Ethnological results of the Point Barrow expedition: Ninth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1887-1888, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1892, pages 3-442Murdoch, John
History
Ethnological results of the Point Barrow expedition: Ninth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1887-1888, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1892, pages 3-442
Murdoch, John
Eskimos -- Alaska -- Barrow, Point, Region
_Fishes._--A few species only of fish are found in the salt water. Of
these the most abundant are the little polar cod (Boreogadus saida),
which is plentiful through the greater part of the year, and is often
an important source of food, and the capelin, añmû´grûñ (Mallotus
villosus), which is found in large schools close to the beach in the
middle of summer. There are also caught sometimes two species of
sculpins, kû´naio (Cottus quadricornis and decastrensis), and two
species of Lycodes, kúgraunɐ (L. turnerii and coccineus). In the gill
nets at Elson Bay they also catch two species of salmon (Onchorhynchus
gorbuscha and nerka) and a whitefish (Coregonus laurettæ) in small
numbers, and occasionally a large trout (Salvelinus malma). The
last-named fish they find sometimes in great numbers, near the mouth
of the Colville.
The greatest quantities of fish are taken in the rivers, especially
Kuaru and Kulugrua, by fishing through the ice in the winter. They say
there are no fish taken in Ikpikpûñ, and account for this by
explaining that the former two rivers freeze down to the bottom on the
shallow bars inclosing deep pools in which the fish are held, while in
the latter the ice never touches the bottom, so that the fish are free
to run down to the sea. The species caught are the small Coregonus
laurettæ, two large whitefish (C. kennicottii and nelsoni), and the
burbot, tita´liñ (Lota maculosa). They speak of a fish, sulukpau´ga
(which appears to mean “wing-fin” and is applied in Greenland to a
species of Sebastes), that is caught with the hook in Kulugrua
apparently only in summer, and seems from the description to be Back’s
grayling (Thymallus signifer). In the river Ku is caught a smelt,
ĭthoa´nĭñ (Osmerus dentex). In the great lake, Tă´syûkpûñ (see above,
p. 29), they tell of an enormous fish “as big as a kaiak.” They gave
it no name, but describe it as having a red belly and white flesh. One
man said he had seen one 18 feet long, but another was more moderate,
giving about 3 feet as the length of the longest he had seen.
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