334 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 137 



or brave Fellow, that wou'd not let go; till with Swimming, Wading, and 

 Diving, he had tired the Sturgeon, and brought It ashore. These Sturgeon 

 would also often leap into their Canoes, in crossing the River, as many of 

 them do still every Year, into the Boats of the English. 



They have also another Way of Fishing like those on the Euxine Sea, by 

 the Help of a blazing Fire by Night. They make a Hearth in the Middle of 

 their Canoe, raising it within Two Inches of the Edge; upon this they lay 

 their burning Light-Wood, split into small Shivers, each Splinter whereof 

 will blaze and burn End for End, like a Candle : 'Tis one Man's work to tend 

 this Fire and keep it flaming. At each End of the Canoe stands an Indian, 

 with a Gig, or pointed Spear, setting the Canoe forward with the Butt-end 

 of the Spear, as gently as he can, by that Means stealing upon the Fish, 

 without any Noise, or disturbing of the Water. Then they with great Dexterity, 

 dart these Spears into the Fish, and so take 'em. Now there is a double 

 Convenience in the Blaze of this Fire; for it not only dazzles the Eyes 

 of the Fish, which will lie still, glaring upon it, but likewise discovers the 

 Bottom of the River clearly to the Fisher-man, which the Daylight does not. 



The following Print, (as all the others in this Book) was drawn by the 

 Life, and I may justly aflBrm it, to be a very true Representation of the Indian 

 Fishery, 



Tab. I [pi. 52 which I have, however, reproduced from the original White 

 drawing] Represents the Indians in a Canoe with a Fire in the Middle, tended 

 by a Boy and a Girl. In one End is a Net made of Silk Grass, which they 

 use in Fishing their Weirs. Above is the Shape of their Weirs, and the 

 Manner of setting a Weir-Wedge, a-cross the Mouth of a Creek. 



Note, That in Fishing their Weirs, they lay the Side of the Canoe to the 

 Cods of the Weir, for the more convenient coming at them, and not with 

 the End going into the Cods, as is set down in the Print: But we could not 

 otherwise represent it here, lest we should confound the shape of the Weir, 

 with the Canoe. (Beverley, 1705, bk. 2, pp. 32-34.) 



Fishweirs were in use on the Atlantic coast as far south as 

 Florida. They were extensively employed on the St. Johns River 

 and neighboring coast according to the testimony of Laudonniere 

 and Le Moyne, but whether this extended to the wretched bands 

 south of Cape Canaveral is open to doubt as Dickenson (1699) makes 

 no mention of them. The following curious note by Garcilaso seems 

 to be the only reference to a fishweir on the Gulf side of the 

 peninsula : 



The Indians of that province (Hirrihigua) had constructed on the bay of 

 Espiritu Santo large inclosures of rough stone in order to obtain skates and 

 many other fish which came into them at high tide, and when it receded 

 were trapped there almost on dry land. The Indians killed a great many fish 

 in this manner and the Castilians who were with Captain Pedro Calder6n 

 also enjoyed them. (Garcilaso, 1723, p. 94.) 



In relatively recent times the Chitimacha Indians are said to 

 have employed a barrel-shaped fish trap, but no fishweir (Swanton. 

 1911, p. 346). 



Aside from the above note by Garcilaso, the oldest mention of 

 fishweirs seems to be that of Kibault in 1562, who says they were 



