Fishing nets made from inner bark - Specimen details

Fishing nets made from inner bark - Specimen details

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Catalogue Number: 41446

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Plant Name 160.00 SALICACEAE Salix cordata Entry Book Number
Artefact Name Fishing nets made from inner bark Vernacular Name
Iso Country Canada TDWG Region Canada
Parts Held Fishing nets made from inner bark Geography Description Canada, Northwest Territories, Peel River Post (Fort McPherson)
Uses Fishing nets made from inner barkUse: MATERIALS - Fibres User: Man TDWG use MATERIALS - Fibres
Storage Large shelving Related Items
Donor Campbell Robert Donor No
Donor Date 08/09/1851 Donor Notes
Collector Collector No
Collection Notes Collection Date
Exhibition Expedition
Number Components Publication
Notes: Made and used by the Loucheux (Gwich'in) of the Mackenzie River District, Northwest Territories, Canada. Excerpt from letter from Campbell to Hooker dated 8 September 1851: ''I have now the pleasure of forwarding to you a net of willow bark I just procure, d from a Loucheux [Gwich'in] woman with lines for backing nets, fishing & &. The willow that yields the bark so universally used by the Indians for nets, fortunately grows abundantly along all the water courses. I forward a slip of it, with specimens of t, he bark in every stage of the process, from when its inner rind is [?] with an awl till it is ripped in strips for spinning into twisted threads ready to be laced into nets. The whole process is simple & expeditious. The woman goes into the willow thicket, s and bends them down till they break and strips off the bark downwards, then [?] the inner & serviceable rind with an awl, then with the teeth and hand separate it from the outer always towards the root, it is next made into slender strips, & if dry are, wetted in the mouth, or water, and twisted by the hand, on the thigh above the knee, into threads joining one to one and coiling the [?] into a ball ready for lacing into nets'' (RBG Kew Archives, Directors Correspondence, Vol. 64, 1851-1858, North Americ, an Letters: fo. 76).

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