156 Canadian Arctic Expedition, 1913-18 



caution to close the entrance to the first dam with a boulder, sometimes one 

 man merely stands guard over it and spears any fish that try to escape. In some 

 weirs small blind caverns of stone are made in the dam where the fish can hide, 

 when frightened by the splashing and shouting of the natives. There the women 

 catch them with their hands and string them on thongs of sealskin, using a rough 

 bone needle about four inches long to pierce their bodies. It is very seldom 

 indeed that a fish escapes when once it has entered a properly constructed weir. 

 So simple and efficient a method of fishing naturally means a very pleasant and 

 lazy existence for the natives as long as the migration lasts. They lie about in 

 their tents all day waiting for the fish to appear. From time to time some one 

 goes down to examine the weir, and gives a shout if any salmon have made 

 their appearance, when everyone rushes out, clothed or unclothed, grasps a 

 spear and races into the water. 



At Nulahugyuk creek near Bernard harbour the natives had two series of 

 weirs, one for the larger salmon migrating upstream, and one for young fry, 

 two seasons old, migrating down to the sea. The latter are only about 8 inches 

 long and weigh perhaps a third of a pound, whereas the adult salmon averages 

 two feet in length and eight pounds in weiglxt. Sometimes, as in June, 1916, the 

 two are running at the same time; more often perhaps the young fish make their 

 appearance two or three weeks later. Mr. G. H. Wilkins, who took a number 

 of moving picturafe at this place in 1915, describes the scene as follows: — 



" The men and sometimes the women would run into the water with their 

 spears and jab and poke at the fish as they swam around. Some of the women 

 would run to the walls of the weir and catch the fish as they stuck in between 

 the stones in their attempts to get away. By this method the fish would soon 

 get thinned out and there would be great competition for the remaining few. 

 Eight or ten people would sometimes be spearing for the same fish with the 

 result that some one or other's toe would suffer. I never saw any argument as 

 the result of this, but the injured one would retire from the fray for a moment 

 or so and rub his toe. Soon the possibility of getting the fish would induce him 

 to try for it between the other people's legs, with the frequent result that another 

 would be delayed for a minute or so to rub his toe or shin. All the knocks were 

 taken good-naturedly and they would discuss their injuries after the fray without 

 any sign of ill feeling. When a fish was caught. either by the men or women, 

 they would run it through with a bone needle threaded on a string with a cross 

 piece at the end, and drag the fish about with them in their endeavours to 

 secure another one. Sometimes when the pond was almost cleaned out they 

 would stop to kill the fish by knocking it on the head with a stone picked up 

 m the river bed before threading it on the line. 



..." Their fishing was not restricted to the spearing of the big fish that 

 were making their way up the' river to spawn, but they also caught hundreds of 

 the small fish as they came from the lake to the sea. Indeed it is surprising that 

 the supply of fish in the lake keeps up so well, for it would seem as if the weirs 

 that they build would entirely block the fish from getting up stream and the 

 small ones would entirely block the young ones from getting from the lake. 

 It is certain that few escape that once get into the trap, but I have noticed num- 

 bers of the small ones hesitating to go through the narrow entrance to the trap. 

 The Eskimos had noticed this, and before they went to clear the trap of the small 

 fry, several of them would go some distance up stream and splashing through 

 the water and waving their arms would 'shoo' the fish down stream. This 

 ruse was fairly successful, and at times the trap would be a seething mass of 

 young salmon trout about six inches long. The disposal of these would be 

 mostly left to the women and the children, although sometimes a man or two 

 would join in with the rest. 



" If there were more of these fish than the fishermen could conveniently 

 eat as they caught them, they were strung on a line in a similar manner to the 



