In the spring of the year, when the water is high, the salmon ascend the river in incredible numbers.

As they pass through this narrow strait, the Indians, standing on the rocks, or on the end of wooden stages projecting from the banks, scoop them up with small nets distended on hoops and attached to long handles, and cast them on the shore.
They are then cured and packed in a peculiar manner.

After having been opened and disemboweled, they are exposed to the sun on scaffolds erected on the river banks.

When sufficiently dry, they are pounded fine between two stones, pressed into the smallest compass, and packed in baskets or bales of grass matting, about two feet long and one in diameter, lined with the cured skin of a salmon.

The top is likewise covered with fish skins, secured by cords passing through holes in the edge of the basket.