462 



FISHING 



[b. a. e. 



erel, flounder, eel, plaice, turbot, white- 

 fish, catfish, smelt, pike, dogfish, and all 

 varieties of shellfish. By some tribes, as 

 the Apache, Mavaho, and Zuiii, fish were 

 tabu as food; but where fish was used at 



„ M(r — 



WATTLE-WORK FISH TRAP OF THE vrRGINfA 

 (hARIOT, 1685) 



all by the Indians, practically everything 

 edil)le that came from the water was con- 

 sumed. The salmon of the Pacific coast 

 are still found in enormous schools, and 

 in the canning industry hundreds of per- 

 sons are employed. Lobsters and crabs 

 furnished no incon- 

 siderable food sup- 

 ply, while the vast 

 deposits of shells 

 along all tidewater 

 regions, as well as 

 many of the interior 

 rivers, testify to the 

 use made of shellfish 

 l)y the aborigines; 

 they not only sup- 

 plied a large part of 

 the daily food of the 

 people but were dried 

 for time of need. 

 Shellfish were dug or 

 taken by hand in wading and by diving. 

 Salmon and herring eggs formed one of 

 the stajile articles of diet of the tribes of 

 the N. Pacific coast. To collect herring 

 eggs these tribes laid down under water at 

 low tide a row of hemlock branches, which 

 were held in position 

 with weights; then 

 branches were fast- 

 ened together, and a 

 float was fixed at one 

 end, bearing-the own- 

 er' s mark. When 



these boughs were Alaskan Eskimo harpoon; 



found to be covered foreshaft and head. 

 with eggs they were ^''"'"'°^"> 

 taken into a canoe, carried ashore, and 

 elevated on branches of a tree stripped of 

 its smaller limbs, where they were left to 

 dry. When first placed in position the 

 eggs adhered firmly to the boughs, but 

 on taking them down great care had to 



Carrying Fish m a Basket; 

 VIRGINIA Indians, (hariot) 



be exercised, because they were very 

 brittle and were easily knocked off. 

 Those not immediately consumed were 

 put up in the intestines of animals and 

 laid aside for winter use. It is recorded in 

 the Jesuit Relations that many eels came 

 to the mouth of St Lawrence r. and were 

 trapped by the Indians, who made long 

 journeys to get the season's supply. 



On the middle and s. Atlantic coast fish 

 are found during the greater portion of, if 

 not throughout, the year, while farther n. 

 fishing is confined more to the spawning 

 seasons and to the months when the 

 waters are free of ice. Experience taught 

 the natives when to expect the coming 

 of the fish and the time when they would 

 depart. In methods of capturing seafood 

 the native had little to learn from the 

 white man, even in killing the whale 

 (which was treated as royal game on the 



alaskan eskimo box for containing harpoon heads, 

 (murdoch) 



coastof Vancouver id.), the sea lion, or the 

 seal, or in taking shellfish in the waters 

 of the ocean and in the smallest streams. 

 Large fish and marine mammals were 

 captured by means of the harpoon, while 

 the smaller ones were taken 

 bytheaidofbowandarrow, 

 gigs, net, dull , trap, or weir. 

 Fires or torches were used 

 along the shore or on boats, 

 the gleam of which at- 

 tracted the game or fish to 

 the surface, when they 

 were easily taken by hand 

 or with a net. Among the 

 Cherokee, Iroquois, and 

 other tribes, fish were 

 drugged with jjoisonous 

 bark or other parts of 

 plants; in parts of Cali- 

 fornia extensive use was 

 made of soap root and 

 other plants for this pur- 

 pose. Carved fishhooks 

 (q. v.) of shell and bone 

 have been found in shell- 

 heaps and graves in the 

 interior. In shape these 

 resemble the hooks of metal from Europe, 

 though the natives of the Pacific coast used 

 fishhooks of wood and bone combined. 



Stone Sir 

 (rau) 



