THE INDIANS OF THE NORTHWEST COAST. 293 



been much influenced by the Kenai and Aleut, who use sinew, blad- 

 ders, and intestines of animals, in the manufacture of their fishing im- 

 plements. Dixon (1787) speaking of the Yakutat halibut fishing says : 



They bait tlieir hooks with a kind of fish * * * or squid, * » * ^mj 

 having sunk it to the bottom they fix a bladder to the end of the line as a buoy, and 

 should that not watch sufficiently they add another. Their lines are very strong, be- 

 ing made of intestines of animals. One man is sufficient to look after five or sis of 

 these buoys; when he perceives a fish bite he is in no great hurry to haul up his line, 

 but gives him time to be well hooked, and when he has hauled the fish up to the sur- 

 face of the water he knocks him on the head with a short club provided for that pur- 

 pose, and afterwards stows his prize away at his leisure. This is done to prevent 

 the halibut (which sometimes are very large) from damaging or perhaps upsetting 

 bis canoe in their dying struggles. Thus were we fairly beat at our own weapons, 

 and the natives constantly bringing us plenty of fish our boat was never sent on this 

 business afterwards.t 



Amongst the Tlingit these floats are generally duck-shaped and 

 carved from wood, although bladders are also used amongst them as 

 mentioned by Langsdorf (1805), who says : " To every line is fastened 

 a small bladder, which floats upon the surface of the water, so that one 

 person can attend fourteen or fifteen lines." t 



Floats. — The modern type of fishing- float is of wood, carved to repre- 

 sent an aquatic bird of some sort, and these floats are of two kinds, 

 under- water and surface. The surface floats have been spoken of 

 above, and one is represented in Fig. 140, Plate xxix. The under- 

 water ones are to float the halibut hooks just clear of the bottom, as 

 shown in Fig. 15 1&, Plate xxx, as it is here that the halibut feeds. 

 The stone sinker, a, is detachable from the line, and is used to keep 

 the hook and float both near the bottom. This style of float is also 

 illustrated in Fig. 159, Plate xxxi. 



Fishing-clubs. — These have been spoken of at the beginning of this 

 chapter and illustrated in Plate xvin. A peculiarly carved club is 

 used for each different kind of animal, superstitious reasons being given 

 for such variety. 



Dragnets. — Nets are made from cedar bark, wild hemp, or wild 

 nettle fiber, spun into twine, and now woven with a shuttle similar to 

 that used by fishermen on our own coast. Some of these are small, and 

 are secured to poles and dragged between two canoes ; others are long 

 and are similiar to our seines. Fig. 162, Plate xxxir, represents a Haida 

 drag-net of this last kind. The roping is of cedar bark; the netting, 

 of hemp twine; ^ is a wooden float on the end of the drag-line ; the 

 floats along the head are thin flat blocks of cedar wood, spaced about 

 3 feet apart ; the sinkers at the foot are black pebbles or stones lashed 

 in a circular hoop and spaced about 8 to 10 inches apart. Details of 

 the netting are shown in Fig. 162a. The net from which this illustration 

 was drawn is 52 feet long and 64 inches deep, from Masset, Queen 

 Charlotte Islands, British Columbia. What were the styles and by 



* Dixon, Voyage, p. 174. t Langsdorf, Voyages, pt. ii, p. 134. 



