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INDIAN WHALE HUNTERS Pacific Coast Makahs Use Only Primi ¬ tive Canoes Lances and Spears Trlhe Share in All ilie Cn lnr K On the Pacific coast may be found a fast dwin ¬ dling tribe of Indians who can claim the distinction of being the only red people who hunt the leviathan of the deep the whale These Indians the Maikaihs live ait Ncaih Bay on the coast of AVashington and they hunt the whale as did the tribesmen of their native traditions in canoes their only weapons be ¬ ing the hand lance aind speair speairFair Fair up in the Arctic another prehistoric people the Eskimo ailso red of skin bunt the whale but the Eskimo is generally believed to be ai Mongol aind he hats saicrificcd sportsmanship for commercial greed aind has adopted the whaling cannon aind the explosive harpoon of the white hunter hunterThe The Maikah in contrast hunts the cetacean as did his forefathers with hand weapons matching his skill against the power of the sea mammal and when he makes ai rich catch communi7es his wealth by sharing it equally with nil members of his tribe tribeHundreds Hundreds of years aigo according to Maikah tra ¬ dition the first whale appeared off the coast Every year thereafter ais regular ais the seasons the cetaiceains appeared in December traveling soutli waird to their breeding grounds and in May heaiding northward with their young toward the icefilled reaches of the Arctic The huge whales sixty to eighty feet in length and weighing from forty to sixty tons nosed in close to the shore among the ropy kelp and often wallowed in the rolling surf The invaision of the kelp beds wais to obtain food the play in the surf evidently was to attempt to brush of lice barnacles aind other jiaraisitcs picked up during the long migrations The coming of the whales wais hailed with great jubilation It wais ai season of potlaitch great feasts and from the results of the chase the Indians were promised food aind oil to last them many moons Then was am exodus of the Maikaihs to the beaches and the squaws aind children prepared their kettles anil their raicks for curing meait while the warriors sharpened their spears and repaired their hunting gear gearThe The Maikaih when he hunts the whale uses a eainoe hewn fom a cedar log This dugout is from thirty to fifty feet in length aind carries from four to ten men The spear used is ai barbed metal point attached to a fifteenfoot pole of cured spruce Canoes seek whale in company aind ais maiiiy as ai score of the frail craft stairt out upon the hunt together each dugout equipped with sev ¬ eral 1 spears to each of which is attached several fathoms of stout rope aind one or more buoys made of the inflated skin of the seal sealHOAV HOAV WHALES ARE HUNTED AND KILLED KILLEDAVhen AVhen a whale is discovered the hunters scaitter about the spot where the maimmal hais last blown AVhen it reappears a canine stealthily approaches it for flie whaile although poor of sight hais keen ears When the canoe is near enough to the game a speair is hurled into him lie sounds or dives aind the hunters waiit for the reappearance of the buoy ait taiched to the speair When he comes up aigaiin to breathe the nearest hunter sinks ai second speair into him The spears aire too smaill to inflict mortal wounds aind usually only make the victim furious As ai result he comes up often for air and is too excited to think of swimming from the scene to escape his attacker attackerSpeair Speair after spear is driven into the panicky ami mail and the battle occupies hours sometimes n whole daiy But eventually the gaime becomes weak from the loss of blood and is dispatched with at lance driven into his heart or lungs whereupon he goes to the bottom in bis final plunge Decomposition of its instestinrs begins immediately ai whale is dead and the gaes forming expand the carcass aind bring it l the surface of the waiter in from twentyfour to fortywight hours hoursOnce Once set upon game the red hunters never leave it ailthongh heaiyy storms maiy airise aind the end of the chaise may find the canoes fair out on the oceain aind out of sight of bind AVhen a whale is caught in the surf or aimong the kelp beds his capture is simplified but more often he is attacked in deep waiter aind before the battle ends may have trav ¬ eled ai distance of fifty or sixty miles From faither to son hais come down ai story of one mighty hunter who pursued ai whale into the very lip of the Arctic before he finally killed it itAVhen AVhen the giant of the sea is at last captured the Indians tow it to shore At high tide it is draiwn upon the iHaichaind the receding tide leaves it high aind dry Then every ahlchndlcd member of the tribe including the women aind children attacks the caircaiss with knives and axes To the Indian who first sighted the whale goes tin choice of cuts cutsFirst First tin blubber is removed from tin caircaiss Then the meat is hewn out in great t slaibs and piled upon the beaich AVhen nothing remains of the whale but the skeleton the tribal chief apportions the flesh aind the fat aimong the people whereupon it is carried away to the homes of the tribesmen sufficient of the meat being saved for ai potlateh or barbecue in which the natives give themselves over to ai period of several days of feasting and cere ¬ monials in celebration of their good fortune fortuneContniry Contniry to popular belief whale meat is edible It does not have a fishy taste aim resembles beef but is more nutritious In Japan whale meat is an important item on the menu of the laboring classes aind without it the poorer workers would be unable to purchiiie meat at all It is canned by the Japa ¬ nese aind shipped aill over the empire
