174 THE ESKIMO ABOUT BERING STRAIT [ETH. ANN. 18 
this time the spring tides begin to show along the shore, where the 
water forces its way up through the cracks in the ice. During the 
cold weather of winter the tomcod and the sculpin remain in deep 
water, but as spring approaches they begin to return to the vicinity 
of the shore, and holes in the ice are made through which they are 
caught by means of hook and line. During May, as the weather grows 
warmer, the tomcod become extremely numerous, and at this time the 
old men and women may be seen scattered about on the ice, a few 
hundred yards from the shore, where they fish during many hours of 
the day. Figure 47, from a photograph taken at St Michael, shows 
aman at one of the fishing holes. 
Fic. 47—Tomeod fishing through sea ice at St Michael. 
For fishing through the ice a hole from six to eight inches in diam- 
eter is made. The ice pick employed for this purpose consists of a 
stout wooden staff, usually provided with a point made from the end 
of an old chisel.or a flat piece of iron; but formerly, and indeed fre- 
quently during my residence in Alaska, picks pointed with reindeer 
horn or ivory were in use. 
Figure 10, plate Lxvu, illustrates one of these picks from Norton 
sound; it consists of a wooden staff, nearly four feet long, terminating 
in a deerhorn point, which is lashed firmly to the staff with cords of 
sealskin. 
As the ice is generally several feet in thickness, the hole becomes 
filled with small fragments as the work of digging progresses. To 
