EXTRACTS. 315 



Nootka discover more dexterity than in that of fishing. They however always 

 preferred their own hooks, which were made from shells, or the bone of fish, to 

 ours ; nor indeed would they ever make use of the latter ; but our lines they 

 considered as very superior to those of their own manufacture. These are made 

 from the sinews of the whale, which furnishes them with the materials of all 

 their different cordage, or from sea-weed, which grows on the coast in great 

 abundance. This is split, boiled, and dried, when it forms a strong and very 

 tough line. 



" But, besides the common practice of angling, they have a very particular 

 method of taking herrings, sardines, &c. This is managed with a stick or pole 

 about eighteen feet long, with a blade of twelve or fourteen inches broad, and six 

 feet long, on both sides of which are fixed a number of sharp pieces or points of 

 bone, about three inches in length. When the shoal of fish appears, they strike 

 this instrument into the water, and seldom fail of bringing up three or four fish 

 at every stroke. We have often seen a small canoe nearly filled with herrings, 

 &c. in a very short time, by this easy method of fishing." (Vol. II, page 51, etc.). 



Cook (Captain James) and King (Captain James): A Voyage to the Pacific 

 Ocean, etc.; third edition; London, 1785, Vol. //.* [Inhabitants of Nootka Sound]. 

 " Their canoes are of a simple structure, but, to appearance, well calculated for 

 every useful purpose. Even the largest, which carry twenty people or more, are 

 formed of one tree. Many of them are forty feet long, seven broad, and about 

 three deep. From the middle, toward each end, they become gradually narrower, 

 the after-part, or stern, ending abruptly or perpendicularly, with a small knob 

 on the top ; but the fore-part is lengthened out, stretching forward and upward, 

 ending in a notched point or prow, considerably higher than the sides of the 

 canoe, which run nearly in a straight line. For the most part, they are without 

 any ornament ; but some have a little carving, and are decorated by setting seal's 

 teeth -j- on the surface, like studs ; as is the practice on their masks and weapons. 

 A few have, likewise, a kind of additional head or prow, like a large cut-water, 

 which is painted with the figure of some animal. They have no seats, nor any 

 other supporters, on the inside, than several round sticks, little thicker than a 

 cane, placed across, at mid depth. They are very light, and their breadth and 

 flatness enable them to swim firmly, without an out-rigger, which none of them 

 have ; a remarkable distinction between the navigation of all the American 

 nations, and that of the Southern parts of the East Indies, and the Islands in 

 the Pacific Ocean. Their paddles are small and light ; the shape, in some meas- 

 ure, resembling that of a large leaf, pointed at the bottom, broadest in the middle, 

 and grandually losing itself in the shaft, the whole being about five feet long. 



* Vol. II is written by Captain Cook. The voyage was performed in the years 1776-'80. 

 j- Mistaken for human teeth by Meares. 



