400 
VOYAGE TO THE 
CHAP, equally ingenious. They construct large nets with bulrushes, and re- 
pair to such rivers as are the resort of their game, where they fix a 
Dec. long pole upright on each bank, with one end of the net attached to 
the pole on the opposite side of the river to themselves. Several 
artificial ducks made of rushes are then set afloat upon the water 
between the poles as a decoy ; and the Indians, who have a line fastened 
to one end of the net, and passed through a hole in the upper end of 
the pole that is near them, wait the arrival of their game in concealment. 
When the birds approach, they suddenly extend the net across the river 
by pulling upon the line, and intercept them in their flight, when they 
fall stunned into a large purse in the net, and are captured. They 
also spread nets across their rivers in the evening, in order that the 
birds may become entangled in them as they fly. 
The occupation of the men consists principally in providing for 
their support, and in constructing the necessary implements for the 
chase and for their own defence. The women attend to their domestic 
concerns, and work a variety of baskets and ornamental parts of their 
dress, some of which are very ingenious, and all extremely laborious. 
Their closely wove baskets are not only capable of containing water, 
but are used for cooking their meals. A number of small scarlet 
feathers of the oriolus phoenicbus are wove in with the wood, and 
completely screen it from view on the outside ; and to the rim are affixed 
small black crests of the Californian partridges, of which birds a hun- 
dred brace are required to decorate one basket : — they are otherwise 
ornamented with beads, and pieces of mother-of-pearl. They also em- 
broider belts very beautifully with feathers of different colours, and 
they work with remarkable neatness, making use of the young quills of 
the porcupine, in a similar manner to the Canadian Indians ; but here 
they manufacture a fine cloth for the ground, whereas the Canadians 
have only the bark of the birch-tree. They also manufacture caps and 
dresses for their chiefs which are extremely beautiful ; and they have a 
great many other feather ornaments, which it would be stepping beyond 
the limits of my work to describe. 
'I'he stature of the Indians which we saw in the missions was by 
no means diminutive. The Alchones are of good height, and the Tulu- 
