NELSON] SINKERS, SEINES, AND TRAPS 183 
are three upright spines, projecting slightly outward, carved froin the 
same piece, which serve as additional hooks for capturing fish that 
may gather around, attracted by the white ivory. This sinker has 
been used in fishing for tomcod and other small fish. In the deep 
water off the headlands, from Golofuin bay to Cape Nome, large crabs 
are very abundant; sometimes specimens are seen measuring three feet 
from tip to tip of their outstretched claws. They are caught during 
March and April by the use of a bait of dead fish tied to the end of a 
line and sunk to the bottom through a hole in the ice. In Mareh, 1880, - 
near Cape Darby, I saw large numbers of people fishing for crabs by 
this method, and on the 10th of March, west of Cape Darby, I found a 
party of about twenty-five people, from Sledge island, who had been 
starved out at home and were camping there, living on the tomeod and 
erabs, which were abundant. Their crab lines were fastened to small 
sticks set in the snow beside the holes in the ice, thus enabling one 
person to watch several holes. When the crab seized the bait the 
stick was moved sufficiently to attract the attention of the watcher, 
who at once drew in his line. Small snow shelters were built beside 
the holes to protect the fishermen from the wind; they were open on 
one side and had a crescentic base with the convexity toward the direc- 
tion of the wind, while some of them were partially arched over. The 
crabs were so plentiful that one day, soon after my arrival, a man and 
a woman came in bringing about two hundred pounds, which they had 
taken during the day. 
As soon as the ice leaves the coast of Norton sound, in June, herrings 
arrive and spawn on the seaweed about the rocky points and shores of 
the small bays. At this time many of them are caught by means of 
small seines made from rawhide or sinew cord; but about the latter 
part of June commences what to these people is the most important of 
all fishing seasons. This is the time for the arrival of the salmon. The 
king salmon enter the rivers first, and are followed during the season 
by two or three smaller species of inferior quality. Along the entire 
coast, from the Kuskokwim to Point Barrow and up Kuskokwim and 
Yukon rivers, the Eskimo are very busy during July and August 
catching and curing these fish. The cleaning is done by the women. 
The fish are split from the head to the base of the tail, the entrails 
removed, and the fish thrown over a raised framework and left hanging 
until dry, when they are stored away in bales or bunches. The large 
king salmon (chow-chee), after being split, are slashed crosswise at short 
intervals to open the flesh and thus facilitate drying; the backbone is 
also generally removed and dried separately. When dry, the smaller 
species, called dog salmon, are always tied in bunches of twenty, and 
are stored or sold in this shape. 
FISH TRAPS 
Along the entire seacoast salmon are caught in gill nets, which are 
placed at intervals along the shore. On lower Yukon and Kusko- 
