FISHING. 189

They are set in the evening, from the shores of lakes or islands out, or
in the still waters of the rivers, and raised in the early morning of the
following day. The sense of proprietorship, which we have seen so developed
in the north with regard to hunting, extends even to such an apparently
menial pursuit as that of the fisherman in the far west. Some fishes, as two
kinds of trout and the coregone, are so abundant at certain seasons, September
and October, that they are then very extensively sought after. This is to the
Carriers and Babines like a secondary harvest after the great salmon run. At
that time, families or groups of related families have their traditional fishing
grounds, particular bays, capes or islands, wherefrom they regularly set their
nets for a few weeks to the exclusion of any others not in the possession of
the same rights.

Among the Hupas, when the nets have been set, parties of men in
canoes go out to drive the fish into them, just as is done by the Tartar
fishermen of the Hoang-Hol.

This driving of the fish is not customary in the northwest, except in
connection with fish trapping and fishing for... grebes. For, strange as it
may seem, these fowl are usually taken by means of common fish-nets, which
are set in long lines hanging down just above the water. A number of men
mounting seven or eight wooden canoes lead them gently in the direction of
the obstacle, and, at a given signal, make a great outcry, accompanied by a
terrific noise with their paddles against the edges of their canoes, when the
game take to flight and immediately strike against the nets, in the meshes of
which they are caught by the neck, and immediatelv killed by their pursuers.
No fishing — or shall I say hunting? — is so exciting, and this sport is
always quite remunerative.

The grebes, having been stripped of their feathers, are cut up and cured
by means of smoke and air, while the fat is converted into cakes which serve
afterwards to season the preserved berries. Even the down of these birds is
now utilized in the preparation of pillows.

Fish Traps.

Living mostly on salmon, the western and Alaskan Dénés have naturally
more than one way of securing the same. To speak only of mechanical de-
vices, they possess more models of traps designed for the capture of that one
fish than they use in connection with land game of all kinds. The Carriers
alone have the nazrweet, the khas, the yuta-skhai, the ’kintzai, the as, the
we, the thé-skhai, and the ta-skhai. A few words will explain the nature and
working of each?.

1 Cf. Huc’s Souvenirs d’un Voyage dans la Tartarie, vol. I, p. 246.
* For fuller details see my “Notes on the Western Dénés”, pp. 84—91.