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in and the end of the blade bound with thong or bass wood fiber to the pole which is eight or nine feet long frequently much shorter.
X Here insert Ojibway Fishing through ice
A decoy is made of a bit of mud fashioned like a minnow eight and one quarter inches long and an inch in diameter. The sides of this decoy are covered with plates of tin. (The author desires to state here that although he has good reason to believe the authority from whom he has the description of this decoy and its method of use, it is so ingeniously contrived and skillfully put together he is inclined to believe that the white man has had some what to do with it. never the less it is said to be the Ojibway custom and we cannot doubt this decoy was procured in a country that makes it likely that it is of indian origin) In the belly or under surface near the head i s a piece of lead on the sides are four lateral fins two on each side and a dorsal fin with a small supernumerary and a broad tail. To add to the realistic impression of th decoy a brass headed nail is used for an eye and a pin for a "feeler" but we presume [?] often a "felt." above the region of this gill is a ring by which it i suspended. This decoy the indian upon the ice and within his "lean-to" lowers and raised in the water by a thong attached to the ring. The ingenuity of this decoy in this becomes apparent. When it is drawn upward the water presses against the lateral fin from above and the decoy hanging in an angular position the body is urged forward when it is lowered the lead in the head end causes that to descend first.and the pressure of the water on the lateral fins from beneath raises the tail and the decoy is urged forward and by bending the tail to one side the decoy circles round beneath the hole in the ice similar to a minnow with up and down motion. The large fish seeing this decoy in motion darts at it and comes close to the hole, but detecting their error stop and as it were pause in the water at which moment the spear of the indian transfixes them. the spear is a pole about an inch or more thick and two sides of the end of which are fastened barbed iron prongs six and three quarter inches long. and one quarter inch thick. Sometimes the are even twelve inches long and three eights inches thick. the lower end is provided with two barbs one on each side, and the other end is bent and pointed this is driven into the wood of the hurdles and the [?] bound to the pole with any material at hand. As what date the Ojibway indian first began to use such a spear we cannot tell but it would seem from the time the whites first came among them and showed them the