Rensselaer Union, Volume 7, Number 3, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 October 1874 — How Indians Catch Wild Fowls. [ARTICLE]

How Indians Catch Wild Fowls.

A number of persons from this city and Gold Hill are at present in the mountains hunting and angling. Wild duck are found in some localities in abundance, and the trout in the streams take the hook readily. Wild fowls have not yet made their appearance in the market in any quantity, as most of those shot are kept by the sportsmen for their own use. As the season advances the Indians will take the field and capture them in great numbers. They make large swinging nets out of strong cord, which they manufacture from the rootsof fibrous plants. The bark is stripped otf and manipulated and twisted bv the squaws into twine, which is wound into balls ready for use. It is then woven into nets, some of.which are forty feet in length, the interstices being about two inches square. These nets are swung between two trees in some convenient position, on the shore of a lake or pond. Early on a cold, frosty morning some of the Indians secrete themselves in a neighboring thicket, while others get into boats, and, forming a semi-circle, advance slowly toward a flock of ducks, driving them toward the mouth of tbe bayou. They swim slowly off', hesitating to take flight, being, per haps, partially, benumbed by cold. The circle narrows, and when the wild fowl are in front of the nets the Indians in the - boats raise a great outcry, and, throwing sticks and stones, scare the flock, which, arising from the water, flies in an opposite direction directly into the net, in the meshes of which they become entangled by their heads and feet. The Indians On shore spring from their hiding places, tear down the net, and envelop the ducks in it. They are joined by their companions from the water, and the work of slaughter commences. The necks of the birds are broken as soon as seized, and they are thrown together in piles. In this manner several hundred ducks are sometimes taken at a single haul, and the Indians have enough for their own use and an ample supply for the market. — Virginia {Nee.) Chronicle. To avoid greasy butter, churn with pressure instead of friction. The dash churn brings butter by pressure, and makes better butter than most other kinds of churns. Butter should also be worked by pressure instead of friction. The ladle or worker should not be drawn across the butter, Lilt pressed down upon it.