Indigenous peoples -- North America -- Fishing -- Northwest Coast of North America, Indigenous peoples -- North America -- Fishing, North America -- Northwest Coast of North America, Fishing 

"Of the many resources available to the early Indians of the Northwest Coast, the most vital was fish. Fishing was central to the economy and well being of all coastal and river communities and formed the basis of their way of life for thousands of years. Northwest Coast people devised many ingenious ways of catching the different species of fish, but their technology had a context vastly different from today's industrial world. While illustrating in exact detail the Indian peoples' hooks, lines, sinkers, lures, floats, clubs, spears, harpoons, nets, rakes and gaffs, showing how they were made and used, Hilary Stewart has included in this book the elements that made fishing a way of life -- prayers and ceremonies showing gratitude for the fish, customs and taboos indicating the people's respect for this lifegiving resource. Here, too, are many of the fish designs depicted on household, ceremonial, and other items of use -- designs that tell of fishing's importance in village life. Photographs and drawings of large traps, weirs and dams show how villagers worked together for their catches, while diagrams and drawings depict how, and with what implements, women butchered, cooked, preserved and rendered the fisherman's catch.

The artistry of Hilary Stewart illuminates Indian fishing in over 450 clear, evocative drawings. Many of the book's photographs are hers, too, and information and anecdote are told in her easy, flowing style. The "meat and substance" of this book may, as Dr. Michael Kew says in his foreword, "reside in its descriptive accuracy," but it is a work of art in its own right." -- Book jacket.