[217]'The Kutch-a-Kutchin, are essentially traders.'Kirby, inSmithsonian Rept., 1864, p. 418. Appear to care more for useful than ornamental articles.Whymper's Alaska, p. 213. 'Dentalium and arenicola shells are transmitted from the west coast in traffic, and are greatly valued.'Richardson's Jour., vol. i., p. 391.[218]Some wear 'wampum (a kind of long, hollow shell) through the septum of the nose.'Hooper's Tuski, p. 270. They pierce the nose and insert shells, which are obtained from the Eskimos at a high price.Franklin's Nar., vol. ii., p. 84.[219]The Loucheux live in huts 'formed of green branches. In winter their dwellings are partly under ground. The spoils of the moose and reindeer furnish them with meat, clothing, and tents.'Simpson's Nar., pp. 103, 191. The Co-Yukon winter dwellings are made under ground, and roofed over with earth, having a hole for the smoke to escape by, in the same manner as those of the Malemutes and Ingaliks.Whymper's Alaska, pp. 175, 205. Their movable huts are constructed of deer-skin, 'dressed with the hair on, and sewed together, forming two large rolls, which are stretched over a frame of bent poles,' with a side door and smoke-hole at the top.Jones, inSmithsonian Rept., 1866, p. 321.[220]The Loucheux are 'great gormandizers, and will devour solid fat, or even drink grease, to surfeiting.'Hooper's Tuski, p. 271. 'The bears are not often eaten in summer, as their flesh is not good at that time.'Jones, inSmithsonian Rept., 1866, p. 321. Some of their reindeer-pounds are over one hundred years old and are hereditary in the family.Richardson's Jour., vol. i., p. 394. 'The mode of fishing through the ice practiced by the Russians is much in vogue with them.'Whymper's Alaska, p. 211.[221]The Kutchins 'have no knowledge of scalping.' 'When a man kills his enemy, he cuts all his joints.'Jones, inSmithsonian Rept., 1866, 327. The Loucheux of Peel River and the Eskimos are constantly at war.Hooper's Tuski, p. 273.[222]'At Peace River the bark is taken off the tree the whole length of the intended canoe, which is commonly about eighteen feet, and is sewed with watupe at both ends.'Mackenzie's Voy., p. 207. When the Kutchins discover a leak, 'they go ashore, light a small fire, warm the gum, of which they always carry a supply, turn the canoe bottom upward, and rub the healing balm in a semi-fluid state into the seam until it is again water-tight.'Whymper's Alaska, p. 225. The Tacullies 'make canoes which are clumsily wrought, of the aspin tree, as well as of the bark of the spruce fir.'Harmon's Jour., p. 291. Rafts are employed on the Mackenzie.Simpson's Nar., p. 185. 'In shape the Northern Indian canoe bears some resemblance to a weaver's shuttle; covered over with birch bark.'Hearne's Jour., pp. 97, 98. 'Kanots aus Birkenrinde, auf denen sie die Flüsse u. Seen befahren.'Baer,Stat. u. Ethn., p. 112. The Kutchin canoe 'is flat-bottomed, is about nine feet long and one broad, and the sides nearly straight up and down like a wall.'Jones, inSmithsonian Rept., 1866, p. 323.[223]As for instance for a life, the fine is forty beaver-skins, and may be paid in guns at twenty skins each; blankets, equal to ten skins each; powder, one skin a measure; bullets, eighteen for a skin; worsted belts, two skins each.Hooper's Tuski, p. 272. 'For theft, little or no punishment is inflicted; for adultery, the woman only is punished'—sometimes by beating, sometimes by death.Jones, inSmithsonian Rept., 1866, p. 325.[224]Kutchin 'female chastity is prized, but is nearly unknown.'Jones, inSmithsonian Rept., 1866, p. 325. Loucheux mothers had originally a custom of casting away their female children, but now it is only done by the Mountain Indians,Simpson's Nar., p. 187. The Kutchin 'women are much fewer in number and live a much shorter time than the men.'Kirby, inSmithsonian Rept., 1864, p. 418. The old people 'are not ill-used, but simply neglected.'Whymper's Alaska, p. 229. The children are carried in small chairs made of birch bark.Id., p. 232. 'In a seat of birch bark.'Richardson's Jour., vol. i., p. 384.[225]The Loucheux dances 'abound in extravagant gestures, and demand violent exertion.'Simpson's Nar., p. 100. SeeHardisty, inSmithsonian Rept., 1866, p. 313. 'Singing is much practiced, but it is, though varied, of a very hum-drum nature.'Hooper's Tuski, p. 318. 'At the festivals held on the meeting of friendly tribes, leaping and wrestling are practised.'Richardson's Jour., vol. i., p. 395.[226]'Irrespective of tribe, they are divided into three classes, termed respectively, Chit-sa, Nate-sa, and Tanges-at-sa, faintly representing the aristocracy, the middle classes, and the poorer orders of civilized nations, the former being the most wealthy and the latter the poorest.'Kirby, inSmithsonian Rept., 1864, p. 418.[227]On Peel River 'they bury their dead on stages.' On the Yukon they burn and suspend the ashes in bags from the top of a painted pole.Kirby, inSmithsonian Rept., 1864, p. 419. They of the Yukon 'do not inter the dead, but put them in oblong boxes, raised on posts.'Whymper's Alaska, pp. 207, 211.[228]TheNootka-Columbianscomprehend 'the tribes inhabiting Quadra and Vancouver's Island, and the adjacent inlets of the mainland, down to the Columbia River, and perhaps as far S. as Umpqua River and the northern part of New California.'Scouler, inLond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 221.[229]Gilbert Malcolm Sproat, a close observer and clear writer, thinks 'this word Nootkah—no word at all—together with an imaginary word, Columbian, denoting a supposed original North American race—is absurdly used to denote all the tribes which inhabit the Rocky Mountains and the western coast of North America, from California inclusively to the regions inhabited by the Esquimaux. In this great tract there are more tribes, differing totally in language and customs, than in any other portion of the American continent; and surely a better general name for them could be found than this meaningless and misapplied termNootkah Columbian.'Sproat's Scenes, p. 315. Yet Mr Sproat suggests no other name. It is quite possible that Cook,Voy. to the Pacific, vol. ii., p. 288, misunderstood the native name of Nootka Sound. It is easy to criticise any name which might be adopted, and even if it were practicable or desirable to change all meaningless and misapplied geographical names, the same or greater objections might be raised against others, which necessity would require a writer to invent.[230]Kane's Wand., p. 173;Macfie's Vanc. Isl., p. 441;Catlin's N. Am. Ind., vol. ii., p. 108; the name being given to the people between the region of the Columbia and 53° 30´.[231]The nameNez Percés, 'pierced noses,' is usually pronounced as if English,Nez Pér-ces.[232]For particulars and authorities seeTribal Boundariesat end of this chapter.[233]'The Indian tribes of the North-western Coast may be divided into two groups, the Insular and the Inland, or those who inhabit the islands and adjacent shores of the mainland, and subsist almost entirely by fishing; and those who live in the interior and are partly hunters. This division is perhaps arbitrary, or at least imperfect, as there are several tribes whose affinities with either group are obscure.'Scouler, inLond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 217. SeeStevens, inPac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., pp. 147-8, andMayne's B. C., p. 242. 'The best division is into coast and inland tribes.'Lord's Nat., vol. ii., p. 226.[234]'By far the best looking, most intelligent and energetic people on the N. W. Coast.'Scouler, inLond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 218. Also ranked by Prichard as the finest specimens physically on the coast.Researches, vol. v., p. 433. The Nass people 'were peculiarly comely, strong, and well grown.'Simpson's Overland Journ., vol. i., p. 207. 'Would be handsome, or at least comely,' were it not for the paint. 'Some of the women have exceedingly handsome faces, and very symmetrical figures.' 'Impressed by the manly beauty and bodily proportions of my islanders.'Poole's Queen Charlotte Isl., pp. 310, 314. Mackenzie found the coast people 'more corpulent and of better appearance than the inhabitants of the interior.'Voy., pp. 322-3; see pp. 370-1. 'The stature (at Burke's Canal) ... was much more stout and robust than that of the Indians further south. The prominence of their countenances and the regularity of their features, resembled the northern Europeans.'Vancouver's Voy., vol. ii., p. 262. A chief of 'gigantic person, a stately air, a noble mien, a manly port, and all the characteristics of external dignity, with a symmetrical figure, and a perfect order of European contour.'Dunn's Oregon, pp. 279, 251, 283, 285. Mayne says, 'their countenances are decidedly plainer' than the southern Indians.B. C., p. 250. 'A tall, well-formed people.'Bendel's Alex. Arch., p. 29. 'No finer men ... can be found on the American Continent.'Sproat's Scenes, p. 23. In 55°, 'Son bien corpulentos.'Crespi, inDoc. Hist. Mex., s. iv., vol. vi., p. 646. 'The best looking Indians we had ever met.' 'Much taller, and in every way superior to the Puget Sound tribes. The women are stouter than the men, but not so good-looking.'Reed's Nar.[235]The Sebassas are 'more active and enterprising than the Millbank tribes.'Dunn's Oregon, p. 273. The Haeeltzuk are 'comparatively effeminate in their appearance.'Scouler, inLond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 223. The Kyganies 'consider themselves more civilised than the other tribes, whom they regard with feelings of contempt.'Id., p. 219. The Chimsyans 'are much more active and cleanly than the tribes to the south.'Id., p. 220. 'I have, as a rule, remarked that the physical attributes of those tribes coming from the north, are superior to those of the dwellers in the south.'Barrett-Lennard's Trav., p. 40.[236]Mackenzie's Voy., pp. 370-1, 322-3;Vancouver's Voy., vol. ii., pp. 262, 320;Hale's Ethnog., inU. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 197. 'Regular, and often fine features.'Bendel's Alex. Arch., p. 29.[237]Mackenzie's Voy., pp. 309-10, 322-3, 370-1;Lord's Nat., vol. i., p. 229. 'Opening of the eye long and narrow.'Hale's Ethnog., inU. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 197.[238]'Had it not been for the filth, oil, and paint, with which, from their earliest infancy, they are besmeared from head to foot, there is great reason to believe that their colour would have differed but little from such of the labouring Europeans, as are constantly exposed to the inclemency and alterations of the weather.'Vancouver's Voy., vol. ii., p. 262. 'Between the olive and the copper.'Mackenzie's Voy., pp. 370-1. 'Their complexion, when they are washed free from paint, is as white as that of the people of the S. of Europe.'Scouler, inLond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 218. Skin 'nearly as white as ours.'Poole's Q. Char. Isl., pp. 314-5. 'Of a remarkable light color.'Bendel's Alex. Arch., p. 29. 'Fairer in complexion than the Vancouverians.' 'Their young women's skins are as clear and white as those of Englishwomen.'Sproat's Scenes, pp. 23-4. 'Fair in complexion, sometimes with ruddy cheeks.'Hale's Ethnog., inU. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 197. 'De buen semblante, color blanco y bermejos.'Crespi, inDoc. Hist. Mex., s. iv., vol. vi., p. 646.[239]Tolmie mentions several instances of the kind, and states that 'amongst the Hydah or Queen Charlotte Island tribes, exist a family of coarse, red-haired, light-brown eyed, square-built people, short-sighted, and of fair complexion.'Lord's Nat., vol. ii., pp. 229-30.[240]Mackenzie's Voy., pp. 322-3, 371;Vancouver's Voy., vol. ii., p. 370;Dunn's Oregon, p. 283;Poole's Q. Char. Isl., p. 315.[241]Scouler, inLond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 218;Poole's Q. Char. Isl., p. 74. 'What is very unusual among the aborigines of America, they have thick beards, which appear early in life.'Hale's Ethnog., inU. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 197.[242]'After the age of puberty, their bodies, in their natural state, are covered in the same manner as those of the Europeans. The men, indeed, esteem a beard very unbecoming, and take great pains to get rid of it, nor is there any ever to be perceived on their faces, except when they grow old, and become inattentive to their appearance. Every crinous efflorescence on the other parts of the body is held unseemly by them, and both sexes employ much time in their extirpation. The Nawdowessies, and the remote nations, pluck them out with bent pieces of hard wood, formed into a kind of nippers; whilst those who have communication with Europeans procure from them wire, which they twist into a screw or worm; applying this to the part, they press the rings together, and with a sudden twitch draw out all the hairs that are inclosed between them.'Carver's Trav., p. 225.[243]Scouler, inLond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 220.[244]Mackenzie's Voy., pp. 370-1;Lord's Nat., vol. ii., p. 226;Dunn's Oregon, p. 287.[245]Lord's Nat., vol. ii., p. 232;Scouler, inLond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., pp. 218, 220, 223. 'The most northern of these Flat-head tribes is the Hautzuk.'Schoolcraft's Arch., vol. ii., p. 325.[246]Simpson's Overland Journ., vol. i., pp. 204, 233. 'This wooden ornament seems to be wore by all the sex indiscriminately, whereas at Norfolk Sound it is confined to those of superior rank.'Dixon's Voy., pp. 225, 208, with a cut. A piece of brass or copper is first put in, and 'this corrodes the lacerated parts, and by consuming the flesh gradually increases the orifice.'Vancouver's Voy., vol. ii., pp. 279-80, 408.Scouler, inLond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 218;Dunn's Oregon, pp. 276, 279;Crespi, inDoc. Hist. Mex., s. iv., vol. vi., p. 651;Cornwallis' New El Dorado, p. 106;Catlin's N. Am. Ind., vol. ii., p. 113, with plate.[247]Mayne's B. C., pp. 281-2;Poole's Q. Char. Isl., pp. 75, 311;Barrett-Lennard's Trav., pp. 45-6;Dunn's Oregon, pp. 279, 285.[248]Poole's Q. Char. Isl., pp. 82, 106, 310, 322-3;Mayne's B. C., pp. 282, 283;Dunn's Oregon, p. 251.[249]Mayne's B. C., p. 282;Dunn's Oregon, pp. 251, 276, 291;Parker's Explor. Tour, p. 263;Poole's Q. Char. Isl., p. 310. 'The men habitually go naked, but when they go off on a journey they wear a blanket.'Reed's Nar.'Cuero de nutrias y lobo marino ... sombreros de junco bien tejidos con la copa puntiaguda.'Crespi, inDoc. Hist. Mex., s. iv., vol. vi., p. 646.[250]Dunn's Oregon, pp. 253, 276-7;Catlin's N. Am. Ind., vol. ii., p. 113.[251]At Salmon River, 52° 58´, 'their dress consists of a single robe tied over the shoulders, falling down behind, to the heels, and before, a little below the knees, with a deep fringe round the bottom. It is generally made of the bark of the cedar tree, which they prepare as fine as hemp; though some of these garments are interwoven with strips of the sea-otter skin, which give them the appearance of a fur on one side. Others have stripes of red and yellow threads fancifully introduced towards the borders.' Clothing is laid aside whenever convenient. 'The women wear a close fringe hanging down before them about two feet in length, and half as wide. When they sit down they draw this between their thighs.'Mackenzie's Voy., pp. 322-3, 371;Vancouver's Voy., vol. ii., pp. 280, 339.[252]A house 'erected on a platform, ... raised and supported near thirty feet from the ground by perpendicular spars of a very large size; the whole occupying a space of about thirty-five by fifteen (yards), was covered in by a roof of boards lying nearly horizontal, and parallel to the platform; it seemed to be divided into three different houses, or rather apartments, each having a separate access formed by a long tree in an inclined position from the platform to the ground, with notches cut in it by way of steps, about a foot and a half asunder.'Vancouver's Voy., vol. ii., p. 274. See also pp. 137, 267-8, 272, 284. 'Their summer and winter residences are built of split plank, similar to those of the Chenooks.'Parker's Explor. Tour, p. 263. 'Ils habitent dans des loges de soixante pieds de long, construites avec des troncs de sapin et recouvertes d'écorces d'arbres.'Mofras,Explor., tom. ii., p. 337. 'Their houses are neatly constructed, standing in a row; having large images, cut out of wood, resembling idols. The dwellings have all painted fronts, showing imitations of men and animals. Attached to their houses most of them have large potatoe gardens.'Dunn's Oregon, pp. 293-4. See also, pp. 251-2, 273-4, 290;Lord's Nat., vol. i., p. 89; vol. ii., pp. 253, 255, with cuts on p. 255 and frontispiece. 'Near the house of the chief I observed several oblong squares, of about twenty feet by eight. They were made of thick cedar boards, which were joined with so much neatness, that I at first thought they were one piece. They were painted with hieroglyphics, and figures of different animals,' probably for purposes of devotion, as was 'a large building in the middle of the village.... The ground-plot was fifty feet by forty-five; each end is formed by four stout posts, fixed perpendicularly in the ground. The corner ones are plain, and support a beam of the whole length, having three intermediate props on each side, but of a larger size, and eight or nine feet in height. The two centre posts, at each end, are two and a half feet in diameter, and carved into human figures, supporting two ridge poles on their heads, twelve feet from the ground. The figures at the upper part of this square represent two persons, with their hands upon their knees, as if they supported the weight with pain and difficulty: the others opposite to them stand at their ease, with their hands resting on their hips.... Posts, poles, and figures, were painted red and black, but the sculpture of these people is superior to their painting.'Mackenzie's Voy., p. 331. See also pp. 307, 318, 328-30, 339, 345;Poole's Q. Char. Isl., pp. 111, 113-4;Reed's Nar.;Marchand,Voy., tom. ii., pp. 127-31.[253]On food of the Haidahs and the methods of procuring it, seeLord's Nat., vol. i., pp. 41, 152;Mackenzie's Voy., pp. 306, 313-14, 319-21, 327, 333, 339, 369-70;Poole's Q. Char. Isl., pp. 148, 284-5, 315-16;Vancouver's Voy., vol. ii., p. 273;Dunn's Oregon, pp. 251, 267, 274, 290-1;Mofras,Explor., tom. ii., p. 337;Pemberton's Vancouver Island, p. 23;Parker's Explor. Tour, p. 263;Reed's Nar.[254]Vancouver's Voy., vol. ii., p. 339;Poole's Q. Char. Isl., p. 316;Mackenzie's Voy., p. 372-3. 'Once I saw a party of Kaiganys of about two hundred men returning from war. The paddles of the warriors killed in the fight were lashed upright in their various seats, so that from a long distance the number of the fallen could be ascertained; and on each mast of the canoes—and some of them had three—was stuck the head of a slain foe.'Bendel's Alex. Arch., p. 30.[255]The Kaiganies 'are noted for the beauty and size of their cedar canoes, and their skill in carving. Most of the stone pipes, inlaid with fragments of Haliotis or pearl shells, so common in ethnological collections, are their handiwork. The slate quarry from which the stone is obtained is situated on Queen Charlotte's Island.'Dall's Alaska, p. 411. The Chimsyans 'make figures in stone dressed like Englishmen; plates and other utensils of civilization, ornamented pipe stems and heads, models of houses, stone flutes, adorned with well-carved figures of animals. Their imitative skill is as noticeable as their dexterity in carving.'Sproat's Scenes, p. 317. The supporting posts of their probable temples were carved into human figures, and all painted red and black, 'but the sculpture of these people (52° 40´) is superior to their painting.'Mackenzie's Voy., pp. 330-1; see pp. 333-4. 'One man (near Fort Simpson) known as the Arrowsmith of the north-east coast, had gone far beyond his compeers, having prepared very accurate charts of most parts of the adjacent shores.'Simpson's Overland Journ., vol. i., p. 207. 'The Indians of the Northern Family are remarkable for their ingenuity and mechanical dexterity in the construction of their canoes, houses, and different warlike or fishing implements. They construct drinking-vessels, tobacco-pipes, &c., from a soft argillaceous stone, and these articles are remarkable for the symmetry of their form, and the exceedingly elaborate and intricate figures which are carved upon them. With respect to carving and a faculty for imitation, the Queen Charlotte's Islanders are equal to the most ingenious of the Polynesian Tribes.'Scouler, inLond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 218. 'Like the Chinese, they imitate literally anything that is given them to do; so that if you give them a cracked gun-stock to copy, and do not warn them, they will in their manufacture repeat the blemish. Many of their slate-carvings are very good indeed, and their designs most curious.'Mayne's B. C., p. 278. See also,Dunn's Oregon, p. 293;Mofras,Explor., tom. ii., p. 337, and plate p. 387. The Skidagates 'showed me beautifully wrought articles of their own design and make, and amongst them some flutes manufactured from an unctuous blue slate.... The two ends were inlaid with lead, giving the idea of a fine silver mounting. Two of the keys perfectly represented frogs in a sitting posture, the eyes being picked out with burnished lead.... It would have done credit to a European modeller.'Poole's Q. Char. Isl., p. 258. 'Their talent for carving has made them famous far beyond their own country.'Bendel's Alex. Arch., p. 29. A square wooden box, holding one or two bushels, is made from three pieces, the sides being from one piece so mitred as to bend at the corners without breaking. 'During their performance of this character of labor, (carving, etc.) their superstitions will not allow any spectator of the operator's work.'Reed's Nar.;Ind. Life, p. 96. 'Of a very fine and hard slate they make cups, plates, pipes, little images, and various ornaments, wrought with surprising elegance and taste.'Hale's Ethnog., inU. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 197. 'Ils peignent aussi avec le même goût.'Rossi,Souvenirs, p. 298;Anderson, inHist. Mag., vol. vii., pp. 74-5.[256]Mackenzie's Voy., p. 338;Lord's Nat., vol. i., p. 63; vol. ii., pp. 215-17, 254, 258;Dunn's Oregon, pp. 251, 253, 291, 293. 'They boil the cedar root until it becomes pliable to be worked by the hand and beaten with sticks, when they pick the fibres apart into threads. The warp is of a different material—sinew of the whale, or dried kelp-thread.'Reed's Nar.'Petatito de vara en cuadro bien vistoso, tejido de palma fina de dos colores blanco y negro que tejido en cuadritos.'Crespi, inDoc. Hist. Mex., s. iv., vol. vi., pp. 647, 650-1.[257]Poole's Q. Char. Isl., p. 269, and cuts on pp. 121, 291;Mackenzie's Voy., p. 335;Simpson's Overland Journ., vol. i., p. 204;Vancouver's Voy., vol. ii., p. 303;Sutil y Mexicana,Viage, p. cxxv;Lord's Nat., vol. i., p. 174;Reed's Nar.;Catlin's N. Am. Ind., vol. ii., p. 113, with plate. The Bellabellahs 'promised to construct a steam-ship on the model of ours.... Some time after this rude steamer appeared. She was from 20 to 30 feet long, all in one piece—a large tree hollowed out—resembling the model of our steamer. She was black, with painted ports; decked over; and had paddles painted red, and Indians under cover, to turn them round. The steersman was not seen. She was floated triumphantly, and went at the rate of three miles an hour. They thought they had nearly come up to the point of external structure; but then the enginery baffled them; and this they thought they could imitate in time, by perseverance, and the helping illumination of the Great Spirit.'Dunn's Oregon, p. 272. See also, p. 291. 'A canoe easily distanced the champion boat of the American Navy, belonging to the man-of-warSaranac.'Bendel's Alex. Arch., p. 29.[258]Scouler, inLond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 219;Macfie's B. C., pp. 429, 437, 458;Simpson's Overland Journ., vol. i., p. 206;Lord's Nat., vol. i., p. 174;Anderson, inHist. Mag., vol. vii., p. 74;Dunn's Oregon, pp. 279, 281-3, 292;Sutil y Mexicana,Viage, p. cxxv.[259]Mackenzie's Voy., pp. 374-5;Tolmie and Anderson, inLord's Nat., vol. ii., pp. 240-2, 235;Macfie's B. C., p. 429;Simpson's Overland Journ., vol. i., p. 205;Dixon's Voy., p. 227. 'There exists among them a regular aristocracy.' 'The chiefs are always of unquestionable birth, and generally count among their ancestors men who were famous in battle and council.' 'The chief is regarded with all the reverence and respect which his rank, his birth, and his wealth can claim,' but 'his power is by no means unlimited.'Bendel's Alex. Arch., p. 30.[260]Dunn's Oregon, pp. 273-4, 283;Parker's Explor. Tour, p. 263;Bendel's Alex. Arch., p. 30;Kane's Wand., p. 220.[261]'Polygamy is universal, regulated simply by the facilities for subsistence.'Anderson, inLord's Nat., vol. ii., p. 235. See pp. 231-5, and vol. i., pp. 89-90. The women 'cohabit almost promiscuously with their own tribe though rarely with other tribes.' Poole, spending the night with a chief, was given the place of honor, under the same blanket with the chief's daughter—and her father.Poole's Q. Char. Isl., pp. 312-15, 115-16, 155. 'The Indians are in general very jealous of their women.'Dixon's Voy., p. 225-6. 'Tous les individus d'une famille couchent pêle-mêle sur le sol plancheyé de l'habitation.'Marchand,Voy., tom. ii., p. 144. 'Soon after I had retired ... the chief paid me a visit to insist on my going to his bed-companion, and taking my place himself.'Mackenzie's Voy., p. 331. See pp. 300, 371-2.Parker's Explor. Tour, p. 263. 'On the weddingday they have a public feast, at which they dance and sing.'Dunn's Oregon, pp. 252-3, 289-90. 'According to a custom of the Bellabollahs, the widow of the deceased is transferred to his brother's harem.'Simpson's Overland Journ., vol. i., p. 203-4. 'The temporary present of a wife is one of the greatest honours that can be shown there to a guest.'Sproat's Scenes, p. 95.[262]'The Queen Charlotte Islanders surpass any people that I ever saw in passionate addiction' to gambling.Poole's Q. Char. Isl., p. 318-20. See pp. 186-87, 232-33.Mackenzie's Voy., pp. 288, 311. The Sebassas are great gamblers, and 'resemble the Chinooks in their games.'Dunn's Oregon, pp. 25-7, 252-9, 281-3, 293. 'The Indian mode of dancing bears a strange resemblance to that in use among the Chinese.'Poole's Q. Char. Isl., p. 82.Lord's Nat., vol. ii., p. 258;Parker's Explor. Tour, p. 263;Ind. Life, p. 63.[263]Scouler, inLond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 223;Duncan, inMayne's B. C., pp. 285-8, and inMacfie's Vanc. Isl., pp. 434-7;White's Oregon, p. 246;Simpson's Overland Journ., vol. i., p. 205;Hutchings' Cal. Mag., Nov. 1860, pp. 222-8;Ind. Life, p. 68;Reed's Nar.;Anderson, inHist. Mag., vol. vii., p. 79.[264]The Indians of Millbank Sound became exasperated against me, 'and they gave me the name of "Schloapes," i. e., "stingy:" and when near them, if I should spit, they would run and try to take up the spittle in something; for, according as they afterwards informed me, they intended to give it to their doctor or magician; and he would charm my life away.'Dunn's Oregon, pp. 246-7. See pp. 279-80;Poole's Q. Char. Isl., pp. 320-1.[265]Lord's Nat., vol. ii., pp. 32-4, 53-4;Dunn's Oregon, pp. 367, 274-5.[266]Vancouver's Voy., vol. ii., pp. 385-9.[267]Poole's Q. Char. Isl., pp. 109-10, 116;Anderson, inLord's Nat., vol. ii., p. 242.[268]At about 52° 40´, between the Fraser River and the Pacific, Mackenzie observed the treatment of a man with a bad ulcer on his back. They blew on him and whistled, pressed their fingers on his stomach, put their fists into his mouth, and spouted water into his face. Then he was carried into the woods, laid down in a clear spot, and a fire was built against his back while the doctor scarified the ulcer with a blunt instrument.Voy., pp. 331-33;Dunn's Oregon, pp. 258, 284;Poole's Q. Char. Isl., pp. 316-18;Duncan, inMayne's B. C., 289-91;Reed's Nar., inOlympia Wash. Stand.,May 16, 1868.[269]At Boca de Quadra, Vancouver found 'a box about three feet square, and a foot and a half deep, in which were the remains of a human skeleton, which appeared from the confused situation of the bones, either to have been cut to pieces, or thrust with great violence into this small space.' ... 'I was inclined to suppose that this mode of depositing their dead is practised only in respect to certain persons of their society.'Voy., vol. ii., p. 351. At Cape Northumberland, in 54° 45´, 'was a kind of vault formed partly by the natural cavity of the rocks, and partly by the rude artists of the country. It was lined with boards, and contained some fragments of warlike implements, lying near a square box covered with mats and very curiously corded down.'Id., p. 370;Cornwallis' New El Dorado, pp. 106-7. On Queen Charlotte Islands, 'Ces monumens sont de deux espèces: les premiers et les plus simples ne sont composés que d'un seul pilier d'environ dix pieds d'élévation et d'un pied de diamètre, sur le sommet duquel sont fixées des planches formant un plateau; et dans quelques-uns ce plateau est supporté par deux piliers. Le corps, déposé sur cette plate-forme, est recouvert de mousse et de grosses pierres' ... 'Les mausolées de la seconde espèce sont plus composés: quatre poteaux plantés en terre, et élevés de deux pieds seulement au-dessus du sol portent un sarcophage travaillé avec art, et hermétiquement clos.'Marchand,Voy., tom. ii., pp. 135-6. 'According to another account it appeared that they actually bury their dead; and when another of the family dies, the remains of the person who was last interred, are taken from the grave and burned.'Mackenzie's Voy., p. 308. See also pp. 374, 295-98;Simpson's Overland Journ., vol. i., pp. 203-4;Dunn's Oregon, pp. 272, 276, 280;Mayne's B. C., pp. 272, 293;Lord's Nat., vol. ii., p. 235;Macfie's Vanc. Isl., pp. 440-41;Dall's Alaska, p. 417.[270]On the coast, at 52° 12´, Vancouver found them 'civil, good-humoured and friendly.' At Cascade Canal, about 52° 24´, 'in traffic they proved themselves to be keen traders, but acted with the strictest honesty;' at Point Hopkins 'they all behaved very civilly and honestly;' while further north, at Observatory Inlet, 'in their countenances was expressed a degree of savage ferocity infinitely surpassing any thing of the sort I had before observed,' presents being scornfully rejected.Voy., vol. ii., pp. 281, 269, 303, 337. The Kitswinscolds on Skeena River 'are represented as a very superior race, industrious, sober, cleanly, and peaceable.'Ind. Aff. Rept., 1869, p. 533. The Chimsyans are fiercer and more uncivilized than the Indians of the South.Sproat's Scenes, p. 317. 'Finer and fiercer men than the Indians of the South.'Mayne's B. C., p. 250. 'They appear to be of a friendly disposition, but they are subject to sudden gusts of passion, which are as quickly composed; and the transition is instantaneous, from violent irritation to the most tranquil demeanor. Of the many tribes ... whom I have seen, these appear to be the most susceptible of civilization.'Mackenzie's Voy., p. 375, 322. At Stewart's Lake the natives, whenever there is any advantage to be gained are just as readily tempted to betray each other as to deceive the colonists.Macfie's Vanc. Isl., pp. 466-68, 458-59;Lord's Nat., vol. i., p. 174. A Kygarnie chief being asked to go to America or England, refused to go where even chiefs were slaves—that is, had duties to perform—while he at home was served by slaves and wives. The Sebassas 'are more active and enterprising than the Milbank tribes, but the greatest thieves and robbers on the coast.'Dunn's Oregon, p. 287, 273. 'All these visitors of Fort Simpson are turbulent and fierce. Their broils, which are invariably attended with bloodshed, generally arise from the most trivial causes.'Simpson's Overland Journ., vol. i., p. 206. The Kygarnies 'are very cleanly, fierce and daring.' The islanders, 'when they visit the mainland, they are bold and treacherous, and always ready for mischief.'Scouler, inLond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 219. The Kygarnies 'are a very fierce, treacherous race, and have not been improved by the rum and fire-arms sold to them.'Dall's Alaska, p. 411. Queen Charlotte Islanders look upon white men as superior beings, but conceal the conviction. The Skidagates are the most intelligent race upon the islands. Wonderfully acute in reading character, yet clumsy in their own dissimulation.... 'Not revengeful or blood-thirsty, except when smarting under injury or seeking to avert an imaginary wrong.' ... 'I never met with a really brave man among them.' The Acoltas have 'given more trouble to the Colonial Government than any other along the coast.'Poole's Q. Char. Isl., pp. 83, 151-2, 185-6, 208, 214, 233, 235, 245, 257, 271-72, 289, 309, 320-21. 'Of a cruel and treacherous disposition.'Hale's Ethnog., inU. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 197. They will stand up and fight Englishmen with their fists.Sproat's Scenes, p. 23. Intellectually superior to the Puget Sound tribes.Reed's Nar.'Mansos y de buena indole.'Crespi, inDoc. Hist. Mex., s. iv., vol. vi., p. 646. On Skeena River, 'the worst I have seen in all my travels.'Downie, inB. C. Papers, vol. iii., p. 73. 'As rogues, where all are rogues,' preëminence is awarded them.Anderson, inHist. Mag., vol. vii., pp. 74-5.[271]'On my arrival at this inlet, I had honoured it with the name of King George's Sound; but I afterward found, that it is called Nootka by the natives.'Cook's Voy. to Pac., vol. ii., p. 288. 'No Aht Indian of the present day ever heard of such a name as Nootkah, though most of them recognize the other words in Cook's account of their language.'Sproat's Scenes, p. 315. Sproat conjectures that the name may have come fromNoochee! Noochee!the Aht word for mountain. A large proportion of geographical names originate in like manner through accident.[272]For full particulars seeTribal Boundariesat end of this chapter.[273]'The Newatees, mentioned in many books, are not known on the west coast. Probably the Klah-oh-quahts are meant.'Sproat's Scenes, p. 314.[274]There are no Indians in the interior.Fitzwilliam's Evidence, inHud. B. Co., Rept. Spec. Com., 1857, p. 115.[275]The same name is also applied to one of theSoundnations across the strait in Washington.[276]The Teets or Haitlins are called by the Tacullies, 'Sa-Chinco' strangers.Anderson, inHist. Mag., vol. vii., pp. 73-4.[277]Sproat's division into nations, 'almost as distinct as the nations of Europe' is into the Quoquoulth (Quackoll) or Fort Rupert, in the north and north-east; the Kowitchan, or Thongeith, on the east and south; Aht on the west coast; and Komux, a distinct tribe also on the east of Vancouver. 'These tribes of the Ahts are not confederated; and I have no other warrant for calling them a nation than the fact of their occupying adjacent territories, and having the same superstitions and language.'Sproat's Scenes, pp. 18-19, 311. Mayne makes by language four nations; the first including the Cowitchen in the harbor and valley of the same name north of Victoria, with the Nanaimo and Kwantlum Indians about the mouth of the Fraser River, and the Songhies; the second comprising the Comoux, Nanoose, Nimpkish, Quawguult, etc., on Vancouver, and the Squawmisht, Sechelt, Clahoose, Ucle-tah, Mama-lil-a-culla, etc., on the main, and islands, between Nanaimo and Fort Rupert; the third and fourth groups include the twenty-four west-coast tribes who speak two distinct languages, not named.Mayne's Vanc. Isl., pp. 243-51. Grant's division gives four languages on Vancouver, viz., the Quackoll, from Clayoquot Sound north to C. Scott, and thence S. to Johnson's Strait; the Cowitchin, from Johnson's Strait to Sanetch Arm; the Tsclallum, or Clellum, from Sanetch to Soke, and on the opposite American shore; and the Macaw, from Patcheena to Clayoquot Sound. 'These four principal languages ... are totally distinct from each other, both in sound, formation, and modes of expression.'Grant, inLond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxvii., p. 295. Scouler attempts no division into nations or languages.Lond. Geo. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., pp. 221, 224. Mofras singularly designates them as one nation of 20,000 souls, under the name ofOuakich.Mofras,Explor., tom. ii., p. 343. Recent investigations have shown a somewhat different relationship of these languages, which I shall give more particularly in a subsequent volume.[278]SeeSproat's Scenes, pp. 272-86, on the 'effects upon savages of intercourse with civilized men.' 'Hitherto, (1856) in Vancouver Island, the tribes who have principally been in intercourse with the white man, have found it for their interest to keep up that intercourse in amity for the purposes of trade, and the white adventurers have been so few in number, that they have not at all interfered with the ordinary pursuits of the natives.'Grant, inLond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxvii., p. 303.[279]'Muy robustos y bien apersonados.' 'De mediana estatura, excepto los Xefes cuya corpulencia se hace notar.'Sutil y Mexicana,Viage, pp. 55, 124. 'The young princess was of low stature, very plump.'Vancouver's Voy., vol. i., p. 395. Macquilla, the chief was five feet eight inches, with square shoulders and muscular limbs; his son was five feet nine inches.Belcher's Voy., vol. i., pp. 110-12. The seaboard tribes have 'not much physical strength.'Poole's Q. Char. Isl., p. 73. 'La gente dicen ser muy robusta.'Perez,Rel. del Viage, MS., p. 20. 'Leur taille est moyenne.'Mofras,Explor., tom. ii., p. 343. 'In general, robust and well proportioned.'Meares' Voy., p. 249. Under the common stature, pretty full and plump, but not muscular—never corpulent, old people lean—short neck and clumsy body; women nearly the same size as the men.Cook's Voy. to Pac., vol. ii., pp. 301-3. 'Of smaller stature than the Northern Tribes; they are usually fatter and more muscular.'Scouler, inLond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 221. In the north, among the Clayoquots and Quackolls, men are often met of five feet ten inches and over; on the south coast the stature varies from five feet three inches to five feet six inches.Grant, inLond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxvii., p. 297. 'The men are in general from about five feet six to five feet eight inches in height; remarkably straight, of a good form, robust and strong.' Only one dwarf was seen.Jewitt's Nar., pp. 60-61. The Klah-oh-quahts are 'as a tribe physically the finest. Individuals may be found in all the tribes who reach a height of five feet eleven inches, and a weight of 180 pounds, without much flesh on their bodies.' Extreme average height: men, five feet six inches, women, five feet one-fourth inch. 'Many of the men have well-shaped forms and limbs. None are corpulent.' 'The men generally have well-set, strong frames, and, if they had pluck and skill, could probably hold their own in a grapple with Englishmen of the same stature.'Sproat's Scenes, pp. 22-3. 'Rather above the middle stature, copper-colored and of an athletic make.'Spark's Life of Ledyard, p. 71;Prichard's Researches, vol. v., p. 442. 'Spare muscular forms.'Barrett-Lennard's Trav., pp. 44;Gordon's Hist. and Geog. Mem., pp. 14-22.[280]Limbs small, crooked, or ill-made; large feet; badly shaped, and projecting ankles from sitting so much on their hams and knees.Cook's Voy. to Pac., vol. ii., pp. 301-3. 'Their limbs, though stout and athletic, are crooked and ill-shaped.'Meares' Voy., p. 250. 'Ils ont les membres inférieures légèrement arqués, les chevilles très-saillantes, et la pointe des pieds tournée en dedans, difformité qui provient de la manière dont ils sont assis dans leurs canots.'Mofras,Explor., tom. ii., pp. 343-4. 'Stunted, and move with a lazy waddling gait.'Macfie's Vanc. Isl., p. 428. 'Skeleton shanks ... not much physical strength ... bow-legged—defects common to the seaboard tribes.'Poole's Q. Char. Isl., pp. 73-4. All the females of the Northwest Coast are very short-limbed. 'Raro es el que no tiene muy salientes los tobillos y las puntas de los pies inclinadas hácia dentro ... y una especie de entumecimiento que se advierte, particularmente en las mugeres.'Sutil y Mexicana,Viage, pp. 124, 30, 62-3. They have great strength in the fingers.Sproat's Scenes, p. 33. Women, short-limbed, and toe in.Id., p. 22;Mayne's B. C., pp. 282-3. 'The limbs of both sexes are ill-formed, and the toes turned inwards.' 'The legs of the women, especially those of the slaves, are often swollen as if oedematous, so that the leg appears of an uniform thickness from the ankle to the calf,' from wearing a garter.Scouler, inLond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 221.[281]The different Aht tribes vary in physiognomy somewhat—'faces of the Chinese and Spanish types may be seen.' 'The face of the Ahts is rather broad and flat; the mouth and lips of both men and women are large, though to this there are exceptions, and the cheekbones are broad but not high. The skull is fairly shaped, the eyes small and long, deep set, in colour a lustreless inexpressive black, or very dark hazel, none being blue, grey, or brown.... One occasionally sees an Indian with eyes distinctly Chinese. The nose ... in some instances is remarkably well-shaped.' 'The teeth are regular, but stumpy, and are deficient in enamel at the points,' perhaps from eating sanded salmon.Sproat's Scenes, pp. 19, 27. 'Their faces are large and full, their cheeks high and prominent, with small black eyes; their noses are broad and flat; their lips thick, and they have generally very fine teeth, and of the most brilliant whiteness.'Meares' Voy., pp. 249-50;Barrett-Lennard's Trav., p. 44. 'La fisonomia de estos (Nitinats) era differente de la de los habitantes de Nutka: tenian el cráneo de figura natural, los ojos chicos muy próximos, cargados los párpados.' Many have a languid look, but few a stupid appearance.Sutil y Mexicana,Viage, pp. 28, 30, 62-3, 124. 'Dull and inexpressive eye.' 'Unprepossessing and stupid countenances.'Poole's Q. Char. Isl., pp. 74, 80. The Wickinninish have 'a much less open and pleasing expression of countenance' than the Klaizzarts. The Newchemass 'were the most savage looking and ugly men that I ever saw.' 'The shape of the face is oval; the features are tolerably regular, the lips being thin and the teeth very white and even: their eyes are black but rather small, and the nose pretty well formed, being neither flat nor very prominent.' The women 'are in general very well-looking, and some quite handsome.'Jewitt's Nar., pp. 76, 77, 61. 'Features that would have attracted notice for their delicacy and beauty, in those parts of the world where the qualities of the human form are best understood.'Meares' Voy., p. 250. Face round and full, sometimes broad, with prominent cheek-bones ... falling in between the temples, the nose flattening at the base, wide nostrils and a rounded point ... forehead low; eyes small, black and languishing; mouth round, with large, round, thickish lips; teeth tolerably equal and well-set, but not very white. Remarkable sameness, a dull phlegmatic want of expression; no pretensions to beauty among the women.Cook's Voy. to Pac., vol. ii., pp. 301-2. See portraits of Nootkas inBelcher's Voy., vol. i., p. 108;Cook's Atlas, pl. 38-9;Sutil y Mexicana,Viage,Atlas;Whymper's Alaska, p. 75. 'Long nose, high cheek bones, large ugly mouth, very long eyes, and foreheads villainously low.' 'The women of Vancouver Island have seldom or ever good features; they are almost invariably pug-nosed; they have however, frequently a pleasing expression, and there is no lack of intelligence in their dark hazel eyes.'Grant, inLond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxvii., pp. 297-8. 'Though without any pretensions to beauty, could not be considered as disagreeable.'Vancouver's Voy., vol. i., p. 395. 'Have the common facial characteristics of low foreheads, high cheek-bones, aquiline noses, and large mouths.' 'Among some of the tribes pretty women may be seen.'Mayne's B. C., p. 277.[282]'Her skin was clean, and being nearly white,' etc.Vancouver's Voy., vol. i., p. 395. 'Reddish brown, like that of a dirty copper kettle.' Some, when washed, have 'almost a florid complexion.'Grant, inLond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxvii., pp. 297, 299. 'Brown, somewhat inclining to a copper cast.' The women are much whiter, 'many of them not being darker than those in some of the Southern parts of Europe.' The Newchemass are much darker than the other tribes.Jewitt's Nar., pp. 61, 77. 'Their complexion, though light, has more of a copper hue' than that of the Haidahs.Scouler, inLond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 221. 'Skin white, with the clear complexion of Europe.'Meares' Voy., p. 250. The color hard to tell on account of the paint, but in a few cases 'the whiteness of the skin appeared almost to equal that of Europeans; though rather of that pale effete cast ... of our southern nations.... Their children ... also equalled ours in whiteness.'Cook's Voy. to Pac., vol. ii., p. 303. 'Their complexion is a dull brown,' darker than the Haidahs. 'Cook and Meares probably mentioned exceptional cases.'Sproat's Scenes, pp. 23-4. 'Tan blancos como el mejor Español.'Perez,Rel. del Viage, MS., p. 20. 'Por lo que se puede inferir del (color) de los niños, parece menos obscuro que el de los Mexicanos,' but judging by the chiefs' daughters they are wholly white.Sutil y Mexicana,Viage, p. 125. 'A dark, swarthy copper-coloured figure.'Lord's Nat., vol. i., p. 143. They 'have lighter complexions than other aborigines of America.'Greenhow's Hist. Ogn., p. 116. 'Sallow complexion, verging towards copper colour.'Barrett-Lennard's Trav., pp. 44-6. Copper-coloured.Spark's Life of Ledyard, p. 71.[283]'The hair of the natives is never shaven from the head. It is black or dark brown, without gloss, coarse and lank, but not scanty, worn long.... Slaves wear their hair short. Now and then, but rarely, a light-haired native is seen. There is one woman in the Opechisat tribe at Alberni who had curly, or rather wavy, brown hair. Few grey-haired men can be noticed in any tribe. The men's beards and whiskers are deficient, probably from the old alleged custom, now seldom practiced, of extirpating the hairs with small shells. Several of the Nootkah Sound natives (Moouchahts) have large moustaches and whiskers.'Sproat's Scenes, pp. 25-7. 'El cabello es largo lacio y grueso, variando su color entre rubio, obscuro, castaño y negro. La barba sale á los mozos con la misma regularidad que á los de otros paises, y llega á ser en los ancianos tan poblada y larga como la de los Turcos; pero los jóvenes parecen imberbes porque se la arrancan con los dedos, ó mas comunmente con pinzas formadas de pequeñas conchas.'Sutil y Mexicana,Viage, pp. 124-5, 57. 'Hair of the head is in great abundance, very coarse, and strong; and without a single exception, black, straight and lank.' No beards at all, or a small thin one on the chin, not from a natural defect, but from plucking. Old men often have beards. Eyebrows scanty and narrow.Cook's Voy. to Pac., vol. ii., pp. 301-3. 'Neither beard, whisker, nor moustache ever adorns the face of the redskin.'Lord's Nat., vol. i., p. 143;Jewitt's Nar., pp. 61, 75, 77. Hair 'invariably either black or dark brown.'Grant, inLond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxvii., p. 297;Meares' Voy., p. 250;Mayne's B. C., pp. 277-8;Macfie's Vanc. Isl., p. 442;Spark's Life of Ledyard, p. 71.[284]Cook's Voy. to Pac., vol. ii., pp. 304-8;Sutil y Mexicana,Viage, pp. 126-7;Sproat's Scenes, pp. 26-7;Meares' Voy., p. 254;Macfie's Vanc. Isl., p. 442;Jewitt's Nar., pp. 21, 23, 62, 65, 77-8;Grant, inLond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxvii., p. 297;Mayne's B. C., pp. 277-8;Barrett-Lennard's Trav., p. 44.[285]Mayne's B. C., pp. 242, 277, with cut of a child with bandaged head, and of a girl with a sugar-loaf head, measuring eighteen inches from the eyes to the summit.Sproat's Scenes, pp. 28-30;Grant, inLond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxvii., p. 298;Scouler, inLond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 222;Meares' Voy., p. 249;Macfie's Vanc. Isl., p. 441;Sutil y Mexicana,Viage, p. 124;Lord's Nat., vol. i., p. 171; vol. ii., p. 103, cut of three skulls of flattened, conical, and natural form;Kane's Wand., p. 241;Jewitt's Nar., p. 76;Schoolcraft's Arch., vol. ii., p. 325;Barrett-Lennard's Trav., p. 45;Gordon's Hist. and Geog. Mem., p. 115.[286]At Valdes Island, 'the faces of some were made intirely white, some red, black, or lead colour.'Vancouver's Voy., vol. i., pp. 307, 341. At Nuñez Gaona Bay, 'se pintan de encarnado y negro.'Sutil y Mexicana,Viage, p. 30. At Nootka Sound, 'Con esta grasa (de ballena) se untan todo el cuerpo, y despues se pintan con una especie de barniz compuesto de la misma grasa ó aceyte, y de almagre en términos que parece este su color natural.' Chiefs only may paint in varied colors, plebeians being restricted to one.'Id., pp. 125-7. 'Many of the females painting their faces on all occasions, but the men only at set periods.' Vermilion is obtained by barter. Black, their war and mourning color, is made by themselves.Macfie's Vanc. Isl., p. 442. 'Ces Indiens enduisent leur corps d'huile de baleine, et se peignent avec des ocres.' Chiefs only may wear different colors, and figures of animals.Mofras,Explor., tom. ii., p. 344. 'Rub their bodies constantly with a red paint, of a clayey or coarse ochry substance, mixed with oil.... Their faces are often stained with a black, a brighter red, or a white colour, by way of ornament.... They also strew the brown martial mica upon the paint, which makes it glitter.'Cook's Voy. to Pac., vol. ii., p. 305. 'A line of vermilion extends from the centre of the forehead to the tip of the nose, and from this "trunk line" others radiate over and under the eyes and across the cheeks. Between these red lines white and blue streaks alternately fill the interstices. A similar pattern ornaments chest, arms, and back, the frescoing being artistically arranged to give apparent width to the chest.'Lord's Nat., vol. i., p. 143. 'They paint the face in hideous designs of black and red (the only colours used), and the parting of the hair is also coloured red.'Mayne's B. C., p. 277. 'At great feasts the faces of the women are painted red with vermilion or berry-juice, and the men's faces are blackened with burnt wood. About the age of twenty-five the women cease to use paint.... Some of the young men streak their faces with red, but grown-up men seldom now use paint, unless on particular occasions.... The leader of a war expedition is distinguished by a streaked visage from his black-faced followers.'Sproat's Scenes, p. 27-8. The manner of painting is often a matter of whim. 'The most usual method is to paint the eye-brows black, in form of a half moon, and the face red in small squares, with the arms and legs and part of the body red; sometimes one half of the face is painted red in squares, and the other black; at others, dotted with red spots, or red and black instead of squares, with a variety of other devices, such as painting one half of the face and body red, and the other black.'Jewitt's Nar., p. 64;Meares' Voy., p. 252;Barrett-Lennard's Trav., p. 46;Spark's Life of Ledyard, p. 71.[287]'The habit of tattooing the legs and arms is common to all the women of Vancouver's Island; the men do not adopt it.'Grant, inLond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxvii., p. 307. 'No such practice as tattooing exists among these natives.'Sproat's Scenes, p. 27. 'The ornament on which they appear to set the most value, is the nose-jewel, if such an appellation may be given to the wooden stick, which some of them employ for this purpose.... I have seen them projecting not less than eight or nine inches beyond the face on each side; this is made fast or secured in its place by little wedges on each side of it.'Jewitt's Nar., pp. 65-6, 75;Mofras,Explor., tom. ii., p. 344.Cook's Voy. to Pac., vol. ii., pp. 304-8;Sutil y Mexicana,Viage, pp. 30, 126-7;Macfie's Vanc. Isl., p. 442;Whymper's Alaska, pp. 37, 74, with cut of mask.Mayne's B. C., p. 268;Kane's Wand., pp. 221-2, and illustration of a hair medicine-cap.[288]'Their cloaks, which are circular capes with a hole in the centre, edged with sea-otter skin, are constructed from the inner bark of the cypress. It turns the rain, is very soft and pliable,' etc.Belcher's Voy., vol. i., p. 112. The usual dress of the Newchemass 'is akootsuckmade of wolf skin, with a number of the tails attached to it ... hanging from the top to the bottom; though they sometimes wear a similar mantle of bark cloth, of a much coarser texture than that of Nootka.'Jewitt's Nar., pp. 77-8, 21-3, 56-8, 62-6. 'Their common dress is a flaxen garment, or mantle, ornamented on the upper edge by a narrow strip of fur, and at the lower edge, by fringes or tassels. It passes under the left arm, and is tied over the right shoulder, by a string before, and one behind, near its middle.... Over this, which reaches below the knees, is worn a small cloak of the same substance, likewise fringed at the lower part.... Their head is covered with a cap, of the figure of a truncated cone, or like a flower-pot, made of fine matting, having the top frequently ornamented with a round or pointed knob, or bunch of leathern tassels.'Cook's Voy. to Pac., vol. ii., pp. 304-8, 270-1, 280. 'The men's dress is a blanket; the women's a strip of cloth, or shift, and blanket. The old costume of the natives was the same as at present, but the material was different.'Sproat's Scenes, pp. 25, 315. 'Their clothing generally consists of skins,' but they have two other garments of bark or dog's hair. 'Their garments of all kinds are worn mantlewise, and the borders of them are fringed' with wampum.Spark's Life of Ledyard, pp. 71-2;Colyer, inInd. Aff. Rept., 1869, p. 533;Sutil y Mexicana,Viage, pp. 30-1, 38, 56-7, 126-8;Meares' Voy., pp. 251-4;Grant, inLond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxvii., p. 297;Lord's Nat., vol. i., pp. 143-4;Mofras,Explor., tom. ii., pp. 344-5;Whymper's Alaska, p. 37;Greenhow's Hist. Ogn., p. 116;Macfie's Van. Isl., pp. 431, 443;Barrett-Lennard's Trav., p. 46. See portraits inCook's Atlas,Belcher's Voy.,Sutil y Mexicana, Atlas, andWhymper's Alaska.[289]On the east side of Vancouver was a village of thirty-four houses, arranged in regular streets. The house of the leader 'was distinguished by three rafters of stout timber raised above the roof, according to the architecture of Nootka, though much inferior to those I had there seen, in point of size.' Bed-rooms were separated, and more decency observed than at Nootka Sound.Vancouver's Voy., vol. i., pp. 346-7, with a view of this village; also pp. 324-5, description of the village on Desolation Sound; p. 338, on Valdes Island; p. 326, view of village on Bute Canal; and vol. iii., pp. 310-11, a peculiarity not noticed by Cook—'immense pieces of timber which are raised, and horizontally placed on wooden pillars, about eighteen inches above the roof of the largest houses in that village; one of which pieces of timber was of a size sufficient to have made a lower mast for a third rate man of war.' SeeCook's Voy. to Pac., vol. ii., pp. 281, 313-19, andAtlas, plate 40. A sort of a duplicate inside building, with shorter posts, furnishes on its roof a stage, where all kinds of property and supplies are stored.Sproat's Scenes, pp. 37-43. 'The planks or boards which they make use of for building their houses, and for other uses, they procure of different lengths, as occasion requires, by splitting them out, with hard wooden wedges from pine logs, and afterwards dubbing them down with their chizzels.'Jewitt's Nar., pp. 52-4. Grant states that the Nootka houses are palisade inclosures formed of stakes or young fir-trees, some twelve or thirteen feet high, driven into the ground close together, roofed in with slabs of fir or cedar.Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxvii., p. 299. The Teets have palisaded enclosures.Anderson, inHist. Mag., vol. vii., p. 74. 'The chief resides at the upper end, the proximity of his relatives to him being according to their degree of kindred.'Macfie's Vanc. Isl., pp. 443-4;Dunn's Oregon, p. 243;Belcher's Voy., vol. i., p. 112;Lord's Nat., vol. i., pp. 158, 164-5, 167, 320-21;Seemann's Voy. of Herald, vol. i., pp. 105-6. The carved pillars are not regarded by the natives as idols in any sense.Sutil y Mexicana,Viage, pp. 128-9, 102;Barrett-Lennard's Trav., pp. 47, 73-4. Some houses eighty by two hundred feet.Colyer, inInd. Aff. Rept., 1869, p. 533;Mayne's B. C., p. 296;Gordon's Hist. and Geog. Mem., pp. 120-1.[290]'Their heads and their garments swarm with vermin, which, ... we used to see them pick off with great composure, and eat.'Cook's Voy. to Pac., vol. ii., p. 305. See also pp. 279-80, 318-24. 'Their mode of living is very simple—their food consisting almost wholly of fish, or fish spawn fresh or dried, the blubber of the whale, seal, or sea-cow, muscles, clams, and berries of various kinds; all of which are eaten with a profusion of train oil.'Jewitt's Nar., pp. 58-60, 68-9, 86-8, 94-7, 103.Sproat's Scenes, pp. 52-7, 61, 87, 144-9, 216-70. 'The common business of fishing for ordinary sustenance is carried on by slaves, or the lower class of people;—While the more noble occupation of killing the whale and hunting the sea-otter, is followed by none but the chiefs and warriors.'Meares' Voy., p. 258. 'They make use of the dried fucus giganteus, anointed with oil, for lines, in taking salmon and sea-otters.'Belcher's Voy., vol. i., pp. 112-13.Sutil y Mexicana,Viage, pp. 17, 26, 45-6, 59-60, 76, 129-30, 134-5;Grant, inLond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxvii., pp. 299-300;Mayne's B. C., pp. 252-7;Macfie's Vanc. Isl., pp. 165-442;Simpson's Overland Journ., vol. i., p. 239;Pemberton's Vanc. Isl., pp. 28-32;Dunn's Oregon, p. 243;Mofras,Explor., tom. ii., p. 338. The Sau-kau-lutuck tribe 'are said to live on the edge of a lake, and subsist principally on deer and bear, and such fish as they can take in the lake.'Lord's Nat., vol. i., pp. 158-9;Barrett-Lennard's Trav., pp. 48, 74-5, 76-7, 85-6, 90-1, 144-50, 197-8; vol. ii., p. 111;Cornwallis' New El Dorado, p. 100;Forbes' Vanc. Isl., pp. 54-5;Rattray's Vanc. Isl., pp. 77-8, 82-3;Hud. Bay Co., Rept. Spec. Com., 1857, p. 114.[291]Sutil y Mexicana,Viage, pp. 57, 63, 78;Jewitt's Nar., pp. 78-81;Vancouver's Voy., vol. i., p. 307;Macfie's Vanc. Isl., p. 443;Cox's Adven., vol. i., p. 100. 'The native bow, like the canoe and paddle, is beautifully formed. It is generally made of yew or crab-apple wood, and is three and a half feet long, with about two inches at each end turned sharply backwards from the string. The string is a piece of dried seal-gut, deer-sinew, or twisted bark. The arrows are about thirty inches long, and are made of pine or cedar, tipped with six inches of serrated bone, or with two unbarbed bone or iron prongs. I have never seen an Aht arrow with a barbed head.'Sproat's Scenes, p. 82. 'Having now to a great extent discarded the use of the traditional tomahawk and spear. Many of these weapons are, however, still preserved as heirlooms among them.'Barrett-Lennard's Trav., p. 42. 'No bows and arrows.' 'Generally fight hand to hand, and not with missiles.'Fitzwilliam's Evidence, inHud. Bay Co. Rept., 1857, p. 115.[292]The Ahts 'do not take the scalp of the enemy, but cut off his head, by three dexterous movements of the knife ... and the warrior who has taken most heads is most praised and feared.'Sproat's Scenes, pp. 186-202. 'Scalp every one they kill.'Macfie's Vanc. Isl., p. 470, 443, 467. One of the Nootka princes assured the Spaniards that the bravest captains ate human flesh before engaging in battle.Sutil y Mexicana,Viage, p. 130. The Nittinahts consider the heads of enemies slain in battle asspolia opima.Whymper's Alaska, pp. 54, 78;Jewitt's Nar., pp. 120-1;Lord's Nat., vol. i., pp. 155-6, 158, 166, 171, vol. ii., p. 251-3. Women keep watch during the night, and tell the exploits of their nation to keep awake.Meares' Voy., p. 267.Vancouver's Voy., vol. i., p. 396;Grant, inLond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxvii., p. 296;Mayne's B. C., p. 270;Barrett-Lennard's Trav., pp. 41-2, 129-36.
[217]'The Kutch-a-Kutchin, are essentially traders.'Kirby, inSmithsonian Rept., 1864, p. 418. Appear to care more for useful than ornamental articles.Whymper's Alaska, p. 213. 'Dentalium and arenicola shells are transmitted from the west coast in traffic, and are greatly valued.'Richardson's Jour., vol. i., p. 391.
[218]Some wear 'wampum (a kind of long, hollow shell) through the septum of the nose.'Hooper's Tuski, p. 270. They pierce the nose and insert shells, which are obtained from the Eskimos at a high price.Franklin's Nar., vol. ii., p. 84.
[219]The Loucheux live in huts 'formed of green branches. In winter their dwellings are partly under ground. The spoils of the moose and reindeer furnish them with meat, clothing, and tents.'Simpson's Nar., pp. 103, 191. The Co-Yukon winter dwellings are made under ground, and roofed over with earth, having a hole for the smoke to escape by, in the same manner as those of the Malemutes and Ingaliks.Whymper's Alaska, pp. 175, 205. Their movable huts are constructed of deer-skin, 'dressed with the hair on, and sewed together, forming two large rolls, which are stretched over a frame of bent poles,' with a side door and smoke-hole at the top.Jones, inSmithsonian Rept., 1866, p. 321.
[220]The Loucheux are 'great gormandizers, and will devour solid fat, or even drink grease, to surfeiting.'Hooper's Tuski, p. 271. 'The bears are not often eaten in summer, as their flesh is not good at that time.'Jones, inSmithsonian Rept., 1866, p. 321. Some of their reindeer-pounds are over one hundred years old and are hereditary in the family.Richardson's Jour., vol. i., p. 394. 'The mode of fishing through the ice practiced by the Russians is much in vogue with them.'Whymper's Alaska, p. 211.
[221]The Kutchins 'have no knowledge of scalping.' 'When a man kills his enemy, he cuts all his joints.'Jones, inSmithsonian Rept., 1866, 327. The Loucheux of Peel River and the Eskimos are constantly at war.Hooper's Tuski, p. 273.
[222]'At Peace River the bark is taken off the tree the whole length of the intended canoe, which is commonly about eighteen feet, and is sewed with watupe at both ends.'Mackenzie's Voy., p. 207. When the Kutchins discover a leak, 'they go ashore, light a small fire, warm the gum, of which they always carry a supply, turn the canoe bottom upward, and rub the healing balm in a semi-fluid state into the seam until it is again water-tight.'Whymper's Alaska, p. 225. The Tacullies 'make canoes which are clumsily wrought, of the aspin tree, as well as of the bark of the spruce fir.'Harmon's Jour., p. 291. Rafts are employed on the Mackenzie.Simpson's Nar., p. 185. 'In shape the Northern Indian canoe bears some resemblance to a weaver's shuttle; covered over with birch bark.'Hearne's Jour., pp. 97, 98. 'Kanots aus Birkenrinde, auf denen sie die Flüsse u. Seen befahren.'Baer,Stat. u. Ethn., p. 112. The Kutchin canoe 'is flat-bottomed, is about nine feet long and one broad, and the sides nearly straight up and down like a wall.'Jones, inSmithsonian Rept., 1866, p. 323.
[223]As for instance for a life, the fine is forty beaver-skins, and may be paid in guns at twenty skins each; blankets, equal to ten skins each; powder, one skin a measure; bullets, eighteen for a skin; worsted belts, two skins each.Hooper's Tuski, p. 272. 'For theft, little or no punishment is inflicted; for adultery, the woman only is punished'—sometimes by beating, sometimes by death.Jones, inSmithsonian Rept., 1866, p. 325.
[224]Kutchin 'female chastity is prized, but is nearly unknown.'Jones, inSmithsonian Rept., 1866, p. 325. Loucheux mothers had originally a custom of casting away their female children, but now it is only done by the Mountain Indians,Simpson's Nar., p. 187. The Kutchin 'women are much fewer in number and live a much shorter time than the men.'Kirby, inSmithsonian Rept., 1864, p. 418. The old people 'are not ill-used, but simply neglected.'Whymper's Alaska, p. 229. The children are carried in small chairs made of birch bark.Id., p. 232. 'In a seat of birch bark.'Richardson's Jour., vol. i., p. 384.
[225]The Loucheux dances 'abound in extravagant gestures, and demand violent exertion.'Simpson's Nar., p. 100. SeeHardisty, inSmithsonian Rept., 1866, p. 313. 'Singing is much practiced, but it is, though varied, of a very hum-drum nature.'Hooper's Tuski, p. 318. 'At the festivals held on the meeting of friendly tribes, leaping and wrestling are practised.'Richardson's Jour., vol. i., p. 395.
[226]'Irrespective of tribe, they are divided into three classes, termed respectively, Chit-sa, Nate-sa, and Tanges-at-sa, faintly representing the aristocracy, the middle classes, and the poorer orders of civilized nations, the former being the most wealthy and the latter the poorest.'Kirby, inSmithsonian Rept., 1864, p. 418.
[227]On Peel River 'they bury their dead on stages.' On the Yukon they burn and suspend the ashes in bags from the top of a painted pole.Kirby, inSmithsonian Rept., 1864, p. 419. They of the Yukon 'do not inter the dead, but put them in oblong boxes, raised on posts.'Whymper's Alaska, pp. 207, 211.
[228]TheNootka-Columbianscomprehend 'the tribes inhabiting Quadra and Vancouver's Island, and the adjacent inlets of the mainland, down to the Columbia River, and perhaps as far S. as Umpqua River and the northern part of New California.'Scouler, inLond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 221.
[229]Gilbert Malcolm Sproat, a close observer and clear writer, thinks 'this word Nootkah—no word at all—together with an imaginary word, Columbian, denoting a supposed original North American race—is absurdly used to denote all the tribes which inhabit the Rocky Mountains and the western coast of North America, from California inclusively to the regions inhabited by the Esquimaux. In this great tract there are more tribes, differing totally in language and customs, than in any other portion of the American continent; and surely a better general name for them could be found than this meaningless and misapplied termNootkah Columbian.'Sproat's Scenes, p. 315. Yet Mr Sproat suggests no other name. It is quite possible that Cook,Voy. to the Pacific, vol. ii., p. 288, misunderstood the native name of Nootka Sound. It is easy to criticise any name which might be adopted, and even if it were practicable or desirable to change all meaningless and misapplied geographical names, the same or greater objections might be raised against others, which necessity would require a writer to invent.
[230]Kane's Wand., p. 173;Macfie's Vanc. Isl., p. 441;Catlin's N. Am. Ind., vol. ii., p. 108; the name being given to the people between the region of the Columbia and 53° 30´.
[231]The nameNez Percés, 'pierced noses,' is usually pronounced as if English,Nez Pér-ces.
[232]For particulars and authorities seeTribal Boundariesat end of this chapter.
[233]'The Indian tribes of the North-western Coast may be divided into two groups, the Insular and the Inland, or those who inhabit the islands and adjacent shores of the mainland, and subsist almost entirely by fishing; and those who live in the interior and are partly hunters. This division is perhaps arbitrary, or at least imperfect, as there are several tribes whose affinities with either group are obscure.'Scouler, inLond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 217. SeeStevens, inPac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., pp. 147-8, andMayne's B. C., p. 242. 'The best division is into coast and inland tribes.'Lord's Nat., vol. ii., p. 226.
[234]'By far the best looking, most intelligent and energetic people on the N. W. Coast.'Scouler, inLond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 218. Also ranked by Prichard as the finest specimens physically on the coast.Researches, vol. v., p. 433. The Nass people 'were peculiarly comely, strong, and well grown.'Simpson's Overland Journ., vol. i., p. 207. 'Would be handsome, or at least comely,' were it not for the paint. 'Some of the women have exceedingly handsome faces, and very symmetrical figures.' 'Impressed by the manly beauty and bodily proportions of my islanders.'Poole's Queen Charlotte Isl., pp. 310, 314. Mackenzie found the coast people 'more corpulent and of better appearance than the inhabitants of the interior.'Voy., pp. 322-3; see pp. 370-1. 'The stature (at Burke's Canal) ... was much more stout and robust than that of the Indians further south. The prominence of their countenances and the regularity of their features, resembled the northern Europeans.'Vancouver's Voy., vol. ii., p. 262. A chief of 'gigantic person, a stately air, a noble mien, a manly port, and all the characteristics of external dignity, with a symmetrical figure, and a perfect order of European contour.'Dunn's Oregon, pp. 279, 251, 283, 285. Mayne says, 'their countenances are decidedly plainer' than the southern Indians.B. C., p. 250. 'A tall, well-formed people.'Bendel's Alex. Arch., p. 29. 'No finer men ... can be found on the American Continent.'Sproat's Scenes, p. 23. In 55°, 'Son bien corpulentos.'Crespi, inDoc. Hist. Mex., s. iv., vol. vi., p. 646. 'The best looking Indians we had ever met.' 'Much taller, and in every way superior to the Puget Sound tribes. The women are stouter than the men, but not so good-looking.'Reed's Nar.
[235]The Sebassas are 'more active and enterprising than the Millbank tribes.'Dunn's Oregon, p. 273. The Haeeltzuk are 'comparatively effeminate in their appearance.'Scouler, inLond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 223. The Kyganies 'consider themselves more civilised than the other tribes, whom they regard with feelings of contempt.'Id., p. 219. The Chimsyans 'are much more active and cleanly than the tribes to the south.'Id., p. 220. 'I have, as a rule, remarked that the physical attributes of those tribes coming from the north, are superior to those of the dwellers in the south.'Barrett-Lennard's Trav., p. 40.
[236]Mackenzie's Voy., pp. 370-1, 322-3;Vancouver's Voy., vol. ii., pp. 262, 320;Hale's Ethnog., inU. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 197. 'Regular, and often fine features.'Bendel's Alex. Arch., p. 29.
[237]Mackenzie's Voy., pp. 309-10, 322-3, 370-1;Lord's Nat., vol. i., p. 229. 'Opening of the eye long and narrow.'Hale's Ethnog., inU. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 197.
[238]'Had it not been for the filth, oil, and paint, with which, from their earliest infancy, they are besmeared from head to foot, there is great reason to believe that their colour would have differed but little from such of the labouring Europeans, as are constantly exposed to the inclemency and alterations of the weather.'Vancouver's Voy., vol. ii., p. 262. 'Between the olive and the copper.'Mackenzie's Voy., pp. 370-1. 'Their complexion, when they are washed free from paint, is as white as that of the people of the S. of Europe.'Scouler, inLond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 218. Skin 'nearly as white as ours.'Poole's Q. Char. Isl., pp. 314-5. 'Of a remarkable light color.'Bendel's Alex. Arch., p. 29. 'Fairer in complexion than the Vancouverians.' 'Their young women's skins are as clear and white as those of Englishwomen.'Sproat's Scenes, pp. 23-4. 'Fair in complexion, sometimes with ruddy cheeks.'Hale's Ethnog., inU. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 197. 'De buen semblante, color blanco y bermejos.'Crespi, inDoc. Hist. Mex., s. iv., vol. vi., p. 646.
[239]Tolmie mentions several instances of the kind, and states that 'amongst the Hydah or Queen Charlotte Island tribes, exist a family of coarse, red-haired, light-brown eyed, square-built people, short-sighted, and of fair complexion.'Lord's Nat., vol. ii., pp. 229-30.
[240]Mackenzie's Voy., pp. 322-3, 371;Vancouver's Voy., vol. ii., p. 370;Dunn's Oregon, p. 283;Poole's Q. Char. Isl., p. 315.
[241]Scouler, inLond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 218;Poole's Q. Char. Isl., p. 74. 'What is very unusual among the aborigines of America, they have thick beards, which appear early in life.'Hale's Ethnog., inU. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 197.
[242]'After the age of puberty, their bodies, in their natural state, are covered in the same manner as those of the Europeans. The men, indeed, esteem a beard very unbecoming, and take great pains to get rid of it, nor is there any ever to be perceived on their faces, except when they grow old, and become inattentive to their appearance. Every crinous efflorescence on the other parts of the body is held unseemly by them, and both sexes employ much time in their extirpation. The Nawdowessies, and the remote nations, pluck them out with bent pieces of hard wood, formed into a kind of nippers; whilst those who have communication with Europeans procure from them wire, which they twist into a screw or worm; applying this to the part, they press the rings together, and with a sudden twitch draw out all the hairs that are inclosed between them.'Carver's Trav., p. 225.
[243]Scouler, inLond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 220.
[244]Mackenzie's Voy., pp. 370-1;Lord's Nat., vol. ii., p. 226;Dunn's Oregon, p. 287.
[245]Lord's Nat., vol. ii., p. 232;Scouler, inLond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., pp. 218, 220, 223. 'The most northern of these Flat-head tribes is the Hautzuk.'Schoolcraft's Arch., vol. ii., p. 325.
[246]Simpson's Overland Journ., vol. i., pp. 204, 233. 'This wooden ornament seems to be wore by all the sex indiscriminately, whereas at Norfolk Sound it is confined to those of superior rank.'Dixon's Voy., pp. 225, 208, with a cut. A piece of brass or copper is first put in, and 'this corrodes the lacerated parts, and by consuming the flesh gradually increases the orifice.'Vancouver's Voy., vol. ii., pp. 279-80, 408.Scouler, inLond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 218;Dunn's Oregon, pp. 276, 279;Crespi, inDoc. Hist. Mex., s. iv., vol. vi., p. 651;Cornwallis' New El Dorado, p. 106;Catlin's N. Am. Ind., vol. ii., p. 113, with plate.
[247]Mayne's B. C., pp. 281-2;Poole's Q. Char. Isl., pp. 75, 311;Barrett-Lennard's Trav., pp. 45-6;Dunn's Oregon, pp. 279, 285.
[248]Poole's Q. Char. Isl., pp. 82, 106, 310, 322-3;Mayne's B. C., pp. 282, 283;Dunn's Oregon, p. 251.
[249]Mayne's B. C., p. 282;Dunn's Oregon, pp. 251, 276, 291;Parker's Explor. Tour, p. 263;Poole's Q. Char. Isl., p. 310. 'The men habitually go naked, but when they go off on a journey they wear a blanket.'Reed's Nar.'Cuero de nutrias y lobo marino ... sombreros de junco bien tejidos con la copa puntiaguda.'Crespi, inDoc. Hist. Mex., s. iv., vol. vi., p. 646.
[250]Dunn's Oregon, pp. 253, 276-7;Catlin's N. Am. Ind., vol. ii., p. 113.
[251]At Salmon River, 52° 58´, 'their dress consists of a single robe tied over the shoulders, falling down behind, to the heels, and before, a little below the knees, with a deep fringe round the bottom. It is generally made of the bark of the cedar tree, which they prepare as fine as hemp; though some of these garments are interwoven with strips of the sea-otter skin, which give them the appearance of a fur on one side. Others have stripes of red and yellow threads fancifully introduced towards the borders.' Clothing is laid aside whenever convenient. 'The women wear a close fringe hanging down before them about two feet in length, and half as wide. When they sit down they draw this between their thighs.'Mackenzie's Voy., pp. 322-3, 371;Vancouver's Voy., vol. ii., pp. 280, 339.
[252]A house 'erected on a platform, ... raised and supported near thirty feet from the ground by perpendicular spars of a very large size; the whole occupying a space of about thirty-five by fifteen (yards), was covered in by a roof of boards lying nearly horizontal, and parallel to the platform; it seemed to be divided into three different houses, or rather apartments, each having a separate access formed by a long tree in an inclined position from the platform to the ground, with notches cut in it by way of steps, about a foot and a half asunder.'Vancouver's Voy., vol. ii., p. 274. See also pp. 137, 267-8, 272, 284. 'Their summer and winter residences are built of split plank, similar to those of the Chenooks.'Parker's Explor. Tour, p. 263. 'Ils habitent dans des loges de soixante pieds de long, construites avec des troncs de sapin et recouvertes d'écorces d'arbres.'Mofras,Explor., tom. ii., p. 337. 'Their houses are neatly constructed, standing in a row; having large images, cut out of wood, resembling idols. The dwellings have all painted fronts, showing imitations of men and animals. Attached to their houses most of them have large potatoe gardens.'Dunn's Oregon, pp. 293-4. See also, pp. 251-2, 273-4, 290;Lord's Nat., vol. i., p. 89; vol. ii., pp. 253, 255, with cuts on p. 255 and frontispiece. 'Near the house of the chief I observed several oblong squares, of about twenty feet by eight. They were made of thick cedar boards, which were joined with so much neatness, that I at first thought they were one piece. They were painted with hieroglyphics, and figures of different animals,' probably for purposes of devotion, as was 'a large building in the middle of the village.... The ground-plot was fifty feet by forty-five; each end is formed by four stout posts, fixed perpendicularly in the ground. The corner ones are plain, and support a beam of the whole length, having three intermediate props on each side, but of a larger size, and eight or nine feet in height. The two centre posts, at each end, are two and a half feet in diameter, and carved into human figures, supporting two ridge poles on their heads, twelve feet from the ground. The figures at the upper part of this square represent two persons, with their hands upon their knees, as if they supported the weight with pain and difficulty: the others opposite to them stand at their ease, with their hands resting on their hips.... Posts, poles, and figures, were painted red and black, but the sculpture of these people is superior to their painting.'Mackenzie's Voy., p. 331. See also pp. 307, 318, 328-30, 339, 345;Poole's Q. Char. Isl., pp. 111, 113-4;Reed's Nar.;Marchand,Voy., tom. ii., pp. 127-31.
[253]On food of the Haidahs and the methods of procuring it, seeLord's Nat., vol. i., pp. 41, 152;Mackenzie's Voy., pp. 306, 313-14, 319-21, 327, 333, 339, 369-70;Poole's Q. Char. Isl., pp. 148, 284-5, 315-16;Vancouver's Voy., vol. ii., p. 273;Dunn's Oregon, pp. 251, 267, 274, 290-1;Mofras,Explor., tom. ii., p. 337;Pemberton's Vancouver Island, p. 23;Parker's Explor. Tour, p. 263;Reed's Nar.
[254]Vancouver's Voy., vol. ii., p. 339;Poole's Q. Char. Isl., p. 316;Mackenzie's Voy., p. 372-3. 'Once I saw a party of Kaiganys of about two hundred men returning from war. The paddles of the warriors killed in the fight were lashed upright in their various seats, so that from a long distance the number of the fallen could be ascertained; and on each mast of the canoes—and some of them had three—was stuck the head of a slain foe.'Bendel's Alex. Arch., p. 30.
[255]The Kaiganies 'are noted for the beauty and size of their cedar canoes, and their skill in carving. Most of the stone pipes, inlaid with fragments of Haliotis or pearl shells, so common in ethnological collections, are their handiwork. The slate quarry from which the stone is obtained is situated on Queen Charlotte's Island.'Dall's Alaska, p. 411. The Chimsyans 'make figures in stone dressed like Englishmen; plates and other utensils of civilization, ornamented pipe stems and heads, models of houses, stone flutes, adorned with well-carved figures of animals. Their imitative skill is as noticeable as their dexterity in carving.'Sproat's Scenes, p. 317. The supporting posts of their probable temples were carved into human figures, and all painted red and black, 'but the sculpture of these people (52° 40´) is superior to their painting.'Mackenzie's Voy., pp. 330-1; see pp. 333-4. 'One man (near Fort Simpson) known as the Arrowsmith of the north-east coast, had gone far beyond his compeers, having prepared very accurate charts of most parts of the adjacent shores.'Simpson's Overland Journ., vol. i., p. 207. 'The Indians of the Northern Family are remarkable for their ingenuity and mechanical dexterity in the construction of their canoes, houses, and different warlike or fishing implements. They construct drinking-vessels, tobacco-pipes, &c., from a soft argillaceous stone, and these articles are remarkable for the symmetry of their form, and the exceedingly elaborate and intricate figures which are carved upon them. With respect to carving and a faculty for imitation, the Queen Charlotte's Islanders are equal to the most ingenious of the Polynesian Tribes.'Scouler, inLond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 218. 'Like the Chinese, they imitate literally anything that is given them to do; so that if you give them a cracked gun-stock to copy, and do not warn them, they will in their manufacture repeat the blemish. Many of their slate-carvings are very good indeed, and their designs most curious.'Mayne's B. C., p. 278. See also,Dunn's Oregon, p. 293;Mofras,Explor., tom. ii., p. 337, and plate p. 387. The Skidagates 'showed me beautifully wrought articles of their own design and make, and amongst them some flutes manufactured from an unctuous blue slate.... The two ends were inlaid with lead, giving the idea of a fine silver mounting. Two of the keys perfectly represented frogs in a sitting posture, the eyes being picked out with burnished lead.... It would have done credit to a European modeller.'Poole's Q. Char. Isl., p. 258. 'Their talent for carving has made them famous far beyond their own country.'Bendel's Alex. Arch., p. 29. A square wooden box, holding one or two bushels, is made from three pieces, the sides being from one piece so mitred as to bend at the corners without breaking. 'During their performance of this character of labor, (carving, etc.) their superstitions will not allow any spectator of the operator's work.'Reed's Nar.;Ind. Life, p. 96. 'Of a very fine and hard slate they make cups, plates, pipes, little images, and various ornaments, wrought with surprising elegance and taste.'Hale's Ethnog., inU. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 197. 'Ils peignent aussi avec le même goût.'Rossi,Souvenirs, p. 298;Anderson, inHist. Mag., vol. vii., pp. 74-5.
[256]Mackenzie's Voy., p. 338;Lord's Nat., vol. i., p. 63; vol. ii., pp. 215-17, 254, 258;Dunn's Oregon, pp. 251, 253, 291, 293. 'They boil the cedar root until it becomes pliable to be worked by the hand and beaten with sticks, when they pick the fibres apart into threads. The warp is of a different material—sinew of the whale, or dried kelp-thread.'Reed's Nar.'Petatito de vara en cuadro bien vistoso, tejido de palma fina de dos colores blanco y negro que tejido en cuadritos.'Crespi, inDoc. Hist. Mex., s. iv., vol. vi., pp. 647, 650-1.
[257]Poole's Q. Char. Isl., p. 269, and cuts on pp. 121, 291;Mackenzie's Voy., p. 335;Simpson's Overland Journ., vol. i., p. 204;Vancouver's Voy., vol. ii., p. 303;Sutil y Mexicana,Viage, p. cxxv;Lord's Nat., vol. i., p. 174;Reed's Nar.;Catlin's N. Am. Ind., vol. ii., p. 113, with plate. The Bellabellahs 'promised to construct a steam-ship on the model of ours.... Some time after this rude steamer appeared. She was from 20 to 30 feet long, all in one piece—a large tree hollowed out—resembling the model of our steamer. She was black, with painted ports; decked over; and had paddles painted red, and Indians under cover, to turn them round. The steersman was not seen. She was floated triumphantly, and went at the rate of three miles an hour. They thought they had nearly come up to the point of external structure; but then the enginery baffled them; and this they thought they could imitate in time, by perseverance, and the helping illumination of the Great Spirit.'Dunn's Oregon, p. 272. See also, p. 291. 'A canoe easily distanced the champion boat of the American Navy, belonging to the man-of-warSaranac.'Bendel's Alex. Arch., p. 29.
[258]Scouler, inLond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 219;Macfie's B. C., pp. 429, 437, 458;Simpson's Overland Journ., vol. i., p. 206;Lord's Nat., vol. i., p. 174;Anderson, inHist. Mag., vol. vii., p. 74;Dunn's Oregon, pp. 279, 281-3, 292;Sutil y Mexicana,Viage, p. cxxv.
[259]Mackenzie's Voy., pp. 374-5;Tolmie and Anderson, inLord's Nat., vol. ii., pp. 240-2, 235;Macfie's B. C., p. 429;Simpson's Overland Journ., vol. i., p. 205;Dixon's Voy., p. 227. 'There exists among them a regular aristocracy.' 'The chiefs are always of unquestionable birth, and generally count among their ancestors men who were famous in battle and council.' 'The chief is regarded with all the reverence and respect which his rank, his birth, and his wealth can claim,' but 'his power is by no means unlimited.'Bendel's Alex. Arch., p. 30.
[260]Dunn's Oregon, pp. 273-4, 283;Parker's Explor. Tour, p. 263;Bendel's Alex. Arch., p. 30;Kane's Wand., p. 220.
[261]'Polygamy is universal, regulated simply by the facilities for subsistence.'Anderson, inLord's Nat., vol. ii., p. 235. See pp. 231-5, and vol. i., pp. 89-90. The women 'cohabit almost promiscuously with their own tribe though rarely with other tribes.' Poole, spending the night with a chief, was given the place of honor, under the same blanket with the chief's daughter—and her father.Poole's Q. Char. Isl., pp. 312-15, 115-16, 155. 'The Indians are in general very jealous of their women.'Dixon's Voy., p. 225-6. 'Tous les individus d'une famille couchent pêle-mêle sur le sol plancheyé de l'habitation.'Marchand,Voy., tom. ii., p. 144. 'Soon after I had retired ... the chief paid me a visit to insist on my going to his bed-companion, and taking my place himself.'Mackenzie's Voy., p. 331. See pp. 300, 371-2.Parker's Explor. Tour, p. 263. 'On the weddingday they have a public feast, at which they dance and sing.'Dunn's Oregon, pp. 252-3, 289-90. 'According to a custom of the Bellabollahs, the widow of the deceased is transferred to his brother's harem.'Simpson's Overland Journ., vol. i., p. 203-4. 'The temporary present of a wife is one of the greatest honours that can be shown there to a guest.'Sproat's Scenes, p. 95.
[262]'The Queen Charlotte Islanders surpass any people that I ever saw in passionate addiction' to gambling.Poole's Q. Char. Isl., p. 318-20. See pp. 186-87, 232-33.Mackenzie's Voy., pp. 288, 311. The Sebassas are great gamblers, and 'resemble the Chinooks in their games.'Dunn's Oregon, pp. 25-7, 252-9, 281-3, 293. 'The Indian mode of dancing bears a strange resemblance to that in use among the Chinese.'Poole's Q. Char. Isl., p. 82.Lord's Nat., vol. ii., p. 258;Parker's Explor. Tour, p. 263;Ind. Life, p. 63.
[263]Scouler, inLond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 223;Duncan, inMayne's B. C., pp. 285-8, and inMacfie's Vanc. Isl., pp. 434-7;White's Oregon, p. 246;Simpson's Overland Journ., vol. i., p. 205;Hutchings' Cal. Mag., Nov. 1860, pp. 222-8;Ind. Life, p. 68;Reed's Nar.;Anderson, inHist. Mag., vol. vii., p. 79.
[264]The Indians of Millbank Sound became exasperated against me, 'and they gave me the name of "Schloapes," i. e., "stingy:" and when near them, if I should spit, they would run and try to take up the spittle in something; for, according as they afterwards informed me, they intended to give it to their doctor or magician; and he would charm my life away.'Dunn's Oregon, pp. 246-7. See pp. 279-80;Poole's Q. Char. Isl., pp. 320-1.
[265]Lord's Nat., vol. ii., pp. 32-4, 53-4;Dunn's Oregon, pp. 367, 274-5.
[266]Vancouver's Voy., vol. ii., pp. 385-9.
[267]Poole's Q. Char. Isl., pp. 109-10, 116;Anderson, inLord's Nat., vol. ii., p. 242.
[268]At about 52° 40´, between the Fraser River and the Pacific, Mackenzie observed the treatment of a man with a bad ulcer on his back. They blew on him and whistled, pressed their fingers on his stomach, put their fists into his mouth, and spouted water into his face. Then he was carried into the woods, laid down in a clear spot, and a fire was built against his back while the doctor scarified the ulcer with a blunt instrument.Voy., pp. 331-33;Dunn's Oregon, pp. 258, 284;Poole's Q. Char. Isl., pp. 316-18;Duncan, inMayne's B. C., 289-91;Reed's Nar., inOlympia Wash. Stand.,May 16, 1868.
[269]At Boca de Quadra, Vancouver found 'a box about three feet square, and a foot and a half deep, in which were the remains of a human skeleton, which appeared from the confused situation of the bones, either to have been cut to pieces, or thrust with great violence into this small space.' ... 'I was inclined to suppose that this mode of depositing their dead is practised only in respect to certain persons of their society.'Voy., vol. ii., p. 351. At Cape Northumberland, in 54° 45´, 'was a kind of vault formed partly by the natural cavity of the rocks, and partly by the rude artists of the country. It was lined with boards, and contained some fragments of warlike implements, lying near a square box covered with mats and very curiously corded down.'Id., p. 370;Cornwallis' New El Dorado, pp. 106-7. On Queen Charlotte Islands, 'Ces monumens sont de deux espèces: les premiers et les plus simples ne sont composés que d'un seul pilier d'environ dix pieds d'élévation et d'un pied de diamètre, sur le sommet duquel sont fixées des planches formant un plateau; et dans quelques-uns ce plateau est supporté par deux piliers. Le corps, déposé sur cette plate-forme, est recouvert de mousse et de grosses pierres' ... 'Les mausolées de la seconde espèce sont plus composés: quatre poteaux plantés en terre, et élevés de deux pieds seulement au-dessus du sol portent un sarcophage travaillé avec art, et hermétiquement clos.'Marchand,Voy., tom. ii., pp. 135-6. 'According to another account it appeared that they actually bury their dead; and when another of the family dies, the remains of the person who was last interred, are taken from the grave and burned.'Mackenzie's Voy., p. 308. See also pp. 374, 295-98;Simpson's Overland Journ., vol. i., pp. 203-4;Dunn's Oregon, pp. 272, 276, 280;Mayne's B. C., pp. 272, 293;Lord's Nat., vol. ii., p. 235;Macfie's Vanc. Isl., pp. 440-41;Dall's Alaska, p. 417.
[270]On the coast, at 52° 12´, Vancouver found them 'civil, good-humoured and friendly.' At Cascade Canal, about 52° 24´, 'in traffic they proved themselves to be keen traders, but acted with the strictest honesty;' at Point Hopkins 'they all behaved very civilly and honestly;' while further north, at Observatory Inlet, 'in their countenances was expressed a degree of savage ferocity infinitely surpassing any thing of the sort I had before observed,' presents being scornfully rejected.Voy., vol. ii., pp. 281, 269, 303, 337. The Kitswinscolds on Skeena River 'are represented as a very superior race, industrious, sober, cleanly, and peaceable.'Ind. Aff. Rept., 1869, p. 533. The Chimsyans are fiercer and more uncivilized than the Indians of the South.Sproat's Scenes, p. 317. 'Finer and fiercer men than the Indians of the South.'Mayne's B. C., p. 250. 'They appear to be of a friendly disposition, but they are subject to sudden gusts of passion, which are as quickly composed; and the transition is instantaneous, from violent irritation to the most tranquil demeanor. Of the many tribes ... whom I have seen, these appear to be the most susceptible of civilization.'Mackenzie's Voy., p. 375, 322. At Stewart's Lake the natives, whenever there is any advantage to be gained are just as readily tempted to betray each other as to deceive the colonists.Macfie's Vanc. Isl., pp. 466-68, 458-59;Lord's Nat., vol. i., p. 174. A Kygarnie chief being asked to go to America or England, refused to go where even chiefs were slaves—that is, had duties to perform—while he at home was served by slaves and wives. The Sebassas 'are more active and enterprising than the Milbank tribes, but the greatest thieves and robbers on the coast.'Dunn's Oregon, p. 287, 273. 'All these visitors of Fort Simpson are turbulent and fierce. Their broils, which are invariably attended with bloodshed, generally arise from the most trivial causes.'Simpson's Overland Journ., vol. i., p. 206. The Kygarnies 'are very cleanly, fierce and daring.' The islanders, 'when they visit the mainland, they are bold and treacherous, and always ready for mischief.'Scouler, inLond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 219. The Kygarnies 'are a very fierce, treacherous race, and have not been improved by the rum and fire-arms sold to them.'Dall's Alaska, p. 411. Queen Charlotte Islanders look upon white men as superior beings, but conceal the conviction. The Skidagates are the most intelligent race upon the islands. Wonderfully acute in reading character, yet clumsy in their own dissimulation.... 'Not revengeful or blood-thirsty, except when smarting under injury or seeking to avert an imaginary wrong.' ... 'I never met with a really brave man among them.' The Acoltas have 'given more trouble to the Colonial Government than any other along the coast.'Poole's Q. Char. Isl., pp. 83, 151-2, 185-6, 208, 214, 233, 235, 245, 257, 271-72, 289, 309, 320-21. 'Of a cruel and treacherous disposition.'Hale's Ethnog., inU. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 197. They will stand up and fight Englishmen with their fists.Sproat's Scenes, p. 23. Intellectually superior to the Puget Sound tribes.Reed's Nar.'Mansos y de buena indole.'Crespi, inDoc. Hist. Mex., s. iv., vol. vi., p. 646. On Skeena River, 'the worst I have seen in all my travels.'Downie, inB. C. Papers, vol. iii., p. 73. 'As rogues, where all are rogues,' preëminence is awarded them.Anderson, inHist. Mag., vol. vii., pp. 74-5.
[271]'On my arrival at this inlet, I had honoured it with the name of King George's Sound; but I afterward found, that it is called Nootka by the natives.'Cook's Voy. to Pac., vol. ii., p. 288. 'No Aht Indian of the present day ever heard of such a name as Nootkah, though most of them recognize the other words in Cook's account of their language.'Sproat's Scenes, p. 315. Sproat conjectures that the name may have come fromNoochee! Noochee!the Aht word for mountain. A large proportion of geographical names originate in like manner through accident.
[272]For full particulars seeTribal Boundariesat end of this chapter.
[273]'The Newatees, mentioned in many books, are not known on the west coast. Probably the Klah-oh-quahts are meant.'Sproat's Scenes, p. 314.
[274]There are no Indians in the interior.Fitzwilliam's Evidence, inHud. B. Co., Rept. Spec. Com., 1857, p. 115.
[275]The same name is also applied to one of theSoundnations across the strait in Washington.
[276]The Teets or Haitlins are called by the Tacullies, 'Sa-Chinco' strangers.Anderson, inHist. Mag., vol. vii., pp. 73-4.
[277]Sproat's division into nations, 'almost as distinct as the nations of Europe' is into the Quoquoulth (Quackoll) or Fort Rupert, in the north and north-east; the Kowitchan, or Thongeith, on the east and south; Aht on the west coast; and Komux, a distinct tribe also on the east of Vancouver. 'These tribes of the Ahts are not confederated; and I have no other warrant for calling them a nation than the fact of their occupying adjacent territories, and having the same superstitions and language.'Sproat's Scenes, pp. 18-19, 311. Mayne makes by language four nations; the first including the Cowitchen in the harbor and valley of the same name north of Victoria, with the Nanaimo and Kwantlum Indians about the mouth of the Fraser River, and the Songhies; the second comprising the Comoux, Nanoose, Nimpkish, Quawguult, etc., on Vancouver, and the Squawmisht, Sechelt, Clahoose, Ucle-tah, Mama-lil-a-culla, etc., on the main, and islands, between Nanaimo and Fort Rupert; the third and fourth groups include the twenty-four west-coast tribes who speak two distinct languages, not named.Mayne's Vanc. Isl., pp. 243-51. Grant's division gives four languages on Vancouver, viz., the Quackoll, from Clayoquot Sound north to C. Scott, and thence S. to Johnson's Strait; the Cowitchin, from Johnson's Strait to Sanetch Arm; the Tsclallum, or Clellum, from Sanetch to Soke, and on the opposite American shore; and the Macaw, from Patcheena to Clayoquot Sound. 'These four principal languages ... are totally distinct from each other, both in sound, formation, and modes of expression.'Grant, inLond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxvii., p. 295. Scouler attempts no division into nations or languages.Lond. Geo. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., pp. 221, 224. Mofras singularly designates them as one nation of 20,000 souls, under the name ofOuakich.Mofras,Explor., tom. ii., p. 343. Recent investigations have shown a somewhat different relationship of these languages, which I shall give more particularly in a subsequent volume.
[278]SeeSproat's Scenes, pp. 272-86, on the 'effects upon savages of intercourse with civilized men.' 'Hitherto, (1856) in Vancouver Island, the tribes who have principally been in intercourse with the white man, have found it for their interest to keep up that intercourse in amity for the purposes of trade, and the white adventurers have been so few in number, that they have not at all interfered with the ordinary pursuits of the natives.'Grant, inLond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxvii., p. 303.
[279]'Muy robustos y bien apersonados.' 'De mediana estatura, excepto los Xefes cuya corpulencia se hace notar.'Sutil y Mexicana,Viage, pp. 55, 124. 'The young princess was of low stature, very plump.'Vancouver's Voy., vol. i., p. 395. Macquilla, the chief was five feet eight inches, with square shoulders and muscular limbs; his son was five feet nine inches.Belcher's Voy., vol. i., pp. 110-12. The seaboard tribes have 'not much physical strength.'Poole's Q. Char. Isl., p. 73. 'La gente dicen ser muy robusta.'Perez,Rel. del Viage, MS., p. 20. 'Leur taille est moyenne.'Mofras,Explor., tom. ii., p. 343. 'In general, robust and well proportioned.'Meares' Voy., p. 249. Under the common stature, pretty full and plump, but not muscular—never corpulent, old people lean—short neck and clumsy body; women nearly the same size as the men.Cook's Voy. to Pac., vol. ii., pp. 301-3. 'Of smaller stature than the Northern Tribes; they are usually fatter and more muscular.'Scouler, inLond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 221. In the north, among the Clayoquots and Quackolls, men are often met of five feet ten inches and over; on the south coast the stature varies from five feet three inches to five feet six inches.Grant, inLond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxvii., p. 297. 'The men are in general from about five feet six to five feet eight inches in height; remarkably straight, of a good form, robust and strong.' Only one dwarf was seen.Jewitt's Nar., pp. 60-61. The Klah-oh-quahts are 'as a tribe physically the finest. Individuals may be found in all the tribes who reach a height of five feet eleven inches, and a weight of 180 pounds, without much flesh on their bodies.' Extreme average height: men, five feet six inches, women, five feet one-fourth inch. 'Many of the men have well-shaped forms and limbs. None are corpulent.' 'The men generally have well-set, strong frames, and, if they had pluck and skill, could probably hold their own in a grapple with Englishmen of the same stature.'Sproat's Scenes, pp. 22-3. 'Rather above the middle stature, copper-colored and of an athletic make.'Spark's Life of Ledyard, p. 71;Prichard's Researches, vol. v., p. 442. 'Spare muscular forms.'Barrett-Lennard's Trav., pp. 44;Gordon's Hist. and Geog. Mem., pp. 14-22.
[280]Limbs small, crooked, or ill-made; large feet; badly shaped, and projecting ankles from sitting so much on their hams and knees.Cook's Voy. to Pac., vol. ii., pp. 301-3. 'Their limbs, though stout and athletic, are crooked and ill-shaped.'Meares' Voy., p. 250. 'Ils ont les membres inférieures légèrement arqués, les chevilles très-saillantes, et la pointe des pieds tournée en dedans, difformité qui provient de la manière dont ils sont assis dans leurs canots.'Mofras,Explor., tom. ii., pp. 343-4. 'Stunted, and move with a lazy waddling gait.'Macfie's Vanc. Isl., p. 428. 'Skeleton shanks ... not much physical strength ... bow-legged—defects common to the seaboard tribes.'Poole's Q. Char. Isl., pp. 73-4. All the females of the Northwest Coast are very short-limbed. 'Raro es el que no tiene muy salientes los tobillos y las puntas de los pies inclinadas hácia dentro ... y una especie de entumecimiento que se advierte, particularmente en las mugeres.'Sutil y Mexicana,Viage, pp. 124, 30, 62-3. They have great strength in the fingers.Sproat's Scenes, p. 33. Women, short-limbed, and toe in.Id., p. 22;Mayne's B. C., pp. 282-3. 'The limbs of both sexes are ill-formed, and the toes turned inwards.' 'The legs of the women, especially those of the slaves, are often swollen as if oedematous, so that the leg appears of an uniform thickness from the ankle to the calf,' from wearing a garter.Scouler, inLond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 221.
[281]The different Aht tribes vary in physiognomy somewhat—'faces of the Chinese and Spanish types may be seen.' 'The face of the Ahts is rather broad and flat; the mouth and lips of both men and women are large, though to this there are exceptions, and the cheekbones are broad but not high. The skull is fairly shaped, the eyes small and long, deep set, in colour a lustreless inexpressive black, or very dark hazel, none being blue, grey, or brown.... One occasionally sees an Indian with eyes distinctly Chinese. The nose ... in some instances is remarkably well-shaped.' 'The teeth are regular, but stumpy, and are deficient in enamel at the points,' perhaps from eating sanded salmon.Sproat's Scenes, pp. 19, 27. 'Their faces are large and full, their cheeks high and prominent, with small black eyes; their noses are broad and flat; their lips thick, and they have generally very fine teeth, and of the most brilliant whiteness.'Meares' Voy., pp. 249-50;Barrett-Lennard's Trav., p. 44. 'La fisonomia de estos (Nitinats) era differente de la de los habitantes de Nutka: tenian el cráneo de figura natural, los ojos chicos muy próximos, cargados los párpados.' Many have a languid look, but few a stupid appearance.Sutil y Mexicana,Viage, pp. 28, 30, 62-3, 124. 'Dull and inexpressive eye.' 'Unprepossessing and stupid countenances.'Poole's Q. Char. Isl., pp. 74, 80. The Wickinninish have 'a much less open and pleasing expression of countenance' than the Klaizzarts. The Newchemass 'were the most savage looking and ugly men that I ever saw.' 'The shape of the face is oval; the features are tolerably regular, the lips being thin and the teeth very white and even: their eyes are black but rather small, and the nose pretty well formed, being neither flat nor very prominent.' The women 'are in general very well-looking, and some quite handsome.'Jewitt's Nar., pp. 76, 77, 61. 'Features that would have attracted notice for their delicacy and beauty, in those parts of the world where the qualities of the human form are best understood.'Meares' Voy., p. 250. Face round and full, sometimes broad, with prominent cheek-bones ... falling in between the temples, the nose flattening at the base, wide nostrils and a rounded point ... forehead low; eyes small, black and languishing; mouth round, with large, round, thickish lips; teeth tolerably equal and well-set, but not very white. Remarkable sameness, a dull phlegmatic want of expression; no pretensions to beauty among the women.Cook's Voy. to Pac., vol. ii., pp. 301-2. See portraits of Nootkas inBelcher's Voy., vol. i., p. 108;Cook's Atlas, pl. 38-9;Sutil y Mexicana,Viage,Atlas;Whymper's Alaska, p. 75. 'Long nose, high cheek bones, large ugly mouth, very long eyes, and foreheads villainously low.' 'The women of Vancouver Island have seldom or ever good features; they are almost invariably pug-nosed; they have however, frequently a pleasing expression, and there is no lack of intelligence in their dark hazel eyes.'Grant, inLond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxvii., pp. 297-8. 'Though without any pretensions to beauty, could not be considered as disagreeable.'Vancouver's Voy., vol. i., p. 395. 'Have the common facial characteristics of low foreheads, high cheek-bones, aquiline noses, and large mouths.' 'Among some of the tribes pretty women may be seen.'Mayne's B. C., p. 277.
[282]'Her skin was clean, and being nearly white,' etc.Vancouver's Voy., vol. i., p. 395. 'Reddish brown, like that of a dirty copper kettle.' Some, when washed, have 'almost a florid complexion.'Grant, inLond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxvii., pp. 297, 299. 'Brown, somewhat inclining to a copper cast.' The women are much whiter, 'many of them not being darker than those in some of the Southern parts of Europe.' The Newchemass are much darker than the other tribes.Jewitt's Nar., pp. 61, 77. 'Their complexion, though light, has more of a copper hue' than that of the Haidahs.Scouler, inLond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 221. 'Skin white, with the clear complexion of Europe.'Meares' Voy., p. 250. The color hard to tell on account of the paint, but in a few cases 'the whiteness of the skin appeared almost to equal that of Europeans; though rather of that pale effete cast ... of our southern nations.... Their children ... also equalled ours in whiteness.'Cook's Voy. to Pac., vol. ii., p. 303. 'Their complexion is a dull brown,' darker than the Haidahs. 'Cook and Meares probably mentioned exceptional cases.'Sproat's Scenes, pp. 23-4. 'Tan blancos como el mejor Español.'Perez,Rel. del Viage, MS., p. 20. 'Por lo que se puede inferir del (color) de los niños, parece menos obscuro que el de los Mexicanos,' but judging by the chiefs' daughters they are wholly white.Sutil y Mexicana,Viage, p. 125. 'A dark, swarthy copper-coloured figure.'Lord's Nat., vol. i., p. 143. They 'have lighter complexions than other aborigines of America.'Greenhow's Hist. Ogn., p. 116. 'Sallow complexion, verging towards copper colour.'Barrett-Lennard's Trav., pp. 44-6. Copper-coloured.Spark's Life of Ledyard, p. 71.
[283]'The hair of the natives is never shaven from the head. It is black or dark brown, without gloss, coarse and lank, but not scanty, worn long.... Slaves wear their hair short. Now and then, but rarely, a light-haired native is seen. There is one woman in the Opechisat tribe at Alberni who had curly, or rather wavy, brown hair. Few grey-haired men can be noticed in any tribe. The men's beards and whiskers are deficient, probably from the old alleged custom, now seldom practiced, of extirpating the hairs with small shells. Several of the Nootkah Sound natives (Moouchahts) have large moustaches and whiskers.'Sproat's Scenes, pp. 25-7. 'El cabello es largo lacio y grueso, variando su color entre rubio, obscuro, castaño y negro. La barba sale á los mozos con la misma regularidad que á los de otros paises, y llega á ser en los ancianos tan poblada y larga como la de los Turcos; pero los jóvenes parecen imberbes porque se la arrancan con los dedos, ó mas comunmente con pinzas formadas de pequeñas conchas.'Sutil y Mexicana,Viage, pp. 124-5, 57. 'Hair of the head is in great abundance, very coarse, and strong; and without a single exception, black, straight and lank.' No beards at all, or a small thin one on the chin, not from a natural defect, but from plucking. Old men often have beards. Eyebrows scanty and narrow.Cook's Voy. to Pac., vol. ii., pp. 301-3. 'Neither beard, whisker, nor moustache ever adorns the face of the redskin.'Lord's Nat., vol. i., p. 143;Jewitt's Nar., pp. 61, 75, 77. Hair 'invariably either black or dark brown.'Grant, inLond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxvii., p. 297;Meares' Voy., p. 250;Mayne's B. C., pp. 277-8;Macfie's Vanc. Isl., p. 442;Spark's Life of Ledyard, p. 71.
[284]Cook's Voy. to Pac., vol. ii., pp. 304-8;Sutil y Mexicana,Viage, pp. 126-7;Sproat's Scenes, pp. 26-7;Meares' Voy., p. 254;Macfie's Vanc. Isl., p. 442;Jewitt's Nar., pp. 21, 23, 62, 65, 77-8;Grant, inLond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxvii., p. 297;Mayne's B. C., pp. 277-8;Barrett-Lennard's Trav., p. 44.
[285]Mayne's B. C., pp. 242, 277, with cut of a child with bandaged head, and of a girl with a sugar-loaf head, measuring eighteen inches from the eyes to the summit.Sproat's Scenes, pp. 28-30;Grant, inLond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxvii., p. 298;Scouler, inLond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 222;Meares' Voy., p. 249;Macfie's Vanc. Isl., p. 441;Sutil y Mexicana,Viage, p. 124;Lord's Nat., vol. i., p. 171; vol. ii., p. 103, cut of three skulls of flattened, conical, and natural form;Kane's Wand., p. 241;Jewitt's Nar., p. 76;Schoolcraft's Arch., vol. ii., p. 325;Barrett-Lennard's Trav., p. 45;Gordon's Hist. and Geog. Mem., p. 115.
[286]At Valdes Island, 'the faces of some were made intirely white, some red, black, or lead colour.'Vancouver's Voy., vol. i., pp. 307, 341. At Nuñez Gaona Bay, 'se pintan de encarnado y negro.'Sutil y Mexicana,Viage, p. 30. At Nootka Sound, 'Con esta grasa (de ballena) se untan todo el cuerpo, y despues se pintan con una especie de barniz compuesto de la misma grasa ó aceyte, y de almagre en términos que parece este su color natural.' Chiefs only may paint in varied colors, plebeians being restricted to one.'Id., pp. 125-7. 'Many of the females painting their faces on all occasions, but the men only at set periods.' Vermilion is obtained by barter. Black, their war and mourning color, is made by themselves.Macfie's Vanc. Isl., p. 442. 'Ces Indiens enduisent leur corps d'huile de baleine, et se peignent avec des ocres.' Chiefs only may wear different colors, and figures of animals.Mofras,Explor., tom. ii., p. 344. 'Rub their bodies constantly with a red paint, of a clayey or coarse ochry substance, mixed with oil.... Their faces are often stained with a black, a brighter red, or a white colour, by way of ornament.... They also strew the brown martial mica upon the paint, which makes it glitter.'Cook's Voy. to Pac., vol. ii., p. 305. 'A line of vermilion extends from the centre of the forehead to the tip of the nose, and from this "trunk line" others radiate over and under the eyes and across the cheeks. Between these red lines white and blue streaks alternately fill the interstices. A similar pattern ornaments chest, arms, and back, the frescoing being artistically arranged to give apparent width to the chest.'Lord's Nat., vol. i., p. 143. 'They paint the face in hideous designs of black and red (the only colours used), and the parting of the hair is also coloured red.'Mayne's B. C., p. 277. 'At great feasts the faces of the women are painted red with vermilion or berry-juice, and the men's faces are blackened with burnt wood. About the age of twenty-five the women cease to use paint.... Some of the young men streak their faces with red, but grown-up men seldom now use paint, unless on particular occasions.... The leader of a war expedition is distinguished by a streaked visage from his black-faced followers.'Sproat's Scenes, p. 27-8. The manner of painting is often a matter of whim. 'The most usual method is to paint the eye-brows black, in form of a half moon, and the face red in small squares, with the arms and legs and part of the body red; sometimes one half of the face is painted red in squares, and the other black; at others, dotted with red spots, or red and black instead of squares, with a variety of other devices, such as painting one half of the face and body red, and the other black.'Jewitt's Nar., p. 64;Meares' Voy., p. 252;Barrett-Lennard's Trav., p. 46;Spark's Life of Ledyard, p. 71.
[287]'The habit of tattooing the legs and arms is common to all the women of Vancouver's Island; the men do not adopt it.'Grant, inLond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxvii., p. 307. 'No such practice as tattooing exists among these natives.'Sproat's Scenes, p. 27. 'The ornament on which they appear to set the most value, is the nose-jewel, if such an appellation may be given to the wooden stick, which some of them employ for this purpose.... I have seen them projecting not less than eight or nine inches beyond the face on each side; this is made fast or secured in its place by little wedges on each side of it.'Jewitt's Nar., pp. 65-6, 75;Mofras,Explor., tom. ii., p. 344.Cook's Voy. to Pac., vol. ii., pp. 304-8;Sutil y Mexicana,Viage, pp. 30, 126-7;Macfie's Vanc. Isl., p. 442;Whymper's Alaska, pp. 37, 74, with cut of mask.Mayne's B. C., p. 268;Kane's Wand., pp. 221-2, and illustration of a hair medicine-cap.
[288]'Their cloaks, which are circular capes with a hole in the centre, edged with sea-otter skin, are constructed from the inner bark of the cypress. It turns the rain, is very soft and pliable,' etc.Belcher's Voy., vol. i., p. 112. The usual dress of the Newchemass 'is akootsuckmade of wolf skin, with a number of the tails attached to it ... hanging from the top to the bottom; though they sometimes wear a similar mantle of bark cloth, of a much coarser texture than that of Nootka.'Jewitt's Nar., pp. 77-8, 21-3, 56-8, 62-6. 'Their common dress is a flaxen garment, or mantle, ornamented on the upper edge by a narrow strip of fur, and at the lower edge, by fringes or tassels. It passes under the left arm, and is tied over the right shoulder, by a string before, and one behind, near its middle.... Over this, which reaches below the knees, is worn a small cloak of the same substance, likewise fringed at the lower part.... Their head is covered with a cap, of the figure of a truncated cone, or like a flower-pot, made of fine matting, having the top frequently ornamented with a round or pointed knob, or bunch of leathern tassels.'Cook's Voy. to Pac., vol. ii., pp. 304-8, 270-1, 280. 'The men's dress is a blanket; the women's a strip of cloth, or shift, and blanket. The old costume of the natives was the same as at present, but the material was different.'Sproat's Scenes, pp. 25, 315. 'Their clothing generally consists of skins,' but they have two other garments of bark or dog's hair. 'Their garments of all kinds are worn mantlewise, and the borders of them are fringed' with wampum.Spark's Life of Ledyard, pp. 71-2;Colyer, inInd. Aff. Rept., 1869, p. 533;Sutil y Mexicana,Viage, pp. 30-1, 38, 56-7, 126-8;Meares' Voy., pp. 251-4;Grant, inLond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxvii., p. 297;Lord's Nat., vol. i., pp. 143-4;Mofras,Explor., tom. ii., pp. 344-5;Whymper's Alaska, p. 37;Greenhow's Hist. Ogn., p. 116;Macfie's Van. Isl., pp. 431, 443;Barrett-Lennard's Trav., p. 46. See portraits inCook's Atlas,Belcher's Voy.,Sutil y Mexicana, Atlas, andWhymper's Alaska.
[289]On the east side of Vancouver was a village of thirty-four houses, arranged in regular streets. The house of the leader 'was distinguished by three rafters of stout timber raised above the roof, according to the architecture of Nootka, though much inferior to those I had there seen, in point of size.' Bed-rooms were separated, and more decency observed than at Nootka Sound.Vancouver's Voy., vol. i., pp. 346-7, with a view of this village; also pp. 324-5, description of the village on Desolation Sound; p. 338, on Valdes Island; p. 326, view of village on Bute Canal; and vol. iii., pp. 310-11, a peculiarity not noticed by Cook—'immense pieces of timber which are raised, and horizontally placed on wooden pillars, about eighteen inches above the roof of the largest houses in that village; one of which pieces of timber was of a size sufficient to have made a lower mast for a third rate man of war.' SeeCook's Voy. to Pac., vol. ii., pp. 281, 313-19, andAtlas, plate 40. A sort of a duplicate inside building, with shorter posts, furnishes on its roof a stage, where all kinds of property and supplies are stored.Sproat's Scenes, pp. 37-43. 'The planks or boards which they make use of for building their houses, and for other uses, they procure of different lengths, as occasion requires, by splitting them out, with hard wooden wedges from pine logs, and afterwards dubbing them down with their chizzels.'Jewitt's Nar., pp. 52-4. Grant states that the Nootka houses are palisade inclosures formed of stakes or young fir-trees, some twelve or thirteen feet high, driven into the ground close together, roofed in with slabs of fir or cedar.Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxvii., p. 299. The Teets have palisaded enclosures.Anderson, inHist. Mag., vol. vii., p. 74. 'The chief resides at the upper end, the proximity of his relatives to him being according to their degree of kindred.'Macfie's Vanc. Isl., pp. 443-4;Dunn's Oregon, p. 243;Belcher's Voy., vol. i., p. 112;Lord's Nat., vol. i., pp. 158, 164-5, 167, 320-21;Seemann's Voy. of Herald, vol. i., pp. 105-6. The carved pillars are not regarded by the natives as idols in any sense.Sutil y Mexicana,Viage, pp. 128-9, 102;Barrett-Lennard's Trav., pp. 47, 73-4. Some houses eighty by two hundred feet.Colyer, inInd. Aff. Rept., 1869, p. 533;Mayne's B. C., p. 296;Gordon's Hist. and Geog. Mem., pp. 120-1.
[290]'Their heads and their garments swarm with vermin, which, ... we used to see them pick off with great composure, and eat.'Cook's Voy. to Pac., vol. ii., p. 305. See also pp. 279-80, 318-24. 'Their mode of living is very simple—their food consisting almost wholly of fish, or fish spawn fresh or dried, the blubber of the whale, seal, or sea-cow, muscles, clams, and berries of various kinds; all of which are eaten with a profusion of train oil.'Jewitt's Nar., pp. 58-60, 68-9, 86-8, 94-7, 103.Sproat's Scenes, pp. 52-7, 61, 87, 144-9, 216-70. 'The common business of fishing for ordinary sustenance is carried on by slaves, or the lower class of people;—While the more noble occupation of killing the whale and hunting the sea-otter, is followed by none but the chiefs and warriors.'Meares' Voy., p. 258. 'They make use of the dried fucus giganteus, anointed with oil, for lines, in taking salmon and sea-otters.'Belcher's Voy., vol. i., pp. 112-13.Sutil y Mexicana,Viage, pp. 17, 26, 45-6, 59-60, 76, 129-30, 134-5;Grant, inLond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxvii., pp. 299-300;Mayne's B. C., pp. 252-7;Macfie's Vanc. Isl., pp. 165-442;Simpson's Overland Journ., vol. i., p. 239;Pemberton's Vanc. Isl., pp. 28-32;Dunn's Oregon, p. 243;Mofras,Explor., tom. ii., p. 338. The Sau-kau-lutuck tribe 'are said to live on the edge of a lake, and subsist principally on deer and bear, and such fish as they can take in the lake.'Lord's Nat., vol. i., pp. 158-9;Barrett-Lennard's Trav., pp. 48, 74-5, 76-7, 85-6, 90-1, 144-50, 197-8; vol. ii., p. 111;Cornwallis' New El Dorado, p. 100;Forbes' Vanc. Isl., pp. 54-5;Rattray's Vanc. Isl., pp. 77-8, 82-3;Hud. Bay Co., Rept. Spec. Com., 1857, p. 114.
[291]Sutil y Mexicana,Viage, pp. 57, 63, 78;Jewitt's Nar., pp. 78-81;Vancouver's Voy., vol. i., p. 307;Macfie's Vanc. Isl., p. 443;Cox's Adven., vol. i., p. 100. 'The native bow, like the canoe and paddle, is beautifully formed. It is generally made of yew or crab-apple wood, and is three and a half feet long, with about two inches at each end turned sharply backwards from the string. The string is a piece of dried seal-gut, deer-sinew, or twisted bark. The arrows are about thirty inches long, and are made of pine or cedar, tipped with six inches of serrated bone, or with two unbarbed bone or iron prongs. I have never seen an Aht arrow with a barbed head.'Sproat's Scenes, p. 82. 'Having now to a great extent discarded the use of the traditional tomahawk and spear. Many of these weapons are, however, still preserved as heirlooms among them.'Barrett-Lennard's Trav., p. 42. 'No bows and arrows.' 'Generally fight hand to hand, and not with missiles.'Fitzwilliam's Evidence, inHud. Bay Co. Rept., 1857, p. 115.
[292]The Ahts 'do not take the scalp of the enemy, but cut off his head, by three dexterous movements of the knife ... and the warrior who has taken most heads is most praised and feared.'Sproat's Scenes, pp. 186-202. 'Scalp every one they kill.'Macfie's Vanc. Isl., p. 470, 443, 467. One of the Nootka princes assured the Spaniards that the bravest captains ate human flesh before engaging in battle.Sutil y Mexicana,Viage, p. 130. The Nittinahts consider the heads of enemies slain in battle asspolia opima.Whymper's Alaska, pp. 54, 78;Jewitt's Nar., pp. 120-1;Lord's Nat., vol. i., pp. 155-6, 158, 166, 171, vol. ii., p. 251-3. Women keep watch during the night, and tell the exploits of their nation to keep awake.Meares' Voy., p. 267.Vancouver's Voy., vol. i., p. 396;Grant, inLond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxvii., p. 296;Mayne's B. C., p. 270;Barrett-Lennard's Trav., pp. 41-2, 129-36.