62 



A General History of the Fur Trade. 



the people and merchandize remain here to carry On trade 

 with the Chepewyans. 



Here have I arrived with ninety or an hundred men with- 

 out any provision for their sustenance ; for whatever quan- 

 tity might have been obtained from the natives during the 

 summer, it couid not be more than sufficient for the people 

 dispatched to their different posts ; and even if there were 

 a casual superfluity, it was absolutely necessary to preserve 

 it untouched, for the demands of the spring. The whole 

 dependence, therefore, of those who remained, was on the 

 lake, and fishing implements for the means of our support. 

 The nets are sixty fathom in length, when set, and contain 

 fifteen meshes of five inches in depth. The manner of 

 using them is as follows : A small stone and wooden buoy 

 are fastened to the side-line opposite to each other, at about 

 the distance of two fathoms : when the net is carefully 

 thrown into the water, the stone sinks it to the bottom, 

 while the buoy keeps it at its full extent, and it is secured 

 in its situation by a stone at either end. The nets are vi- 

 sited every day, and taken out every other day to be cleaned 

 and dried. This is a very ready operation when the waters 

 are not frozen, but when the frost has set in, and the ice has 

 acquired its greatest thickness, which is sometimes as much 

 as five feet, holes are cut in it at the distance of thirty feet 

 from each other, to the full length of the net ; one of them 

 is larger than the rest, being generally about four feet square, 

 and is called the bason : by means of them, and poles of a 

 proportionable length, the nets are placed in and drawn out 

 of the water. The setting of hooks and lines is so simple 

 an employment as to render a description unnecessary. The 

 white fish are the principal object of pursuit: they spawn in 

 the fall of the year, and, at about the setting in of the hard 

 frost, crowd in shoals to the shallow water, when as many as 

 possible are taken, in order that a portion of them may be 

 laid by in the frost to provide against the scarcity of winter ; 

 as, during that season, the fish of every description decrease 

 In the lakes, if they do not altogether disappear. Some 

 have supposed, that during this period they are stationary, 

 or assume an inactive state. If there should be any inter- 

 vals of warm weather during the fall, it is necessary to sus- 

 pend the fish by the tail, though they are not so good as those 

 which are altogether preserved by the frost. In this state 



