48 JACK RABBITS OF THE UNITED STATES. 



hemp; the net is kept in a vertical position by pointed sticks attached 

 to it and driven into the ground. Tliese sticks are placed about 5 or 6 

 feet apart, and at each one an Indian is stationed %vith a short club in 

 his hand. After these arrangements are completed, a large number of 

 Indians enter the circle, and beat the bushes in every direction. The 

 frightened hares dart off toward the nets, and, in attempting to pass, 

 are knocked on the head and secured. Mr. Pambrun, the superintendent 

 of Fort Walla "Walla, from whom I obtained this account, says that he 

 has often participated in this sport with the Indians, and has known 

 several hundred to be thus taken in a day. When captured alive, it 

 does not scream, like the common gray rabbit {Leptts sylraticus)^^ 



The Indians of southern Oregon also carried on rabbit drives some 

 years ago, especially near the Oregon-Nevada boundary line, near Fort 

 McDermitt. Several hundred rabbits were killed at a time and util- 

 ized for food, while their skins were made into clothing. During his 

 second expedition, Col. J. C. Fremont found the same method of cap- 

 turing rabbits used by the Pintes of Nevada and eastern California.1 

 In describing one of his camps on the east slope of the Sierra Nevada, 

 evidently near the head of the Trnckee River, he says, utulcr date of 

 January .'U, 1844: ''We had scarcely lighted our fires when the camp 

 was crowded with nearly naked Indians; some of them were furn- 

 ished with long nets in addition to bows, and appeared to have been 

 out on tlie sage liills to hunt rabbits. These nets were i)erhap8 30 to 

 40 feet long, kept upright in the groun<l by slight stakes at intervals, 

 and wore made from a kind of wild hemp, very much resembling in 

 nianufa<'ture those common among the Indians of the Sacramento 

 Valley." 



MaJ. Chas. Bendire, while returning from Deep Spring Valley to 

 Camp Indei)endence, Cal., in November, 18G(» or ISCT, saw the Indians 

 engaged in driving jack rabbits on the east side of Owens Valley, a few 

 miles soutli of Bishoi*. A corral had been made by stretching low nets 

 between stakes placed about UO feet apart. Into the inclosure thus 

 formed the animals were driven from a considerable area in the valley, 

 and it was estimated that 'M)i) or 400 rabbits were killed in this drive. 

 The nets were made by tlie Indians, and each hunter was required to 

 furnish his quota. Mr. F. V. Covilk', botanist of the Death Valley 

 Expedition, learned that simihir nets were formerly used by the Indians 

 of Ash Meadows, Nevada. These nets were made from the Indian hemp 

 (Apoci/num caniiahiiiiim), which furnishes a strong and excellent fiber. 

 The same material was evidently used by the tribes in the eastern part 

 of the State, for Bancroft, in sjieaking of tlie Indians near the Utah 

 boundary, says: "The (losh Ftes take rabbits in nets m;ule of flax 

 twine, about 3 feet wide and of considerable length. A fence of sage 

 brush is erected across the rabbit i>aths, and on this the net is hung. 

 The rabbits in running quickly along the trail become entangled in the 



> Rept. Expl. Expd. to Oregon and Calif., 1846, p. 227 (House Doo. No. 16(3. ) 



