A third way of catching seals is this: they make a great hole in the
ice, or, in the spring, they find out holes made by the seals, through
which they get upon the ice to lie and bask themselves in the sun. Near
to these holes they place a low bench, upon which they lie down upon
their belly, having first made a small hole near the large one, through
which they let softly down a perch, sixteen or twenty yards long, headed
with a harpoon, a strap being fastened to it, which one holds in his
hand, while another (for there must be two employed in this sort of
capture) who lies upon the bench with his face downwards, watches the
coming of the seal, which when he perceives, he cries “Kæ;” whereupon
he, who holds the pole, pushes and strikes the seal.
The fourth way is this: in the spring, when the seals lie upon the ice
near holes, which they themselves make to get up and down, the
Greenlanders, clothed with seal skins, and a long perch in their hand,
creep along upon the ice, moving their head forwards and backwards, and
snorting like a seal, till they come so near him, that they can reach
him with the perch and strike him. A fifth manner of catching seals is,
when in the spring the current makes large holes in the ice, the seals
flock thither in great shoals; there the natives watch their opportunity
to strike them with their harpoons, and haul them upon the ice. There is
yet a sixth way of catching seals, when the ice is not covered with
snow, but clear and transparent; then the catchers lay under their feet
foxes or dogs’ tails, or a piece of a bear’s hide, to stand upon and
watch the animal, and when by his blowing and snorting they find what
course he takes, they softly follow him and strike him.
In fishing they make use of hooks and angles of iron or bones. Their
lines are made of whalebones cut very small and thin, and at the end
tacked together; and with such lines they will draw one hundred fishes
to one which our people can catch with their hemp lines. But to catch
halibut they use strong lines made of seal skin, or thick hemp lines.
Their way of fishing the small salmon or sea trout is this: at low water
they build small enclosures with stone, near the river’s mouth, or any
other place where the salmon runs along; and when it begins to flow, and
the tide comes in, the salmon retreats to the river, and in high water
passes over the enclosure, and remains in the river till the water again
falls; then the salmon wants to go to sea again; but the fishermen
way-lay him at the enclosure and stop his passage. And soon after, when
the water is quite fallen and it is low ebb, the salmon remains upon dry
land, and may be caught with hands. And where they are left in holes,
they take them with an instrument made for this purpose, viz. a perch
headed with two sharp hooked bones, or with one or two iron hooks.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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