V. 



FOOD; IMPLEMENTS AND WEAPONS; HUNTING AND FISHING. 

 FOOD: ITS PREPARATION AND HOW OBTAINED. 



Food. — Fish and berries form the staff of life amongst the Indians of 

 this region. Around the summer camps, at all times, can be seen strips 

 of halibut or salmon suspended in the smoke of the dwelling-houses, or 

 drying in the open air on frames erected for the purpose. In the sum- 

 mer season there is an abundance of all kinds of food, but the energies 

 of the Indians are directed to laying up a stock for winter's use. Hali- 

 but abound from March to November, and are readily caught on their 

 favorite banks, known to the natives who camp near such localities. 

 Halibut and salmon, fresh and dried, form the basis of the food supply. 

 The salmon are caught during the " runs." After the daily wants are 

 supplied, and a sufficient number dried for winter's use, the surplus fish 

 are converted into oil. This oil, as well as all other kinds, is used as a 

 sauce, into which nearly everything is dipped before eating. Seal and 

 porpoise flesh, or blubber, is esteemed a great delicacy, although they 

 will not eat whale's blubber for superstitious reasons. Any kind of meat 

 of wild animals is eaten when procurable, but it is only in recent years 

 that they have ever salted down or dried meat for winter's use. Other 

 kinds of fish, such as- cod, herring, and eulachon, are much esteemed. 

 During the run of herring large quantities are dried or pressed into oil. 

 Eulachon {Thaleichthys pacifictis), the so-called "candle-fish," a kind of 

 smelt, run in March and April at the mouth of the Skeena, Nass, and 

 Stikeen Elvers. These have the greatest proportion of fatty matter 

 known in any fish. In frying they melt almost completely into oil, and 

 need cnly the insertion of some kind of a wick to serve as a candle. 



Fish roe. — The roe of fish is- esteemed a great delicacy, and great 

 care is taken to collect it in the water, or remove it from captured fish. 

 It is either eaten fresh, or dried and preserved for winter's use, when 

 it is eaten in two ways: (1) It is pounded between two stones, diluted 

 with water, and beaten with wooden spoons into a creamy consistency; 

 or (2) it is boiled with sorrel and different dried berries, and molded 

 in wooden frames into cakes about 12 inches square and 1 inch thick. 



Rerbs and berries.— Hoots, herbs, berries, and snails are amongst the 

 luxuries of tlie summer season. Easpberries, salmon berries, straw- 

 berries, currants, red and blue huckleberries, salal, and thimble berries 

 abound late in the summer. Some of these are collected and dried for 



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