МАЭ № 536-19

Net for catching cormorants

Kodiak Eskimos

Russian circumnavigations and half round-the-world sea expeditions

sinew

length of the skein 50 cm

“Catching birds called urils (cormorants—S.Korsun) is the third type of hunting. They catch them with a sinew net which they stretch out at the bottom on a pole two sazhens (a sazhhen is 2.13 meters) in length. They lace a cord through the holes on the upper ends of the net and fasten it to the end of the pole. Because these birds usually sit on the cliffs, the hunter sneaks up with the net gathered up and when he is just at just the perfect distance, throws it right at the birds. Frightened, the birds start to fly off and are caught in the net. Then the hunter, holding one end of the cord, pulls the other end toward him and gathers the net into a bag which sometimes holds a whole flock of birds. The width of the net is usually about two sazhens and its length up to 12 sazhens” (Lisianskii 1947: 185).

Ethnography of America