THE ALASKAN FISHING GROUNDS. 101 



Iliuliuk iiarties. KosLigin gets a few of these animals yearly in the same places as those visited 

 by Cheruoffsky natives. The people of Makushin and Iliuliuk join forces in quest of sea -otter at 

 Sanakh, where they are taken, and whence they are brought back annually by vessels engaged in 

 the trade. The people on the southwest coast of Fmnak Island secure about one hundred and fifty 

 sea-otter yearly. Atka is largely engaged also in this chase and successfully. Trading vessels 

 carry its hunters to the haunts of tire otter, where they remain during the season, and at the end 

 of their work they are returned to their homes. Mr. Petroff, from whom I have copied my 

 information about the otter, fur-seal, and sea-lion, gives the catch of sea-otter in Uualashka 

 district, from the Shumagin Islands to Attn, as forty-eight hundred and fifty for the season of 

 1879. 



In " Notes on the Islands of the Unalashka Eegion" (translation from the Eussian title), by 

 Ivan Veniaminoff, Vol. II, pages 402 to 408, will' be found an account of the fishes which Mr. 

 Marcus Baker, of the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey, has had the kindness to translate 

 for me. What the bishop says about the methods of fishing is here quoted : " The method of 

 taking the migratory fish by the Aleuts was formerly exceedingly crude and unprofitable. They 

 built dams in the rivers, piling large stones on a kind of float where the circumstances admitted of 

 it, which served as a barrier to the fish going up the rivers. Standing upon this they fished with 

 small spears pointed with iron (and formerly with bone) and barbed, thrown into the water more 

 by chance than by choice, and when by good luck a fish was struck it was dragged ashore by 

 a line attached to the spear. They now (1840) make use of small nets ; but at the principal 

 settlements the company has large seines, with which more fish are taken at the time when they 

 first begin to approach the shores or enter the bays." 



At the present time short seines and the ordinary fishing gear of the United States are 

 generally employed in the fisheries. UJmli forms a very important part of the trader's stock at 

 Iliuliuk. 



BRISTOL BAY DIVISION. 



In this division there is a total population of forty-three hundred and forty. This may 

 be called the great lake region of Alaska, the lakes emptying through rivers into Bristol 

 Ba\'. Iliamna, the largest lake, is upwards of ninety miles long, and varies between fifteen and 

 thirty miles in width. Nushegak, the largest river, wide and deep, with rapid current and turbid 

 waters, rushes down from Nushegak Lake to the bay, and asserts its presence far out over bars 

 and flats. Besides the Nushegak there are seven other rivers in the division. 



At Nrfshegak, Mr. Petroff says, the Unalashka style of bidarka is left behind, and is replaced 

 by the one-holed "kyak," a skin canoe similar to the bidarka and similarly propelled. The spear 

 is much used in fishing and in the capture of seal. The lance is in great demand for sealing, too. 



The coast population have opportunities to take walrus, seals, beluga, and an occasional 

 stranded whale. The settlement of Igagik, according to Petroff, devotes its time principally to 

 the walrus hunt. At KuUuk, again, is a small population, devoted largely to the chase of walrus 

 andrseal; here the banded seal (^Histrioplioca fasciata)'is found alohg with others. It is claimed 

 that a fresh-water seal inhabits Iliamna Lake, but the statement needs to be confirmed by the 

 possession of a specimen.. 



The principal fish of the region are flat-fish, flounders, halibut, cod, pollock, " wachna," 

 sculpins, two or more species of " green-fish" {Hexagrammus), launce, capelin, trout, whiteflsh, 

 salmon, and herring. In order to form some idea of the abundance of salmon one should read 



Petroff's description of the Igushek Eiver and of the Togiak as well.' The whole region is 



. . * 



'Preliminary Report on Census of Alaska, 1881, p. 48. 



