50 THE YUROK. 
off, and the bread is ready to be eaten. ‘They find on the coast a glutinous 
kind of algze, which they press into loaves when wet, then dry them in the 
sun, and eat them raw. ‘They also eat the nuts of the laurel (Oreodaphne 
californica). : 
On lagoons and shallow reaches of the river they have a way of trap- 
ping wild ducks which is ingenious. They sprinkle huckleberries or salal- 
berries on the bottom, then stretch a coarse net a few inches under the sur- 
face of the water. Seeing the tempting decoy, the ducks dive for it, thrust 
their heads through the meshes of the net, and the feathers prevent their 
return. Thus they are drowned, and remain quiet with their tails elevated, 
so that others are not frightened, and an abundant catch sometimes rewards 
the trapper. 
Along the coast they engage largely in smelt fishing. The fisherman 
takes two long slender poles which he frames together with a cross-piece 
in the shape of the letter A, and across this he stretches a net with small 
meshes, bagging down considerably. This net he connects by a throat, 
with a long bag-net floating in the water behind him, and then, provided 
with a strong staff, he wades out up to his middle. When an unusually 
heavy billow surges in he plants his staff firmly on the bottom, ducks his 
head forward, and allows it to boom over him. After each wave he dips 
with his net and hoists it up, whereupon the smelt slide down to the point 
and through the throat into the bag-net. When the latter contains a bushel 
or so he wades ashore and empties it into his squaw’s basket. 
About sunset appears to be the most favorable time for smelt fishing, 
and at this time the great bar across the mouth of the Klamath presents a 
lively and interesting spectacle. Sometimes many scores of swarthy heads 
may be seen bobbing amid the surf like so many sea-lions. The squaws 
hurry to and fro across the bar, bowing themselves under their great conical 
hampers, carrying the smelt back to the canoes in the river, while the pap- 
pooses caper around stark naked, whoop, throw up their heels, and play- 
fully insinuate pebbles into each other’s ears. After the great copper globe 
of the sun burns into the ocean, bivouac fires spring up along the sand 
among the enormous redwood drift-logs, and families hover around them to 
roast the evening repast. The squaws bustle about the fires while the 
