NELSON] TRAPS AND SNARES 1 
Another man in that region has the scalp and flesh from one side of 
his head, including one eye, torn away by a stroke from the paw of one 
of these animals. 
Formerly, after bears had been brought to bay by dogs they were 
killed with stone or iron-pointed lances, and, indeed, the people of the 
Siberian shore still kill many in this old fashion. 
Wolves are killed with guns or arrows or are taken with various 
kinds of traps; steel traps have been introduced by the traders, but 
the ancient devices are still sometimes used for both wolves and foxes. 
One of the tommon methods of killing wolves in ancient times, which 
is still practiced to a slight extent, was by the use of 
spits made of whalebone. A slender piece of bone, 8 
or 9 inches in length and a third of an inch wide is 
pointed at each end, and, after being softened, is bent 
upon itself in folds 15 or 2 inches in Jength. It is then 
bound in position by a strip of cord and laid aside until 
it becomes dry, when it retains the form in which it has 
been bent. The cord is then taken off and the whale- 
bone is soaked in oil for a short time, then wrapped in 
tallow, blubber, or sometimes a piece of fish-skin, after 
which it is placed in a locality frequented by wolves 
and foxes. 
Discovering this morsel the animal begins to devour 
it, but finding that it is not easily masticated, swallows 
it entire, doubtless mistaking it for a piece of gristle. 
When the whalebone becomes warm and is moistened 
in the stomach, it straightens out and the pointed ends 
pierce the beast to death or cause such pain that it 
is soon found and dispatched by the hunter who has 
followed its trail. 
Figure 36 shows examples of this implement both in 
the folded and extended form; they were obtained at 
St Michael. Dead falls, used as traps for minks, foxes, 
and sometimes for larger animals, are made by build- 
ing a small inelosure of sticks driven into the ground, 
over the entrance to which a heavy log is supported by an ordinary 
4-shape device. 
Plate LI, 6, illustrates a bait spit for use in one of these “ 4-traps,” 
which was obtained at Port Clarence by Doctor Dall. It consists of a 
double-pomted bone spit about seven inches in length, with a notch an 
inch from one point, against which is fastened the end of another bone 
spit resting against the notch, and projecting at the other end opposite 
the point of the first named. 
Near Andreivsky I saw snares for catching lynxes made by building 
a dome-shape pile of brush, with one or more narrow openings leading 
to the bait, which was placed on the ground under the center. At the 
Fic. 36—Game spits. 
