42

The Sekani had also fishing-nets, which they made of nettle fibres or
willow roots and used both summer and winter, setting them in winter
under the ice. In recent years they have learned from their Carrier
neighbours to make fish-traps, which they did not use in earlier times,
although in small streams they were accustomed to set up weirs of brush
that intercepted the fish, and constructed also the sluice-box shown
diagrammatically in Figure 3.

TRANSPORTATION

Toboggans came into use, apparently, only in modern times; previously
the Sekani carried all their possessions on their backs during the winter
months. They did, however, possess snow-shoes, which were rare or
unknown among their Carrier neighbours. Plate XIII shows a specimen
that came from the Long Grass band, though it was obtained at Hazelton;
but whether it correctly reproduces the ancient type is not certain, for
today snow-shoes are freely traded throughout northern British Columbia
and the Indians often imitate foreign models.

For summer travelling the Sekani had canoes of spruce bark which
have been described by Mackenzie:

“The bark is taken off the tree the whole length of the intended canoe,
which is commonly about eighteen feet, and is sewed with watape at both
ends; two laths are then laid, and fixed along the edge of the bark which
forms the gunwale; in these are fixed the bars, and against them bear
the ribs or timbers, that are cut to the length to which the bark can be
stretched; and, to give additional strength, strips of wood are laid between
them; to make the whole watertight, gum is abundantly employed. These
vessels carry from two to five people. Canoes of a similar construction
were used by the Beaver Indians within these few years, but they now
very generally employ those made of the bark of the birch tree, which are
by far more durable. Their paddles are about six feet long, and about one
foot is occupied by the blade, which is in the shape of an heart.’

There is no record of the Sekani substituting birch bark for spruce
bark in their canoes, nor any memory of birch-bark boats among the
present inhabitants.2 Today they use either Peterborough canoes, or
crude dugouts of cottonwood like those of the Carrier and Gitksan. After
trimming the log to shape they hollow it out with fire and adzes, then
spread the gunwales with wedges of graduated length, first softening the
wood by filling the canoe with water. The final wedges become the
thwarts, which number from four to six according to the length of the
boat (Plate XI). The paddles are crudely shaped, and seldom used on
the swiftly flowing rivers, where more progress can be made by poling.

1 Mackenzie: Op. cit., p. 207.

* Fraser speaks of pine canoes on upper Parsnip river, but almost certainly he means spruce (First Journal, June 7,
1806).

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