 from the fir, quite rude and unshapely affairs compared with those found on the 

 Lower Klamath, but substantial, and sometimes capable of carrying a burden of 

 1,800 pounds. Across the bow of one of these canoes a fish-seine was stretched, 

 bellying back as the craft was propelled through the water, until the catch was 

 sufficiently large, when it was lifted up and emptied." (Page 255) % . 



[TheYokuts; region of Tulare Lake]. "In the mountain streams which 

 empty into Tulare Lake they catch lake trout, chubs, and suckers. Sometimes 

 they construct a weir across the river with a narrow chute and a trap set in it ; 

 then go above and stretch a line of brushwood from one bank to the other, which 

 they drag down stream, driving the fish into the trap. Another way is to erect 

 a brushwood booth over the water, so thickly covered as to be perfectly dark 

 inside ; then an Indian lies flat on his belly, peering down through a hole, and 

 when a fish passes under him he spears it. The spear is pointed with bone, and 

 is two-pronged. Still another method is employed on Tule River and King's 

 River. An Indian takes a funnel-shaped trap in his teeth and hands, buoys 

 himself on a little log, and then floats silently down the rapids, holding the net 

 open to receive the fish that may be shooting up. On Tulare Lake they construct 

 very rude, frail punts or mere troughs of tule, about ten feet long, in which they 

 cruise timidly about near the shore." (Page 376). 



[The Palligawonap ; Kern River]. "Tule is also the material from which 

 they construct a rude water-craft. This is only about six feet in length, with the 

 bow very long and sharp-rounded, and the stern cut nearly square across ; sides 

 perpendicular ; a small tule keel running along the middle, dividing the bottom 

 into two sides. It will carry only one man, and he has to be very careful when 

 standing up to keep his feet one on each side of the keel, or the bobbing thing 



