Hunting and Fishing 157 



larger fish, but as a rule the majority of these young fry were eaten alive, as 

 one might say. A man, woman or child as the case might be, would catch a fish 

 in the rocks, and would pop it into his mouth head first and chew up the head; 

 the body quickly followed, convulsively protesting with its tail until that dis- 

 appeared from sight and was crushed between the teeth. In most cases nothing 

 more was seen of the fish, but if there were a few people there, and the haul was 

 likely to be large, then some of the people would take the trouble to spit out 

 the skin or else bite the head of the fish and then strip the skin off by catching 

 hold of it with the teeth and sleeving the fish, eating the body afterwards and 

 throwing the skin away." 



Just as fish caught in the lakes must be laid with their heads towards the 

 hole, so salmon that are killed going up-stream must be placed facing the lakes, 

 and those going down-stream facing the sea. If they are split in two and hung 

 up to dry the dorsal fins must face the lakes, or the sea, as the case may be; 

 other salmon will then follow in their wake as though the previous shoals had 

 continued their journey unmolested. The same regulation applies to the fish- 

 spears; their points must face upstream or downstream according to the direction 

 in which the fish are running. Bows and arrows (and guns) must not be used 

 within a hundred yards or so of the stream lest the fish should be frightened 

 and cease to migrate; and when the salmon are running up-stream no iron 

 utensil or weapon must be dipped into the water lest the fish should object to 

 its taint. 1 



Tom-cod are caught through the sea-ice in the same manner as lake fish 

 except that a much larger hook is used and lures of bone are employed instead 

 of regular bait. Sometimes, instead of a hook,the natives merely jig a bear's 

 tooth with two or three smaller teeth or pieces of bone dangling around it. The 

 tom-cod are attracted by the white gleaming teeth and are speared with the 

 double gaff. The rod is usually a straight piece of wood notched at each end 

 so that it resembles a very long netting needle. Similar rods are sometimes 

 used in lake fishing, but there the preference is for a curved handle. 



'Back (p. 381 et seg.) says that the Eskimos of Backs river caught white fish and small trout in an 

 «ddy below a waterfall and kept them alive in specially constructed ponds. Probably they had weirs 

 like the Copper Eskimos into which the fish entered of their own accord and were then unable to escape 



