Chapter III: Columbians (7)

[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-war _Saranac_.' _Bendel's Alex. Arch._, p. 29.

[258] _Scouler_, in _Lond. 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_, in _Hist. 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_, in _Lord'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_, in _Lord'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_, in _Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour._, vol. xi., p. 223; _Duncan_, in _Mayne's B. C._, pp. 285-8, and in _Macfie'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_, in _Hist. 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_, in _Lord'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_, in _Mayne's B. C._, 289-91; _Reed's Nar._, in _Olympia 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_, in _Lond. 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._, in _U. 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_, in _Doc. Hist. Mex._, s. iv., vol. vi., p. 646. On Skeena River, 'the worst I have seen in all my travels.' _Downie_, in _B. C. Papers_, vol. iii., p. 73. 'As rogues, where all are rogues,' preëminence is awarded them. _Anderson_, in _Hist. 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 from _Noochee! Noochee!_ the Aht word for mountain. A large proportion of geographical names originate in like manner through accident.

[272] For full particulars see TRIBAL BOUNDARIES at 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_, in _Hud. B. Co., Rept. Spec. Com._, 1857, p. 115.

[275] The same name is also applied to one of the _Sound_ nations across the strait in Washington.

[276] The Teets or Haitlins are called by the Tacullies, '_Sa-Chinco_' strangers. _Anderson_, in _Hist. 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_, in _Lond. 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 of _Ouakich_. _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] See _Sproat'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_, in _Lond. 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_, in _Lond. 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_, in _Lond. 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_, in _Lond. 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 in _Belcher'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_, in _Lond. 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_, in _Lond. 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_, in _Lond. 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_, in _Lond. 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_, in _Lond. 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_, in _Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour._, vol. xxvii., p. 298; _Scouler_, in _Lond. 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_, in _Lond. 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 a _kootsuck_ made 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_, in _Ind. Aff. Rept._, 1869, p. 533; _Sutil y Mexicana_, _Viage_, pp. 30-1, 38, 56-7, 126-8; _Meares' Voy._, pp. 251-4; _Grant_, in _Lond. 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 in _Cook's Atlas_, _Belcher's Voy._, _Sutil y Mexicana, Atlas_, and _Whymper'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.' See _Cook's Voy. to Pac._, vol. ii., pp. 281, 313-19, and _Atlas_, 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_, in _Hist. 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_, in _Ind. 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_, in _Lond. 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_, in _Hud. 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 as _spolia 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_, in _Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour._, vol. xxvii., p. 296; _Mayne's B. C._, p. 270; _Barrett-Lennard's Trav._, pp. 41-2, 129-36.

[293] 'They have no seats.... The rowers generally sit on their hams, but sometimes they make use of a kind of small stool.' _Meares' Voy._, pp. 263-4. The larger canoes are used for sleeping and eating, being dry and more comfortable than the houses. _Cook's Voy. to Pac._, vol. ii., pp. 319, 327, and _Atlas_, pl. 41. 'The most skillful canoe-makers among the tribes are the Nitinahts and the Klah-oh-quahts. They make canoes for sale to other tribes.' 'The baling-dish of the canoes, is always of one shape--the shape of the gable-roof of a cottage.' _Sproat's Scenes_, pp. 85, 87-8; _Mayne's B. C._, p. 283, and cut on title-page. Canoes not in use are hauled up on the beach in front of their villages. _Grant_, in _Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour._, vol. xxvii., p. 301. 'They keep time to the stroke of the paddle with their songs.' _Jewitt's Nar._, pp. 69-71, 75; _Sutil y Mexicana_, _Viage_, pp. 39, 133; _Lord's Nat._, vol. i., p. 144; _Vancouver's Voy._, vol. i., p. 338. Their canoes 'are believed to supply the pattern after which clipper ships are built.' _Macfie's Vanc. Isl._, pp. 484, 430. _Barrett-Lennard's Trav._, p. 50. _Colyer_, in _Ind. Aff. Rept._, 1869, p. 533.

[294] _Cook's Voy. to Pac._, vol. ii., pp. 271, 308, 316, 326, 329-30. _Sproat's Scenes_, pp. 86-9, 317; _Sutil y Mexicana_, _Viage_, p. 129; _Lord's Nat._, vol. ii., pp. 257-8, which describes a painted and ornamented plate of native copper some one and a half by two and a half feet, kept with great care in a wooden case, also elaborately ornamented. It was the property of the tribe at Fort Rupert, and was highly prized, and only brought out on great occasions, though its use was not discovered. _Macfie's Vanc. Isl._, p. 165.

[295] Woolen cloths of all degrees of fineness, made by hand and worked in figures, by a method not known. _Cook's Voy. to Pac._, vol. ii., p. 325. _Sutil y Mexicana_, _Viage_, pp. 46, 136; _Lord's Nat._, vol. ii., p. 254; _Sproat's Scenes_, pp. 88-9; _Jewitt's Nar._, p. 55; _Macfie's Vanc. Isl._, pp. 442, 451, 483-5; _Mofras_, _Explor._, tom. ii., p. 344; _Pemberton's Vanc. Isl._, p. 131; _Cornwallis' New El Dorado_, pp. 99-100. 'The implement used for weaving, (by the Teets) differed in no apparent respect from the rude loom of the days of the Pharaohs.' _Anderson_, in _Hist. Mag._, vol. vii., p. 78.

[296] _Sproat's Scenes_, pp. 79-81, 89, 96, 111-13; _Kane's Wand._, pp. 220-1; _Macfie's Vanc. Isl._, pp. 429, 437; _Cook's Voy. to Pac._, vol. ii., p. 284; _Sutil y Mexicana_, _Viage_, p. 147; _Lord's Nat._, vol. i., pp. 165-6; _Mayne's B. C._, 263-5.

[297] _Jewitt's Nar._, pp. 78-80; _Sproat's Scenes_, pp. 19, 55, 78-9, 92. Before the adoption of blankets as a currency, they used small shells from the coast bays for coin, and they are still used by some of the more remote tribes. _Grant_, in _Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour._, vol. xxvii., p. 307. 'Their acuteness in barter is remarkable.' _Forbes' Vanc. Isl._, p. 25.

[298] The Ahts 'divide the year into thirteen months, or rather moons, and begin with the one that pretty well answers to our November. At the same time, as their names are applied to each actual new moon as it appears, they are not, by half a month and more (sometimes), identical with our calendar months.' _Sproat's Scenes_, pp. 121-4. 'Las personas mas cultas dividen el año en catorce meses, y cada uno de estos en veinte dias, agregando luego algunos dias intercalares al fin de cada mes. El de Julio, que ellos llaman _Satz-tzi-mitl_, y es el primero de su año, á mas de sus veinte dias ordinarios tiene tantos intercalares quantos dura la abundancia de lenguados, atunes, etc.' _Sutil y Mexicana_, _Viage_, pp. 153-4, 148; _Grant_, in _Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour._, vol. xxvii., pp. 295, 304; _Lord's Nat._, vol. ii., pp. 242-4.

[299] 'They shew themselves ingenious sculptors. They not only preserve, with great exactness, the general character of their own faces, but finish the more minute parts, with a degree of accuracy in proportion, and neatness in execution.' _Cook's Voy. to Pac._, vol. ii., pp. 326-7, and _Atlas_, pl. 40; _Lord's Nat._, vol. i., pp. 164-5, vol. ii., pp. 257-8, and cut, p. 103; _Macfie's Vanc. Isl._, pp. 444-7, 484; _Mayne's B. C._, cut on p. 271.

[300] 'In an Aht tribe of two hundred men, perhaps fifty possess various degrees of acquired or inherited rank; there may be about as many slaves; the remainder are independent members.' Some of the Klah-oh-quahts 'pay annually to their chief certain contributions, consisting of blankets, skins, etc.' 'A chief's "blue blood" avails not in a dispute with one of his own people; he must fight his battle like a common man.' _Sproat's Scenes_, pp. 113-17, 18-20, 226. Cheslakees, a chief on Johnson's Strait, was inferior but not subordinate in authority to Maquinna, the famous king at Nootka Sound, but the chief at Loughborough's Channel claimed to be under Maquinna. _Vancouver's Voy._, vol. i., pp. 346, 331. 'La dignidad de Tays es hereditaria de padres á hijos, y pasa regularmente á estos luego que estan en edad de gobernar, si los padres por ancianidad ú otras causas no pueden seguir mandando.' 'El gobierno de estos naturales puede llamarse Patriarcal; pues el Xefe de la nacion hace á un mismo tiempo los oficios de padre de familia, de Rey y de Sumo Sacerdote.' 'Los nobles gozan de tanta consideracion en Nutka, que ni aun de palabra se atreven los Tayses á reprehenderlos.' 'Todos consideraban á este (Maquinna) como Soberano de las costas, desde la de Buena Esperanza hasta la punta de Arrecifes, con todos los Canales interiores.' To steal, or to know carnally a girl nine years old, is punished with death. _Sutil y Mexicana_, _Viage_, pp. 140, 136, 147, 19, 25. 'There are such men as Chiefs, who are distinguished by the name or title of _Acweek_, and to whom the others are, in some measure, subordinate. But, I should guess, the authority of each of these great men extends no farther than the family to which he belongs.' _Cook's Voy. to Pac._, vol. ii., pp. 333-4. 'La forme de leur gouvernement est toute patriarcale, et la dignité de chef, héréditaire.' _Mofras_, _Explor._, tom. ii., p. 346. Several very populous villages to the northward, included in the territory of Maquilla, the head chief, were entrusted to the government of the principal of his female relations. The whole government formed a political bond of union similar to the feudal system which formerly obtained in Europe. _Meares' Voy._, pp. 228-9. 'The king or head Tyee, is their leader in war, in the management of which he is perfectly absolute. He is also president of their councils, which are almost always regulated by his opinion. But he has no kind of power over the property of his subjects.' _Jewitt's Nar._, pp. 138-9, 47, 69, 73. _Kane's Wand._, pp. 220-1. 'There is no code of laws, nor do the chiefs possess the power or means of maintaining a regular government; but their personal influence is nevertheless very great with their followers.' _Douglas_, in _Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour._, vol. xxiv., p. 246.

[301] 'Usually kindly treated, eat of the same food, and live as well as their masters.' 'None but the king and chiefs have slaves.' 'Maquinna had nearly fifty, male and female, in his house.' _Jewitt's Nar._, pp. 73-4. Meares states that slaves are occasionally sacrificed and feasted upon. _Voy._, p. 255. The Newettee tribe nearly exterminated by kidnappers. _Dunn's Oregon_, p. 242. 'An owner might bring half a dozen slaves out of his house and kill them publicly in a row without any notice being taken of the atrocity. But the slave, as a rule, is not harshly treated.' 'Some of the smaller tribes at the north of the Island are practically regarded as slave-breeding tribes, and are attacked periodically by stronger tribes.' The American shore of the strait is also a fruitful source of slaves. _Sproat's Scenes_, pp. 89-92. 'They say that one Flathead slave is worth more than two Roundheads.' _Rept. Ind. Aff._, 1857, p. 327; _Mayne's B. C._, p. 284; _Grant_, in _Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour._, vol. xxvii., p. 296; _Lord's Nat._, vol. i., pp. 154-5, 166; _Kane's Wand._, p. 220; _Sutil y Mexicana_, _Viage_, p. 131; _Macfie's Vanc. Isl._, pp. 431, 442, 470-1.

[302] 'The women go to bed first, and are up first in the morning to prepare breakfast,' p. 52. 'The condition of the Aht women is not one of unseemly inferiority,' p. 93. 'Their female relations act as midwives. There is no separate place for lying-in. The child, on being born, is rolled up in a mat among feathers.' 'They suckle one child till another comes,' p. 94. 'A girl who was known to have lost her virtue, lost with it one of her chances of a favourable marriage, and a chief ... would have put his daughter to death for such a lapse,' p. 95. In case of a separation, if the parties belong to different tribes, the children go with the mother, p. 96. 'No traces of the existence of polyandry among the Ahts,' p. 99. The personal modesty of the Aht women when young is much greater than that of the men, p. 315. _Sproat's Scenes_, pp. 28-30, 50-2, 93-102, 160, 264, 315. One of the chiefs said that three was the number of wives permitted: 'como número necesario para no comunicar con la que estuviese en cinta.' 'Muchos de ellos mueren sin casarse.' 'El Tays no puede hacer uso de sus mugeres sin ver enteramente iluminado el disco de la luna.' _Sutil y Mexicana_, _Viage_, pp. 141-6. Women treated with no particular respect in any situation. _Cook's Voy. to Pac._, vol. ii., p. 318. Persons of the same crest are not allowed to marry. 'The child again always takes the crest of the mother.' 'As a rule also, descent is traced from the mother, not from the father.' 'Intrigue with the wives of men of other tribes is one of the commonest causes of quarrel among the Indians.' _Mayne's B. C._, pp. 257-8, 276; _Macfie's Vanc. Isl._, pp. 444-7. The women are 'very reserved and chaste.' _Meares' Voy._, pp. 251, 258, 265, 268; _Kane's Wand._, pp. 239-40. The Indian woman, to sooth her child, makes use of a springy stick fixed obliquely in the ground to which the cradle is attached by a string, forming a convenient baby-jumper. _Lord's Nat._, vol. ii., p. 259; _Pemberton's Vanc. Isl._, p. 131; _Mofras_, _Explor._, tom. ii., pp. 346-7. 'Where there are no slaves in the tribe or family they perform all the drudgery of bringing firewood, water, &c.' _Grant_, in _Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour._, vol. xxvii., pp. 298-9, 304. No intercourse between the newly married pair for a period of ten days, p. 129. 'Perhaps in no part of the world is virtue more prized,' p. 74. _Jewitt's Nar._, pp. 59-60, 74, 127-9; _Cornwallis' New El Dorado_, p. 101.

[303] 'When relieved from the presence of strangers, they have much easy and social conversation among themselves.' 'The conversation is frequently coarse and indecent.' _Sproat's Scenes_, pp. 50-1. 'Cantando y baylando al rededor de las hogueras, abandonándose á todos los excesos de la liviandad.' _Sutil y Mexicana_, _Viage_, p. 133.

[304] _Sproat's Scenes_, pp. 55-6; _Sutil y Mexicana_, _Viage_, p. 144.

[305] _Grant_, in _Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour._, vol. xxvii., p. 299; _Mayne's B. C._, pp. 275-6; _Pemberton's Vanc. Isl._, p. 134; _Macfie's Vanc. Isl._, p. 444; _Barrett-Lennard's Trav._, p. 53.

[306] _Sproat's Scenes_, p. 269. But Lord says 'nothing can be done without it.' _Nat._, vol. i., p. 168.

[307] The Indian never invites any of the same crest as himself. _Macfie's Vanc. Isl._, 445. 'They are very particular about whom they invite to their feasts, and, on great occasions, men and women feast separately, the women always taking the precedence.' _Duncan_, in _Mayne's B. C._, pp. 263-6; _Sproat's Scenes_, pp. 59-63.

[308] _Lord's Nat._, vol. i., pp. 259-60.

[309] 'I have never seen an Indian woman dance at a feast, and believe it is seldom if ever done.' _Mayne's B. C._, pp. 267-9. The women generally 'form a separate circle, and chaunt and jump by themselves.' _Grant_, in _Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour._, vol. xxvii., p. 306. 'As a rule, the men and women do not dance together; when the men are dancing the women sing and beat time,' but there is a dance performed by both sexes. _Sproat's Scenes_, pp. 66-7. 'On other occasions a male chief will invite a party of female guests to share his hospitality.' _Macfie's Vanc. Isl._, p. 431. 'Las mugeres baylan desayradisimamente; rara vez se prestan á esta diversion.' _Sutil y Mexicana_, _Viage_, p. 152.

[310] 'La decencia obliga á pasar en silencio los bayles obscenos de los Mischîmis (common people), especialmente el del impotente á causa de la edad, y el del pobre que no ha podido casarse.' _Sutil y Mexicana_, _Viage_, pp. 151-2, 18; _Macfie's Vanc. Isl._, pp. 432-7; _Sproat's Scenes_, pp. 65-71; _Mayne's B. C._, pp. 266-7; _Jewitt's Nar._, p. 389; _Grant_, in _Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour._, vol. xxvii., p. 306; _Cornwallis' New El Dorado_, pp. 99-103.

[311] _Jewitt's Nar._, pp. 39, 60, 72-3; _Vancouver's Voy._, vol. iii., pp. 307-10; _Cook's Voy. to Pac._, vol. ii., pp. 310-11.

[312] Their music is mostly grave and serious, and in exact concert, when sung by great numbers. 'Variations numerous and expressive, and the cadence or melody powerfully soothing.' _Cook's Voy. to Pac._, vol. ii., pp. 310-11, 283. Dislike European music. _Sutil y Mexicana_, _Viage_, pp. 151-2. 'Their tunes are generally soft and plaintive, and though not possessing great variety, are not deficient in harmony.' Jewitt thinks the words of the songs may be borrowed from other tribes. _Jewitt's Nar._, p. 72, and specimen of war song, p. 166. Airs consist of five or six bars, varying slightly, time being beaten in the middle of the bar. 'Melody they have none, there is nothing soft, pleasing, or touching in their airs; they are not, however, without some degree of rude harmony.' _Grant_, in _Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour._, vol. xviii., p. 306. 'A certain beauty of natural expression in many of the native strains, if it were possible to relieve them from the monotony which is their fault.' There are old men, wandering minstrels, who sing war songs and beg. 'It is remarkable how aptly the natives catch and imitate songs heard from settlers or travelers.' _Sproat's Scenes_, pp. 63-5.

[313] _Macfie's Vanc. Isl._, pp. 430-1; _Jewitt's Nar._, p. 39.