144 
SURVIVAL ON LAND AND SEA 
Another sea animal that provides good food is the sea cu- 
cumber (fig. 49-G). Inside the body are five long white muscles 
that taste much like clam meat. 
In early summer it is sometimes possible to scoop up smelt 
when they come to the edge of the beach to spawn in the surf. 
Whenever available the Eskimos and northern Indians eat 
kelp* the long ribbon-like seaweed, as well as the smaller branch- 
ing variety that grows among the off-shore rocks. It is eaten 
raw. In mid-summer many of the seaweeds are covered with 
herring eggs and these are eagerly eaten by the Eskimos. 
Fish 
Salmon, cod, sculpin, trout, whitefish, herring, flounder, and 
other salt water fish are abundant in the Arctic and along 
northern Atlantic and Pacific shores. Some of these can be 
caught by surf casting from the beach with a long hand line. 
In spring and summer salmon enter many of the northern 
streams to spawn — often in such numbers that they can be 
speared from the bank. An improvised gig or spear— -a long 
pole with two or three sharp wooden barbs lashed to the end- 
can be used effectively in shallow water. 
Small trout, grayling, and other fresh water fish will take 
any kind of bait — worm, bug or piece of meat— -and can be 
caught with the simplest of makeshift tackle, such as a bent 
pin or a small sharp wooden hook attached to a thread or 
raveling. 
The simplest form of hook, one used by primitive peoples in 
many parts of the world, is the gorge. This is a straight sliver 
of wood or bone sharpened at both ends and with the line 
