110 • FISHING-GEOUNDS OF NORTH AMEEIOA. 



these were curiously carved to represent seal, walrus, bear, whale, and even the singular large 

 isopod crustacean so common on all the Arctic beaches. The articles were usually intended for 

 belt-toggles, powder-charges, swivels, lance-heads, and other useful implements, but some were 

 representations of the human figure or other merely ornamental subject. Quantities of seal-skin 

 line were freely traded for a mere trifle. The lance-heads usually consisted of a base of ivory or 

 bone and an iron point. 



Seemann says that herring and whiting are very abundant in Hotham Inlet. The whiting of 

 Seemann is supposed to be FollacMus chalcogrammus, but there is some doubt about the occurrence 

 of this species so far north, since none of the collectors at Saint Michael's have sent it down from 

 their still more southern latitude. The mullet of Seemann must be a large species of whitefish 

 [Goregonus). The mode of fishing in these waters is thus described by Captain Hooper : 



"Salmon and other small fish are taken in nets, either by a seine in the ordinary way, or by 

 means of a gill-net, which is set from the shore in a very ingenious manner. This net of seal 

 thongs is from thirty to forty feet in length and about five feet wide; floats of light wood are 

 attached to one side, with pieces of stone for sinkers on the other side, and to the outer end is 

 secured 'a stone somewhat larger than the rest, serving as an- anchor; a number of short poles, 

 about three inches in diameter, are lashed together to a length of sixty or eighty feet, and the 

 end secured to the stone anchor by means of a loop, which allows the whole pole to be withdrawn 

 after the net is set. This pole is used for pushing the net from shore into the desired depth of 

 water; when let go the net naturally assumes a perpendicular position. The outer end is held in 

 place by the stone anchor, while the inner end is fastened to a line of seal-thong leading to the 

 shore, with which the net is drawn in.'" 



The following are some of the food-fishes of Kotzebue Sound : 

 Pleuronectes stellatus. Mallotus villosus. 



" glacialis. Goregonus Laurettse. 



Limanda aspera. " Merkii. 



Pollachius chalcogrammus (doubtfully). " Kennicottii. 



Boreogadus saida. Salvelinus malma. 



Tilesia gracilis. Oncorhynchus chouicha. 



Cottus polyacanthocephalus. " keta. 



" tseniopterus " nerka. ~ •" 



" . humilis. " kisutch. 



Ammodytes personatus. " gorbuscha. 



Osmerus dextex. Clupea mirabilis. 



" spirinchus. 



3. Arctic Alaska north of Kotzebue Sound. — From Kotzebue Sound northward the 

 Eskimo are engaged principally in the capture of seal, walrus, and whale. Many of them go with 

 whaling vessels, and all who are able to do so unite with a will in taking whales during the 

 absence of the fleet as well. In the spring of 1880, the Point Hope men sold the bone from five 

 whales which they killed after the vessels left in 1879. Natives all along the coast from Kotzebue 

 Sound up are supplied with whaling gear such as the whites use, and in their trustworthy oomiaks 

 they show great skill and courage in this chase. Whalebone is brought out to every vessel that 

 comes in sight anywhere in the Arctic. The season of 1880 was a remarkable one for all concerned 

 in the fishery ; the Eskimo were fairly gorged with blackskin and blubber, while every sail carried 

 away a heavy cargo of oil, bone, and ivory. On the 20th of August, 1880, the settlement of Point 



'Eeport of Crnise of Corwin, 1881, p. 59. 



