THE ALASKAN FISHING-GKOUNDS. 



99 



and pieces of cord and drag them along just at the edge of the "water around the beach to their 

 village. The fish are piled in heaps and then begins the process of cutting, splitting, and 

 gashing, preparatory to hanging them on the drying-frames. Great heaps of heads and entrails 

 . lie all around, very attractive to flies and beetles, but rather repulsive to visitors. At the time of 

 our visit (July 23, 1880), 0. gorbuscha was the species taken. Mr. Frost told me that the gorhuscha 

 comes first, and that it appeared in quantities two weeks prior to our arrival; the ^'■hoikoh^'' 

 (0. Tccta) was there and the '■'■'krasnoi riha" {0. nerM), but neither of these was plentiful; they come 

 later. Cod are caught in the harbor. A few cod were lianging up to dry, but salmon were 

 abundant everywhere. The natives nearly all have comfortable-looking houses, a few of which 

 are painted blue, with red roofs. 



Mr. Devine says that natives from Korovinsky come over to a cove on Popoff Island, near 

 Pirate Cove, to fish for salmon; they generally get good silver salmon {O.Msutch'i) there. A 

 silver salmon five feet long was brought to Pirate Cove in 1877 ; from the size, I would suppose 

 this to have been 0. chouicha. Clams are very abundant and excellent about the Shumagins. 



One of the finest known baits for cod is common in deep water about the Sh,umagins; it is the 

 "yellow-fish" or striped fish" {Plenrogrammus monopterygius), sl species which is found in great 

 schools and may be taken in the purse-seine like mackerel, which it resembles in size, and, aftei 

 salting, in taste. Cod are passionately fond of this fish, and also of the "whiting" or "silver 

 hake" of the region (PollacMus chalcogrammus). The Shumagin cod fishery, having already been 

 treated at length, need not be entered upon here. 



TJNALASHKA PARISH. 



This division, with a total population of nearly fourteen hundred, would have a fishing 

 population of about two hundred and eighty. It includes the islands of Attu, Atka, Umnak, 

 Unalashka, Spirkin, Akutan, Akun, and Avatanok. In this district will be observed a difference 

 from the single paddle of the eastern shore of the Gulf of Alaska and the Kodiak group, the 

 bidarkas here being propelled by double paddles and with quite a change of motion. The effect 

 of the double paddle, which is grasped in the middle, is pretty, but the movement is not so steady 

 as that resulting from the use of the single paddle. The bidarka is the universal form of boat for 

 coasting and even for sea-going in weather that will allow its use. 



Aleut names of parts of a bidarJia, obtained through Mr. King. 



A good three-holed bidarka is worth from thirty dollars to fifty dollars. The luvtaks, or skin 

 coverings of the wooden frame-work, are made of sea-lion here. ~ 



The fishes of this division are nearly the same as those of Kodiak Parish, with the exception 

 of the species of Sebastichthys, none of which in the National Museum arc from Unalashka Parish. 



