Ethnology of the Kwakiutl Volume 1; Based on Data Collected by George Hunt (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1921 Excerpt: ...and it does not take long they are soaked for six days in the canoe, for they are thick. 5 Therefore they are soaked for a long time. As soon as they swell up, the woman takes her small basket and carries it by the handle to the side of the place where the canoe is on the ground. Then she takes one fin and washes off the soot that is on it. As soon as it is all off, she puts it into the small basket. She only stops when the 10 small basket is full. Then she carries the small basket into her house, and she puts it down by the side of the fire. Then she takes the small kettle and washes it out inside. As soon as it is clean, she takes split cedar-sticks. She breaks them into pieces, and puts them crosswise in the bottom of the small kettle, (forming a grating). As soon as this is done, she takes the soaked fins and puts them on 15 the crossed split cedar-sticks in the small kettle. She does not want what she is cooking to be burned: therefore she puts the cedarsticks under it. When the small kettle is full of dried fins, she pours water into it; and she only stops pouring when it is full. 20 Then she puts the kettle on the fire. It stays on the fire for a long time. Sometimes it is put on the fire in the morning, and it is not done until afternoon. As soon as it is done, the woman takes her tongs and takes the kettle off the fire. Then she takes her small dish and puts it down at the place where she is sitting. Then she is a groove at the place where it was. Then the woman puts her 27 forefinger into this groove, and she opens it out at the place where the (sides of the) meat meet, along the backbone. As soon as the piece in the middle is off, she throws it into a basket which stands 30 by the side of the woman when she is working on the halibut. As soon as s...