190 THE ESKIMO. ABOUT BERING STRAIT [ETH. ANN. 18 
numbers. Holes are kept open in the ice by the people who watch for 
the first appearance of these fish. As soon as the first one is seen 
everybody seizes a dip-net or a stout stick with a short cross-piece at 
the lower end and throws out as 
many as possible. When the main 
body of the fish have passed, the 
people run up the river for some dis- 
tance, cut other holes, and repeat the 
vatch. This is continued until the 
people are exhausted by the violent 
exertion or a neighboring village is reached, when they are compelled 
to stop and give way to those living in that locality. 
Fic. 55—Wooden net float (§). 
NET-MAKING IMPLEMENTS 
GAUGES 
Various tools are used by the Eskimo in the manufacture of nets, 
Several forms of which were seen in different districts. From St Law- 
rence island several euriously shaped whalebone gauges for the meshes 
of nets were obtained. One of these (number 127020) is a trifle over 
six and one-half inches in length, and is a flat, oblong tablet, with a 
small projection at each end on one side. From the holes through it 
near one end it had eyidently been. used previously as part of a sledge 
runner.. The specimen illustrated in figure 4, plate LXX1, is similar in 
form and material to the preceding, but is smaller. Similar but shorter 
examples are shown in figures 2 and 3, plate Lxx11. Hach of these has 
along, curved handle projecting from one corner and a short spur from 
the other. ; 
A whalebone gauge from Kotzebue sound (figure 7, plate LXXIr) is 
notched along each side to receive a sinew cord to secure it to the 
wooden handle in which it is inserted. The specimen from Sledge 
island (figure 13, plate LXx1I) is a long-blade gauge of ivory, with a 
heavy back. The handle is grooved to receive the fingers, and ter- 
minates in an image of a seal’s head, with eyes, ears, and nose repre- 
sented by inlaid, blackened wooden pegs. 
The long-blade ivory gauge with heavy back, from Cape Darby (fig- 
ure 12, plate LXXII), has a long, tapering deerhorn handle riveted and 
lashed to its upper side. The example from the Diomede islands (fig- 
ure 14, plate LXXx1I) is a large, heavy, ivory gauge with a plain handle, 
which has a rude projection at the inner end to prevent it from slip- 
ping. The deerhorn gauge from Cape Nome (figure 8, plate LXx11) is 
fastened in the split end of a wooden handle by a lashing of spruce 
root. A gauge similar to this was obtained on-Nunivak island. A 
small, double-end gauge from Sabotnisky (figure 10, plate Lxxtr) is 
Slightly different in size at each end. The handle is enlarged in the 
middle and has a stick lashed to it by spruce roots to make it large 
enough to afford a convenient grip for the hand. The single-blade 
