THE INDIANS OF THE NOETH WEST COAST. 291 



the barb and just under it. Fig. 158 is also a primitive type of hook 

 made in two pieces and of the same character as those just described. 

 A second primitive variety is that made by steaming and beudiug a 

 tough limb of yew or other wood into the shape shown in Fig. 153, 

 which is a Makah hook from Cape Flattery, Washington Territory 

 (Wakashan stock). Their hooks are by far the neatest on the coast, 

 and are traded to the northern Indians. The lashing shown across 

 it in the plate is for securing the bait, this being the method of winding 

 the string when the hook is not in use. Fig. 152 is a Chilkat and 157 

 a Haida version of this same type of hook. Fig. 152 is an iron one 

 modeled also on this design, and similar in shape to Fig. 161. 



Another kind of hook differing from those just described in shape, 

 principle, and freedom from fouling the bottom, is used for catching- 

 cod, flounders, etc., and is thus described by Judge J. G. Swan in a 

 pamphlet on the fisheries of the north : 



They are made of the kuots of hemlock limbs cut out from old decayed logs. 

 These are split in pieces of suitable size and whittled to the required shape, and 

 bent by being steamed into the form which in the sMl hook resembles the longitu- 

 dinal section of a goose egg. The lower portion of these hooks are curved inward to 

 form a barb, and when not in use the two ends of the hook are fastened together by 

 a piece of twine, which is also used to tie on the bait. When the hook is to be used 

 the two parts of the hook are separated by means of a stick or peg, which the fish 

 knocks out when he takes the bait, and the two ends of the hook close together and 

 hold him fast ; the peg floats to the surface and indicates to the Indian that he has 

 caught a fish. 



The sinker is another ingenious contrivance ; it is a large stone, weighing from 12 

 to 15 pounds, and a smaller one to serve as a tripping stone ; the line is firmly wound 

 around these stones with many turns, and a bight or loop tucked under one of the 

 parts in the same manner a signal officer rolls up a flag in a ball and tucks a bight 

 of the haliard under a turn, which, when pulled out, sets the flag free ; so when the 

 Indian fisherman thinks, from the number of floating pegs, that he has enough fish, 

 he pulls out the loop of his line, the stones become loosened and fall out, and he 

 hauls in his line relieved of their weight. 



The Haidas frequently put on one hundred hooks to a single line, which acts like 

 a trawl, and so plentiful are the black cod that often from fifty to seventy-five are 

 hauled in at one time. The bait used seems to be anything handy, as the skil is a 

 greedy feeder, and will take either fresh herring, squid, or a strip of the white skin 

 from a halibut's belly. The Indian, however, has enemies to contend with; one of 

 the most formidable is the ground shark, or nurse fish, as the sailors call them, which 

 will eat off the bodies of a whole line full of fish, leaving only their heads; there is 

 a small fish of the cottoid or sculpin variety (Blepsias rirrhosits) — Nukaio, kaiungo — 

 (Haida) which will steal the bait and sometimes gets caught. Dogfish also are at 

 times very troublesome. Whenever the Indian is sure of the presence of these pests 

 he goes to another place to fish. 



This type of hook is also reproduced in iron. A sketch is given in 

 Plate XXX, Fig. 148 a and &. The former shows the hook baited and 

 pried open with a peg ; the latter shows it when not in use, lashed to 

 preserve the spring in the wood or iron. Fig. 160, Plate xxxi, shows 

 a peculiar device used by the Haida for catching red fish. The withe 

 of wood, a, is tough and elastic, and secured at its middle point to the 



