BULL. 30] 



NETS NETTOTALIS 



59 



Nets, Netting, and Network. In every 

 part of the United States and north- 

 ward tlie Indians and the Eskimo used 

 some kind of nets, netting, or network. 

 These were made from animal tissues and 

 vegetal fibers — wool and hair, hide, sinew, 

 and intestines; roots, stems, bast, bark, 

 and leaves. Animal skins were cut into 

 long delicate strips, while sinew and 

 vegetal fibers were separated into fila- 

 ments and these twisted, twined, or 

 braiiled and made into openwork meshes 

 by a series of technical processes ranging 

 from the simplest weaving or coiling 

 without foundation to regular knotting. 

 The woman's hands were the most use- 

 ful implements in net making; but the 

 seine needle, or shuttle, exhibits a variety 

 of forms from the mere stick for wind- 

 ing, as on a bobbin, to the elaborately 

 ornamented needles of the Eskimo. The 

 meshing also shows a variety of processes, 

 through more and more intricate loop- 

 ings, as in the Maidu netted caps, to the 

 world-wide netting knot (Dixon). 



Netting was used for the capture of ani- 

 mals, for the lacings of snowshoes and 

 lacrosse sticks, for carrying-frames and 

 wallets, for netted cai)s, for the founda- 

 tion of feather work — in short, for what- 

 ever had meshes. Nets for the capture 

 of animals differed with the creatures 

 caught, as bird net, fish net, seal net, crab 

 net ; with the form, as rectangular net, cir- 

 cular net, conical net, ]>ag net, or purse 

 net; with the function, as inclosing net, 

 dragnet, casting net, dip net, gill net, ar- 

 resting net, drift net, and hand net. 



Beginning at the far N. with the Es- 

 kimo, the question of tribal distribution 

 may be considered. Not all the Eskimo 

 used nets for fishing. Boas never saw 

 any among the Central Eskimo, but men- 

 tions them as existing in Labrador and 

 westward of Hudson l)ay; while Mur- 

 doch's account of netting at Pt Barrow, 

 Alaska, is full. Netting needles of antler 

 and walrus ivorj', and mesh sticks of bone 

 or antler were employed, both of peculiar 

 patterns. The materials are sinew twine 

 (generally braided), rawhide thong, and 

 whalebone. The knot is the usual becket 

 hitch. Small seal are caught in large 

 meshed nets of rawhide, 18 meshes long 

 and 12 deep, with length of mesh 14 in. 

 These nets are set under the ice in winter 

 and in shoal water in summer. Seals are 

 enticed into tlie nets by whistling, by 

 scratching on the ice, or with rattles. 

 Whitefish are taken in gill nets set under 

 the ice in rivers. A specimen in the Na- 

 tional Museum, made of line strips of 

 whalebone, is 79 meshes long by 21 deep, 

 with meshes 3] in. deep. Murdocli, who 

 figures a conical dip net, or fish trap, made 

 of twisted sinew, also gives the spread of 

 various kinds of fish nets, and sunnises 



that the American Eskimo learned the 

 use of the net from the Siberians. 



From native two-strand twine of milk- 

 weed and wild hemp fiber the Maidu of 

 California made their nets and netted 

 caps. Fishing nets varied in size, shape, 

 fineness of twine, and in mesh. The 

 Maidu of Sacramento r. used seines, those 

 of the mountains the conical dip net. The 

 knitting was done with a shuttle com- 

 posed of two slender sticks. The first 

 two or three fingers of tiie left hand served 

 for mesh stick, and the so-called weaver's 

 knot joined the meshes. Dixon figures 

 and describes the several ways of making 

 the IMaidu netted caps, the simplest be- 

 ginning with the ])lain coil without foun- 

 dation, passing through the same coil 

 with a twist or two in it, to the openwork 

 single knot. 



(ioing southward to the California 

 tribes nearer the INIexican border, abo- 

 riginal netting is found in both clothing 

 and l)asketry. In nets of the simplest 

 structure the courses merely hook into 

 oneanother and resendjle coiled basketry, 

 if the foundation be removed. By 

 taking additional half turns and by vary- 

 ing the knotting, artistic ]iatterns are jjro- 

 duced. From the simple meshes the 

 work becomes more elaborate and the 

 knots more intricate. 



An interesting use of netting has been 

 brought to light by Holmes in his studies 

 of ancient American pottery. In, many 

 places have been found vessels and sherds 

 that show net impressions on the surface. 

 In some parts of the Atlantic slope ves- 

 sels of clay were molded in network, 

 taking the impressions of the texture. 

 In the description of ancient garments, 

 especially those in which feathers bore a 

 conspicuous part, precisely the same 

 methods of netting are described. This 

 furnishes to archeologists an excellent 

 check-off in their studies, since in later 

 times all other forms of textile work, ex- 

 cepting the figure weaving, were aban- 

 doned. 



Consult Boas (1) in 6th Rep. B. A. E., 

 1888, (2) in Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist, 

 XV, 1901; Dixon in Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. 

 Hist., XVII, pt. 3, 1905; Goddardin Univ. 

 Cal. Pub., Am. Arch;eol. andEthnol., i, 

 1903; Holmes (1) in 3d Rep. B. A. E., 

 1884, (2) in Am. Anthrop., ix, no. 1, 

 1907; Murdoch in 9th Rep. B. A. E., 

 1892; Teit in Mem. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., 

 II, 1900; Turner in 11th Rep. B. A. E., 

 1894; Willoughby in Am. Anthrop., vii, 

 no. 1, 1905. (o. T. M.) 



Netsekawik. A Kaviagmiut Eskimo 

 village on Golofnin bav, Alaska. — Elev- 

 enth Census, Alaska, 1(52, 1893. 



Nettotalis. (iiven as an Indian village 

 between Yale and Hope, on the w. bank 

 of Fraser r., Brit. Col. (Brit. Col. map, 



