Page:Material Culture of the Iglulik Eskimos.djvu/83

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till night, often without catching more than just sufficient to keep them from starving. Lavoie,[1] however, says, that the Eskimos at Saputit Lake, south of Admiralty Inlet, in the autumn of 1910 had so many salmon that they fed the dogs with them and that he could buy two to three hundred salmon for half a pound of tobacco.

This fishing is also carried on in spring, in June-July, when holes begin to appear in the ice covering of the lakes; it can also be pursued from drift-ice floes near the shore in summer. As an exception I saw a family in April, 1923, who had no dogs, living upon salmon fishing at Hall's Lake.

Fishing in open water. An important method of fishing in former times was at salmon weirs (saputit), which were built at river mouths just below the high-water mark; these were stone dams with one hole through which the fish could enter. The shape of these weirs varied a little at places. Fig. 41 shows one at Kûk, Southampton Island; one at Eqaluit, Arctic Sound, is said to be constructed · as Fig. 40.2, one at Anaularealing as Fig. 40. 1. At high water the salmon enter, but cannot get out at low water; they are then speared and strung by means of a trout needle (nuvit). Fig. 38.4 (Ponds Inlet) is a flat needle of ivory, 16.4 cm long, pierced by a hole some short distance from the middle; through this is the loop of a seal thong, 1.40 cm long, the other end of which carries a 10.7 cm toggle of ivory with transversal grooves. Another trout needle, from Iglulik, is of caribou leg bone, 12 cm long, with the hole a little posterior to the middle. A third one, from Iglulik, is large, wide, crude, of antler, with two barbs just indicated and the hole a little posterior to the middle; 17 cm long. The needle is pushed in under the gills and out through the back of the neck.[2]

A fish-trap (qalut) was sometimes set in the weir; this was of baleen with the opening towards the dam; when the fish went inside to hide, they could not get out again. These traps have long been in disuse, however; it is two traps of this kind that are drawn in the salmon weir at Eqaluit.

Small salmon are sometimes taken in a fish noose[3] (naperaut). a wooden stick at the end of which is a loop of thin baleen cord. one end of which is fastened to the stick, the other is loose and can be drawn tight. The loop is placed round the salmon and drawn to. Sometimes salmon are caught with the hook spear (niksik), which seizes it in the side. One of these, from Iglulik, consists of a wooden shaft, 50 cm long, with two brass mountings at the fore end and

  1. ↑ Bernier 1912 p. 86.
  2. ↑ See Boas 1901 fig. 121.
  3. ↑ Boas 1. c. fig. 122; the length of this shaft is 48 cm.
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