@prefix ns0: . @prefix edm: . @prefix dcterms: . @prefix dc: . @prefix skos: . ns0:identifierAIP "43806414-a16b-4ffd-a9ee-25c70aad879f"@en ; edm:dataProvider "CONTENTdm"@en ; dcterms:isReferencedBy "http://resolve.library.ubc.ca/cgi-bin/catsearch?bid=538711"@en ; dcterms:isPartOf "British Columbia Historical Books Collection"@en ; dcterms:creator "Sproat, Gilbert Malcolm, 1832-1913"@en ; dcterms:issued "2015-07-29"@en, "1868"@en ; dcterms:description "\"An interesting account of Indian life on the west coast of Vancouver Island, where Malcolm Sproat was a justice of the peace and magistrate from 1863 to 1865.\" -- Lowther, B. J., & Laing, M. (1968). A bibliography of British Columbia: Laying the foundations, 1849-1899. Victoria, BC: University of Victoria, p. 37.

\"An account of Indian life on the west coast of Vancouver Island, chiefly the period of Sproat's residence in the 1860s. Includes a very brief account of the massacre of the crew of the Boston at Nootka in 1803 as told by an old Indian to W.E. Banfield.\" -- Strathern, G. M. , & Edwards, M. H. (1970). Navigations, traffiques & discoveries, 1774-1848: A guide to publications relating to the area now British Columbia. Victoria, BC: University of Victoria, p. 278."@en, ""@en ; edm:aggregatedCHO "https://open.library.ubc.ca/collections/bcbooks/items/1.0222201/source.json"@en ; dcterms:extent "xii, 317 pages : illustration ; 19 cm"@en ; dc:format "application/pdf"@en ; skos:note """ SCENES AND STUDIES OF SAVAGE LIFE. GILBERT MALCOLM SPROAT. SMITH, ELDER AND SCENES AND STUDIES OF SAVAGE LIFE. BY GILBERT MALCOLM SPROAT. AFTER A HARD DAY'S TOIL SEE ME SLEEP UPON RUSHES, AND IN VERY BAD WEATHER TAKE OUT MY CASETTE, AND WRITE TO YOU. — Southey. LONDON: SMITH, ELDER AND CO. 1868. I DEDICATE THIS BOOK TO EDMUND HOPE VERNEY, R.N. WHOSE NAME, ASSOCIATED WITH GOOD WORKS, WILL LONG BE REMEMBERED IN VANCOUVER ISLAND. CONTENTS. Preface PACE xi CHAPTER I. Occupation of District. Occupation of Alberni—Interview with the Natives—Threatened Hostilities—Progress of the Settlement—Cook, Meares, and Jewitt's Accounts of several of these Indian Tribes CHAPTER II. Right of Savages to the Soil. The Right of Civilized Men to occupy sava: je Countries—Duty of Intruders—Plots of the Ahts to attack us—Arrival of H.M. gunboat Grappler—The Indian's notion of an English Bishop, and of the Crews of English Ships of War 6 CHAPTER IH. Localities. Localities of the Aht Nation—Topographical Features of the District —The large Sounds : the outside Coast: the Mountain Lakes: the Pine-Forests: the Climate—Native Population on the West Coast of Vancouver Island—Several Characteristics of Tribes— Tribal Names originally bestowed by Quawteaht—Subdivision of Tribes VI CONTENTS. CHAPTER IV. Physical Appearance. PAGE Physical Appearance of the Natives—Their Stature, Strength, Weight, Complexion — Their Teeth, Hah, Dress, Ornaments — Abb6 Domenech's Book—Fish-eating Indians not weak in the Legs— Bathing common; Skill of the Ahts in Diving—Vapour-Bath unknown—Water colder than in England—Traces of old Spanish Settlement—Painting Faces—Custom of Moulding the Head— Appearance of the Natives in Infancy and Youth—Rapid Decay of Manly Strength—The Faces of the Ahts expressive of Settled Character 21 CHAPTER V. Pursuit op a Fugitive. Strength of the Natives Fingers — Speed in Running — Skill in Paddling—Escape of a Fugitive 32 CHAPTER VI. Houses. Houses of the Ahts—Custom of Changing Quarters—Mode of Shifting an Encampment—No Appreciation of Natural Scenery— Description of Dwellings and Furniture 37 CHAPTER VII. A Justice oe the Peace on Circuit. t A Mutinous Crew—My Canoe stolen—Lef t upon an Island—George the Pirate—Stormy Sea—Sensations from Freezing—Samaritan Woodmen 44 CHAPTER VHI. Domestic Manners. Winter the time for Feasts—Domestic Manners ; Fondness for Jokes and Gossip—Rarity of Serious Quarrels ; Ignorance of Fisticuffs —Unwillingness to labour—Appetite, Meals, Food and Drinks, Cooking ; Gathering Gammass Roots ; Cutting down Crab-apple Trees in Despair—Hospitality to Friendly Unexpected Visitors —Observance of Formalities in Social Intercourse 50 CONTENTS. vu CHAPTER IX. Feasts. PAOE Feasts and Feasting—Description of a great Whale Feast—After- dinner Oratory : Skill in Public Speaking—Seta-Kanim " on his Legs "—Vocal Peculiarities—Indian's reply to Governor Kennedy —Singing ■ Blind Minstrel from Klah-oh-quaht ; Translation of one of his Songs—Amusements of Adults and Children—Dances and Plays; Description of five different Dances 59 CHAPTER X. An Attempt at an Inquest. Depredations of the Indians—An Indian shot with Peas—English Staff Surgeon—Soft-hearted Yorkshireman—Absurd Verdicts of the Jury CHAPTER XI. Acquisition and Use op Property. Acquisition of Property—Sharpness in Bargaining—Restrictions upon Trade—Land considered as Tribal Properly—Description of various kinds of Personal Property : Muskets, Bows and Arrows, Canoes, Hand-adze, Bone Gimlet, Elkhorn Chisel, Stone Hammer, Household Utensils, Mats, Clothing—Method of Making and Managing Canoes—Prevalence of Slavery and Slave-Dealing— Condition and Treatment of Slaves CHAPTER XII. Condition oe Women. Condition of the Aht Women—Unmarried and Married—then Betrothal —Marriage—Divorce—Widowhood—Polygamy—Polyandry 93 CHAPTER XIH. Escape from the Toquahts. Respect for Rank—Visit to the Toquahts—Dangerous Encampment— Indians circumvented 103 viii CONTENTS. CHAPTER XIV. Tribal Ranks. PAGE Use made of an Accumulation of Personal Chattels—Custom of Distributing Property—Object of such Distribution—Degrees of Tribal Ranks—Position of Hereditary Chiefs ; of Minor Chiefs; War Chiefs, and Military Officers—Rank bestowed on Women Ill CHAPTER XV. i Intellectual Capacity and Language. Intellectual Capacities—Mode of Numeration—Division of Time— Language ; its Imperfect Structure ; Formation of New Words— Remarks on some Peculiarities of the Language—Nitinaht Variations— Cook's List of Words—Little Change in the Language since Cook's Time—The Aht Language probably Allied to the Real Chinook—Tribal Names 119 CHAPTER XVL A Great Deer Hunt. The Waw-win—a great Deer Hunt 144 CHAPTER XVH. Moral Dispositions. The Savage Character—Vindictiveness—Coldbloodedness—Attack on the Elkwhahts—Murder of a Girl—-Human Sacrifice—Custom of the Min-okey-ak—Notions about Stealing—Affection for Children —Habitual Suspicion—Want of Foresight—Absence of Faith— Ingratitude—Sincerity of the Indian's Declarations 150 CHAPTER XVIII. Sorcerers. Some Account of the Sorcerers or "Medicine-men" 167 CHAPTER XIX. Traditions. An Account of a Few of the Primitive Traditions of the People 176 CONTENTS. ix CHAPTER XX. Usages in Warfare. PAGE Usages in Warfare—Description by an Eyewitness of an Indian Attack on a Village—Admiral Denman's Brush with the Ahousahts 186 CHAPTER XXI. Religious Practices. The Religious Practices of the Ahts 203 CHAPTER XXII. Usages in Fishing. The Aht mode of Fishing, with descriptions of several Fish—the Salmon—Herrings—Halibut—Whale—Cod 215 CHAPTER XXHI. Usages in Hunting. The Aht mode of Hunting ; with Descriptions of Several Animals— the Panther—Wolf—Bear—Wapiti or Elk—Blacktailed Deer— Indian Dogs—Marten—Mink—Racoon—Beaver 231 CHAPTER XXIV. Diseases. Diseases—Medicines and Medical Practice 251 CHAPTER XXV. Usages in Burial. Usages in Burial—Appearance of the Aht Burying Grounds—Burial , of a Chief 258 CHAPTER XXVI. Miscellaneous. Miscellaneous—Giving Names to Persons—Description of a Feast where a Name was Given—Indians have some Standard of Correct Speech . —Aht Names for Different Winds—Few Memorials of an Older Time—Rock Carving on the side of Sproat's Lake—Imperfectness of Indian Traditions—Pipes—Secret Fraternity among the Tribes on the Coast 264 x CONTENTS. CHAPTER XXVH. Effects upon Savages of Intercourse with Ctvilized Men. PAGE Effects of Intercourse between Civilized and Uncivilized Races—Real Meaning of Colonization as regards Aborigines—Want of Definite- ness in the English Colonial Policy—Moral and Physical Agencies Concerned in Disappearance of Native Races—Decay of Tribes in their Isolated State—Evidence from my own Experience and Observations—Inconsiderateness of Untravelled Writers—Aborigines, as a rule, not Harshly Treated by English Colonists—What are the Diseases and Vices of Civilization ?—Course of Operation of the Destructive Agencies following Intercourse with the Whites 272 CHAPTER XXVTH. Concluding Chapter. Can Nothing be Done to Save the Native People ?—My View of the Case—the Home Government Primarily Responsible—Practical Suggestion as to the Means of Improving Isolated Tribes — Results of Missionary Work hitherto 287 ■ Vocabulary of the Aht Language, with a List of the Numerals ;.-. 295 Appendix 311 PBEFACE. I did not intend, originally, to publish these observations, and have made no attempt, now, at literary ornament in producing them. Any value found in these pages will consist, I think, in their freshness and minuteness of detail, as well as in the more special consideration of social feelings, moral and intellectual characteristics and religious notions—matters which travellers among savages, ordinarily, have not full opportunity to do justice to. My private and official business on the west coast of Vancouver Island gave me an advantageous position for studying the natives themselves, and also the effect upon them of intercourse with civilized intruders. I lived among the people and had a long acquaintanceship with them; I did not merely pass through the country. The information which I give concerning their language, manners, customs, and ways of life, is not from memory, but from memoranda, written- with a pencil on the spot—in the hut, in the canoe, or in the deep forest; and afterwards verified xu PREFACE or amended by my own further researches, or from the observations of my friends. Among these, I am especially indebted to the late George R«id, of Alberni,. and to the well-known traveller and naturalist, Mr. Robert Brown, F.R.G.S., whose knowledge of the North-West American Indians is extensive and accurate. During this singular episode in my early career, I was for five years a colonial magistrate, and also a proprietor of the settlement at Alberni in Nitinaht (or Barclay) Sound, on the west coast of Vancouver Island— the only civilized settlement on the west coast. The condition of the native tribes on that coast has, hitherto, been quite unknown. I have stated in the two concluding chapters the opinions which I have formed from my observation and experience of these savages. Some, perhaps, will read these chapters, who have not time to read the whole book. Mr. F. Whymper has kindly given me the sketch for the frontispiece. G. M. S. London, January 1,1868. SCENES AND STUDIES OF SAVAGE LIFE. CHAPTEB I. OCCUPATION OF DISTRICT. Occupation of Alberni—Interview with the Natives—Threatened Hostilities —Progress of the Settlement—Cook, Meares, and Jewitt's Accounts of several of these Indian Tribes. He took great content, exceeding delight, in that his voyage.—Burton. Ipr'ythee now, lead the way without any more talking.—Shakspeare In August, 1860, I entered Nitinaht, or Barclay Sound, on the outside, or western, coast of Vancouver Island, with the two armed vessels, Woodpecker and Meg Mer- rilies, manned by about fifty men, who accompanied me for the purpose of taking possession of the district now called Alberni, a name taken from the Spanish navigator who first discovered the inlet at the head of the Sounds Reaching the entrance of this inlet, we sailed for twenty miles up to the end of it—as up a natural canal— OCCUPATION OF DISTRICT. three-quarters of a mile wide and very deep, bordered by rocky mountains, which rose high on both sides almost perpendicularly from the water. The view, as we advanced up this inlet from the sea, was shut in behind and before us, making the prospect like that from a mountain lake. At the end of this singular canal, the rocky sides of which appear to have been smoothed by a continued action of moving ice upon their surface, and which itself gives an idea of having been the furrow of a mighty glacier moving downwards towards the sea, the high land on the right receded from the shore, and a large bay or basin, with a river flowing into it through level wooded land, met our view. The range of hills which opened on one side formed an elbow about ten miles distant from the canal, and crossing in a direction almost at right angles to the course of the inlet, met a continuation of the other range, and thus shut in the district known to all the Indians as the famous berry-land of Somass. Near a pretty point at one side of the bay, where there was a beach shaded by young trees, the summer encampment of a tribe of natives was to be seen. Our arrival caused a stir, and we saw their flambeaux of gumsticks flickering among the trees during the night. In the morning I sent a boat for the chief, and explained to him that his tribe must move their encampment, as we had bought all the surrounding land from the Queen of England, and wished to occupy the site of the village for a particular purpose. He replied that the land belonged to themselves, but that they were willing to sell it. The price not being excessive, I paid him what was asked—about twenty pounds' worth of goods—for the sake THREATENED HOSTILITIES. of peace, on condition that the whole people and buildings should be removed next day. But no movement was then made, and as an excuse it was stated that the children were sick. On the day following the encampment was in commotion; speeches were made, faces blackened, guns and pikes got out, and barricades formed. Outnumbered as we were, ten to one, by men armed with muskets, and our communications with the sea cut off by the impossibility of sailing steadily down the Alberni Canal (the prevalent breeze blowing up it), there was some cause for alarm had the natives been resolute. But being provided, fortunately, in both vessels with cannon—of which the natives at that time were much afraid—they, after a little show of force on our side, saw that resistance would be inexpedient, and began to move from the spot. The way in which these people move their encampments will be described further- on. Two or three days afterwards, when the village had been moved to another place, not far distant, I visited the principal house at the new encampment, with a native interpreter. "Chiefs of the Seshahts," said I on entering, "are you well; are your women in health; are your children hearty; do your people get plenty of fish and fruits ?" " Yes," answered an old man, " our families are well, our people have plenty of food; but how long this will last we know not. We see your ships, and hear things that make our hearts grow faint. They say that more King-George-men will soon be here, and will take our land, our firewood, our fishing grounds ; that we shall be placed on a little spot, and shall have to do everything according to the fancies of the King-George-men." 1—2 OCCUPATION OF DISTRICT. " Do you believe all this ? " I asked. " We want your information," said the speaker. i Then," answered I, "it is true that more King- George-men (as they call the English) are coming: they will soon be here; but your land will be bought at a fair price." "We do not wish to sell our land nor our water; let your friends stay in their own country." To which I rejoined : " My great chief, the high chief of the King-George-men, seeing that you do not work your land, orders that you shall sell it. It is of no use to you. The trees you do not need ; you will fish and hunt as you do now, and collect firewood, planks for your houses, and cedar for your canoes. The white man will give you work, and buy your fish and oil." I Ah, but we don't care to do as the white men wish." I Whether or not," said I, " the white men will come. All your people know that they are your superiors; they make the things which you value. You cannot make muskets, blankets, or bread. The white men will teach your children to read printing, and to be like themselves." " We do not want the white man. He steals what we have. We wish to live as we are." These were the first savages that I had ever seen, and they were probably at that time less known than any aboriginal people under British dominion, not excepting even the Andamaners. A civilized settlement was now formed almost immediately in their midst, and the natives stared at the buildings, wharves, steam-engines, ploughs, oxen, horses, sheep, and pigs, which they had never seen before. JEWITTS ACCOUNT. Having myself remained amongst them for a considerable time—since the first occupation of Alberni—I am now able to give an account of their condition and customs, in addition to what has been written concerning several of the Aht tribes dwelling more to the north by Cook, Meares, and Jewitt. Cook's account is the best that has been published; that of Jewitt, though evidently authentic, has probably suffered in the hands of some professed bookmaker. As evidence to some extent of the authenticity of Jewitt's book, I may here record that an old Indian told the late W. E. Banfield, a well-known trader on the coast, that he had been a youthful servitor in the family of the chief Klan-nin-ittle during the bondage of Jewitt and Thompson, and that he often assisted Jewitt in carrying the bows, arrows, and other weapons which Klan-nin- ittle used in hostile expeditions. He said further that the white slave generally accompanied his owner on visits of courtesy, which in quiet times he frequently paid to the tribes of Ayhuttisaht, Ahousaht, and Klah-oh-quaht. Jewitt, it seems, was a general favourite, owing to his good-humour and lightheadedness, and he often recited and sang in his own language for the amusement of the savages. He was described as a tall, well-made youth, with a mirthful countenance, whose dress, latterly, consisted of nothing but a mantle of cedar-bark. There was a long story- also of Jewitt's courting, and, I think, finally abducting the charming daughter of the Ahousaht chief, Waugh-clagh; with which, however, I shall not trouble the reader. ( 6 ) CHAPTER II. RIGHT OF SAVAGES TO THE SOIL. The right of civilized Men to occupy savage Countries—Duty of Intruders —Plots of the Ahts to attack us—Arrival of H.M. gunboat Grappler —The Indian's notion of an English Bishop, and of the Crews of English Ships of War. I say, by sorcery he got this isle, From me he got it.—Tempest. I spent some months very pleasantly directing the first work at the settlement. The vessels discharged their cargoes, and the carpenters worked on shore preparing timber for the houses and buildings. The first house that was built was made of logs, with split wood for the roof—rather a plain-looking hut, but nevertheless a comfortable house in all weathers. It was the kind of house that woodmen build with the axe alone. By- and-by, we had more ambitious houses of sawn wood. The place the Indians had moved to was about a mile distant, and our conversation naturally was very much about them. In the evenings we sat round the fire discussing their dispositions and probable intentions, and the Indians did the same about us in their new THE RIGHT TO OCCUPY SAVAGE COUNTRIES. encampment. We often talked about our right as strangers to take possession of the district. The right of bona fide purchase we had, for I had bought the land from the Government, and had purchased it a second time from the natives. Nevertheless, as the Indians disclaimed all knowledge of the colonial authorities at Victoria, and had sold the country to us, perhaps, under the fear of loaded cannon pointed towards the village, it was evident that we had taken forcible possession of the district. The American woodmen, who chiefly formed my party, discussed the whole question with great clearness. Their opinion generally was that our occupation was justifiable, and could not be sternly disputed even by the most scrupulous moralist. They considered that any right in the soil which these natives had as occupiers was partial and imperfect, as, with the exception of hunting animals in' the forests, plucking wild fruits, and cutting a few trees to make canoes and houses, the natives did not, in any civilized sense, occupy the land. It would be unreasonable to suppose, the Americans said, that a body of civilized men, under the sanction of their Government, could not rightfully settle in a country needing their labours, and peopled only by a fringe of savages on the coast. Unless such a right were presumed to exist, there would be little progress in the world by means of colonization,—that wonderful agent, which, directed by laws of its own, has changed and is changing the whole surface of the earth. I could not, however, see how this last-named fact strictly could form the groundwork of a right. My own notion is that the ■particular circumstances which make the deliberate intrusion of a superior people into another country lawful or RIGHT OF SAVAGES TO THE SOIL. expedient are connected to some extent with the use which the dispossessed or conquered people have made of the soil, and with their general behaviour as a nation. For instance, we might justify our occupation of Vancouver Island by the fact of all the land lying waste without prospect of improvement, and our conquest of a peopled and cultivated country like Oude by some such consideration as this—that the State was delinquent before the world, and by its corruption put the welfare of neighbouring and progressive English territories in danger. It would be necessary in all cases to remember that, though the right of the intruders might be justified by some of these considerations, the intruders would be bound to act always with such justice, humanity, and moderation as should vindicate fully those superior pretensions which were the ground of the right of occupying. Any extreme act, such as a general confiscation of cultivated land, or systematic personal ill-treatment of the dispossessed people, would be quite unjustifiable. Probably, no other circumstance than a continued wanton quarrelling with their fate, after the occupation of the country by a superior race, ought to be held as sufficient cause for depriving savage aboriginal inhabitants of their title to a limited and sufficient property, enjoyable under certain conditions. So much they could claim as our fellow-men, and they would also have other obvious claims on the consideration of a Christian nation. The whole question of the right of any people to intrude upon another, and to dispossess them of their country, is one of those questions to which the 'answer practically is always the same, though differently given by many as a matter of specu- NOTIONS OF AN ENGLISH BISHOP. 9 lative opinion. The practical answer is given by the determination of intruders under any circumstances to keep what has been obtained ; and this, without discussion, we, on the west coast of Vancouver Island, were all prepared to do. It can easily be supposed that we spent many anxious nights in our remote, isolated position at Alberni. It was discovered afterwards that various plans of attacking us were at this time entertained by the natives; and there, of course, were rumours of plots which never had existence. Happily, however, no disturbance took place, with the exception of a few individual brawls, and we gradually gained the confidence and goodwill of the people. On a rumour spreading that we had been - attacked in our encampment, Governor Douglas sent the gunboat Orappler, Commander Helby, to our assistance, which remained at anchor for a short time near the settlement. During the stay of this vessel, several interesting and picturesque interviews took place between two neighbouring tribes and Commander Helby, accompanied by his guest the Bishop of Columbia.* The Aht notion of an English bishop is that he is a great medicine man or sorcerer; and they regard the sailors in her Majesty's ships as belonging to a separate, distinct tribe of whites. Being themselves all fighters, the Ahts cannot understand why the great King-George tribe should leave all their fighting to a few individuals. * The latter, I believe, sent home an account of one of these interviews, and it was published in some of the missionary newspapers. Localities of the Aht Nation—Topographical Features of the District— The large Sounds: the outside Coast: the Mountain Lakes: the Pine- Forests : the Climate — Native Population on the West Coast of Vancouver Island—Several Characteristics of Tribes—Tribal Names originally bestowed by Quawteaht—Subdivision of Tribes. Fain would I here have made abode, But I was quickened by my hour.—Herbert. I will now give the reader a short description of the wild country in which we were the first settlers. To many this subject may not be very interesting, but perhaps in a few years it may become desirable to possess a record of the state of this portion of the island in its now condition. Dr. Arnold said he always looked for descriptions of places in books of travel, though he seldom found one that gave him any clear notion of a place. I hope to have avoided this condemnation. The localities inhabited by the Aht tribes are, chiefly, the three large Sounds on the west coast of Vancouver Island, called Nitinaht (or Barclay), Klah-oh-quaht, and Nootkah, the two former of which are native names borne by tribes at these places. In Nitinaht (or Barclay) Sound, is now TOPOGRAPHY OF THE DISTRICT. 11 the settlement and port of Alberni, the origin of which I have just described; Klah-oh-quaht was the scene of the destruction of the ship Tonquin, and massacre of her crew, as related in Irving's Astoria, an occurrence which to this day is spoken of among the tribes; Nootkah gave its name (whatever that may have come from, for there is now no native name resembling it) to a convention in 1790 between England and Spain. As will be seen in the map, these capacious inlets or sounds throw out arms in various directions inland; and into these arms, coming from mountain lakes known to a few Indians only, shallow rivers flow, which are diversified by falls and rapids, and deepen here and there when pent up between mountains approaching one another closely. The broad surface of the sounds is studded with rocky islets of various sizes—as in the Skar, on the North-west coast of Europe—covered with scrubby, hemlock, cedar, and pine trees. These trees —the pine predominating—also clothe the rugged sides of the hills that rise from the shore into peaks or serrated ridges, in some places almost perpendicularly, at other places with a gradual ascent. The scenery visible from these great sheets of water, if not beautiful, is at all times interesting, though in broad daylight, the jagged, fissured, rocky islands, the bare-topped trees dwarfed by the sea-breeze, and the hard outline of the mountain-ranges, appear perhaps rather too distinctly defined to make any near view either pleasing or impressive. I found that perhaps the best time to linger in a canoe on these wide bays was just about the twilight, when the harsh sharp lines of the surrounding scenery were softened, and the shadows of islet and mountain lengthened over the 12 LOCALITIES. singularly clear water. Among the islands, and on the shore of the Sounds, there is an endless number and variety of passages, creeks, bays, and harbours of all shapes and sizes, which can be discovered only on a near approach. Many of these marine nooks, these unexpected quiet retreats on this secluded shore, are deep enough to float the largest ship, and far down through the pellucid water, never moved by storms, gardens of zoophytes are visible at the bottom. Such places, on a summer day, strike the imagination of a loiterer like the creations in a happy dream; they are so small, calm, and remote—so margined by worn, strange-shaped rocks, and by diminutive trees, chiefly cedar and fir, under whose arched roots streamlets flow murmuring into the sea. On the ocean coast outside, between the entrances to the great inlets, a different prospect is found: the line of the shore there is broken by low headlands which project from the seaboard, and appear with their shapeless, outlying rocks, not unlike the shattered angles of a fortified work; between these capes are narrow beaches, backed by a curtain of rock, over which bill upon hill appears, woody and rugged. As the coast lies exposed to the uninterrupted western swell of the North Pacific, the waves are generally large, and even in calm weather they break with a noise on the shore and roar among the caverns. During a storm in winter, those who care for terrible scenes are gratified by the sight of enormous billows rolling in from the ocean and dashing with fury upon the shore. The line of the raging surf on the beach extends before one's eyes for miles to some rocky cape, over which the waves foam, the spray being borne upwards and flung through the air. Wild THE COAST. 13 black clouds approach the earth, and are hurried along by the blast. There is nowhere any sign of life now; the Indians crowd together in their houses, and the birds huddle behind the sheltering rocks. Speaking generally, however, navigators, since the publication of the Admiraltv charts, do not consider the coast dan- gerous in average weather; they find anchorages in the Sounds, and the channels from the ocean are deep—too deep rather—and are free from rocks and rapid currents. The severest gales that I remember occurred in November, but during the whole winter there are heavy storms ;• in summer calms and fogs prevail—March and October being considered the foggiest months.* Of the country along this coast, a short description will suffice. The whole surface, as far inland as I have penetrated, is rocky and mountainous, and is covered with thick pine-forests, without any of the oak-openings that enliven the scenery near Victoria in the southern part of the island. From some of the eminences near Alberni a great expanse of country can be seen on a clear day; but the view, looking inland, is not varied, consisting for the most part of narrow valleys and steep hills, weathered peaks with bare stony tops; here and there glimpses of shining lakes or rain- pools, and in the distance snow-covered mountains. " The back of the world, brother," with some truth the Gaelic- * The kelp is one of the most extraordinary marine productions on the coast. It is found in masses which spread over the surface of the sea, and through these great weeds it is difficult for a small vessel to make way unless with a strong breeze. I do not know the greatest length of the stems of this plant, but I have seen it growing in twenty-five fathoms of water, and remember measuring a piece of kelp on the beach near the Ohyaht village, in Nitinaht Sound, that was fifty-five yards in length and an inch and a half in diameter at the thickest part. 14 LOCALITIES. woman said in her own expressive words on first seeing this district; " you are bringing me to the back of the world." Owing to the absence of any large tract of level land in the district, and the height of the land near the sea, the rivers are small, shallow, and rapid, and only navigable by canoes for a few miles. Two days' rain, dissolving a portion of the snow on the hills, or gathering in the innumerable natural reservoirs and channels, will cause a rise of many feet in streams which before were extremely shallow. I know an instance of a fordable river—the Klistachnit at Alberni—which rose twelve feet in less than forty-eight hours. The mountains everywhere approach closely to one another, and form between them deep, thickly-wooded valleys or long narrow lakes. These lakes are a marked feature in Vancouver Island scenery. They have no main feeders, but generally receive their waters from the rain and melted snow, which come down the sides of the steep mountains. In fact they are extensive " tarns," and many of them are the finest and gloomiest of their class. They are most irregular in shape, seldom exceeding a mile or two in width, but extending between mountains for ten or fifteen miles in different directions like the legs on a Manx penny. The whole country—valley and mountain—is covered with pines, which, though rough-looking trees, yet by the deep verdure of their tops, preserve the scenery from the bareness and hardness which, for instance, characterize many of the West of Scotland Lochs. There are lakes, however, in the Aht district which are as deep, dark, and wild, as Loch Corruisken, and solitary beyond conception. I never knew what utter solitude meant till I went among these Vancouver THE MOUNTAIN LAKES. 15 lakes; all is silence but for the melancholy cry of the loon, the breaking of a decayed branch in the woods, or the rush of a torrent; and the feeling of loneliness is increased by the thought that you are in a savage country far from civilized men. As a journeyer in these wilds, I have often reclined on a decaying tree by the lake-side in the deepening twilight, looking at the black clouds and stormy rain, and have tried to imagine—as my last match sputtered out—that the lee of a cedar-tree would be a comfortable resting-place. In truth, not much imagining is required; for it is wonderful how easily a man becomes reconciled even to so poor a bed, if he is in good health and has a cheerful heart. One can sleep almost anywhere if one's clothes are dry and the cold not excessive. The conditions necessary to avoid positive physical discomfort depend greatly on habit: an old campaigner thinks that a sod turned up against the wind is a luxury. In the interior of the Aht country, it is hardly possible for the traveller to reach the edge of the forest, except at a lake ; and then, through the darkness, whatever his bed promises to be, it is grand sometimes, as I remember, to see the lightning-flash lighting up the shaggy breast of the mountain opposite; and when the blazing glare comes again, to mark the long line through the trees made by the avalanche in rolling down for thousands of feet into the lake. He marks too the draperies of mist moving upwards from the gloomy fells, and that cataract just seen hanging like a silver thread to the cap of clouds on the far summit, which strikes the eye again, expanded into a torrent, a thousand feet lower at the exposed turn of some ravine, and then is heard rushing into the narrow lake just opposite to the spot on which the 16 LOCALITIES. I observer sits. I have seen many such nights in these wilds. It is difficult to find in any part of the district more than a few patches of open land here and there, near the mouths of rivers and the borders of lakes. The soil is generally deep, and often rich from the accumulation of vegetable remains ; but as rough wooded hills form a great part of the surface of the country, and rocks crop out everywhere, there is not room for many farms. Notwithstanding, the deep shade in the forest, the undergrowth of shrubs is luxuriant at certain seasons, but it does not last long. In July and August—July being called Kow-wishimilh (from Kow-wit, salmon-berry, and Hishimilh, a crowd)— the graceful branches and wavy green leaves of the low berry-bushes in the woods are most pleasant to look upon, but are a great hindrance in travelling. Probably there is nothing in Vancouver Island more interesting to a stranger than the aged forests of pine—nearly all of one species, Abies Douglassii — which cover the country. Viewed commercially, though the wood is of first-rate quality, these forests are of little value, owing to the difficulty of getting the " logs " or " spars " over a rugged surface to a saw-mill or place of shipment. The traveller, accustomed elsewhere to trees of smaller growth, and to pleasing varieties of verdure and freshness, finds himself here amidst old, gigantic, thick-barked pines without branches to a considerable height from the ground, and with dark-green bristling foliage that hardly ever changes. The tops of these great trees are in many places so densely mingled as to scatter, if not to exclude, the rays of the sun. Here and there in the forest are open spaces where PINE-FORESTS. the, trees burnt by a fire—caused perhaps by the careless Indians—lie blackened on the ground, or where they appear lying white and withered, as if destroyed by some blast or circle of wind that left the surrounding trees uninjured: {* Blasted pines, Wrecks of a single winter, barkless, branchless."—Manfred. And many an old tree meets the eye, fit object of a contemplative and melancholy regard, which, after its long growth and towering position in the forest, has reached the period of its decline, and can no longer oppose the ravages of the insects that prey on its naked trunk. These aged trees are constantly falling one across another, and their great thickness and length make them, when prostrate, formidable obstructions in walking through the woods. On my leaping upon a fallen decayed tree, the bark has given way, and I have sunk to the thigh in a red mould. Judging from the fact that many clumps of young trees grow in the forest, it would appear that the seeds, on being shaken out of the cones by the wind, either are blown from the parent trees here and there in heaps, steered by their membranous sail, or that they cover the whole surface, and spring up numerously only where the conditions of growth are favourable. These young trees stand so closely together that they have a hard struggle to grow beyond a certain height; and I should think fifty trees die for every one that lives to throw out its green top under the heavens. There is occasionally a good deal of snow in the Aht district—much more than falls in the neighbourhood of Victoria; but, as a rule, it does not lie long on the lower ground near the water, and it is seldom seen on the moun- /ly 2 18 LOCALITIES. tains in summer, except in clefts from which the sun is excluded. The third month or " moon " of the Indians, Hy-yeskikamilh, which means " the month of most snow," corresponds with our January. The climate on the west coast, as in all parts of Vancouver Island, particularly in the favoured locality of Victoria, is probably altogether the most healthful and delightful in the world. Most people fatten there, and feel strong and vigorous. I never was brisker than when exploring the unknown Aht district, carrying with me my food, and sleeping where I chanced to halt, generally beneath a spreading cedar. I will now remark upon the population of the district, which has been thus roughly described to the reader. It is not easy to ascertain the exact native population at the present time; but so far as I know there are, between Pacheenah and Nespod, twenty distinct tribes of the Aht nation (see Appendix), numbering together about 1,700 men, capable of bearing arms. The largest tribe numbers 400 men; seven other tribes have between one and two hundred; the remaining fifteen tribes vary in numbers from sixty down to as few as five : the average number in each of the last-named tribes being about twenty-five grown men. Few of these natives have visited Victoria; and their condition, in fact, as already stated, is comparatively unknown to Americans as well as to Europeans. The Aht district lies quite out of the ordinary route of travellers, and can be. reached conveniently only by engaging a vessel at Victoria. 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. They evi- TRIBAL CHARACTERISTICS. 19 dently have had an ancient connection, if not a common origin. It may be noticed that, though living only a few miles apart, the tribes practise different arts, and have, apparently, distinct tribal characteristics. One tribe is skilful in shaping canoes; another in painting boards for ornamental work, or making ornaments for the person, or instruments for hunting and fishing. Individuals, as a rule, keep to the arts for which their tribe has some repute, and do not care to acquire those arts in which other tribes excel. There seems to be among all the tribes in the island a sort of recognized tribal monopoly in certain articles produced, or that have been long manufactured in their own district. For instance, a tribe that does not grow potatoes, or make a particular kind of mat, will go a long way, year after year, to barter for those articles, which, if they liked, they themselves could easily produce or manufacture. The different Aht tribes vary in physiognomy somewhat—faces of the Chinese and the Spanish types may be seen; they vary also in intelligence, in love of war, in fondness for many wives, in decorum of speech and manner, in several social usages, in taste for music and oratory, in habits of slave-dealing and gambling, and in their thievish propensities. No superior position in the political scale of the tribes is assigned by then* traditions to any one tribe; but the Toquahts in Nitinaht, or Barclay Sound, are generally considered by their neighbours to have been the tribe from which the others sprung. Quawteaht, a great personage in the mythology of these barbarians, who, while on earth, lived at the Toquaht river, is said to have given the first part of the names to the tribes; for instance, 9, 2 20 LOCALITIES. Toqu to the Toquahts, Ohy to the Ohyahts, Nitin to the Nitinahts, Klah-oh-Qu to the Klah-oh-Quahts, and so on. The natives added the termination Aht in honour of their instructor or progenitor, Quawteaht. Subdivisions of tribes occasionally take place by the secession of restless, influential individuals, who, with their families and friends, endeavour to start new tribes under their own chief ship. In this way—if a natural increase of numbers is possible in a savage state of life—we may suppose that the tribes now existing along the coast branched off formerly from a few parent stems; a supposition which accords with one of the legends of the people. These first families, leaving the parent tribes, and settling at good fishing-places, would forget their kindred in a few generations, and treat them in all respects as members of separate tribes. But against the supposition of such secession having occurred frequently in modern days, there is the improbability of the number of these natives having increased ; and the fact (which will be proved farther on) that the Aht language has not changed materially within the last century, as would most likely have been the case if subdivisions and formations of new tribes had been common. 21 ) CHAPTER IV. PHYSICAL APPEARANCE. Physical Appearance of the Natives—Their Stature, Strength, Weight, Complexion—Their Teeth, Hair, Dress, Ornaments—Abbe Domenech's Book —Fish-eating Indians not weak in the Legs—Bathing common ; Skill of the Ahts in Diving—Vapour-Bath unknown—Water colder than in England—Traces of old Spanish Settlement—Painting Faces —Custom of Moulding the Head—Appearance of the Natives in Infancy and Youth—Rapid Decay of Manly Strength—The Faces of the Ahts expressive of Settled Character. . . . And yet more pleased have, from your lips, Gathered this fair report of them who dwell' In that retirement.—Wordsworth. The next part of my subject, which I hope will not be uninteresting to the reader, is the physical appearance and characteristics of these people. As their only article of dress is a blanket, and I was constantly among them, I can speak with some confidence as to their physique. The external features of all the natives along this coast are much alike, but one acquainted with them can generally distinguish the tribes to which individuals belong. I have noticed that the slaves have a meaner appearance than the free men, and that those few small tribes who dwell inland 22 PHYSICAL APPEARANCE. along lakes and rivers, and who live on a mixed diet of fish and flesh, have a finer stature and bearing than the fish-eaters on the coast. Of all the tribes in Vancouver Island the Klah-oh-quahts, who live in Klah-oh-quaht Sound, probably 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 a hundred and eighty pounds, without much flesh on their bodies. The extreme average height of the men of the Aht nation ascertained by comparison of a number, is about five feet six inches, and of the women about five feet and a quarter of an inch—a stature which equals that of the New Zealanders.f Many of the men have well-shaped forms and limbs. None are corpulent, and very few are deformed from their birth. I have, however,, seen several who had been born crippled; one, with withered crooked legs, stiff at the knees, was an excellent canoe- man. The men, as a rule, are better-looking than the women. The latter are not enticing, even when good-looking young, though one meets with some women, but these in a few years, after reaching womanhood, lose their comeliness. They are short-limbed, and have an awkward habit of turning their toes in * " Klah-oh-quaht," in the native tongue, means " another people," but this tribe is now in every respect the same as the others. f The following ridiculous account of the Ahts is contained in the latest book in which they are mentioned : Abbe Domenech's Residence in the Great Deserts of North America. " The men (the Nootkahs) are below the middle height, with thick-set limbs, broad faces, low foreheads, and rough, coppery, and tanned skins. Their moral deformities are as great as their physical ones. Their dialect is exceedingly difficult, and the harshness of their'pronunciation incredible." The abbe evidently knows nothing about the people. POWERS OF ENDURANCE OF NATIVES. 23 too much when walking. 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. They want heart, however, for a close struggle, and seldom come up after the first knockdown. The best place to strike them with the fist is on the throat, or on the breast, so as to take away their wind; a blow on the head does them very little harm. The powers of endurance possessed by the natives are great in any work to which they are accustomed, such as paddling, or rowing, or walking in the woods. I have had men with me from sunrise to sunset whilst exploring new districts where the walking tried one's powers to the utmost, and they scarcely seemed to feel the exertion* The natives can bear the want of food for a long time without becoming exhausted. Their complexion is a dull brown, just about, perhaps, what the English complexion would be if the people were in a savage instead of a civilized condition—the difference being explained by the habits of life of the Ahts, by their frequent exposure, and by the effect of their food of blubber, oil, and fish. The Queen Charlotte Islanders and other natives to the north are fairer in complexion than the , Vancouverians, though living under the same conditions * It is an error to suppose that these fish-eating Indians become weak in the legs from constantly sitting or stooping in canoes ; mean-looking, thin-legged Ahts can travel for great distances in the woods without tiring. There is a fair proportion of well-limbed men among them. No. finer, men than the Queen Charlotte Islanders, a canoe-using people, can be found on the American continent \\ they will stand up and fight Englishmen with their fists, though the Aht fails on this point. The notion of the Coast Indians being deficient in muscular power in their legs, probably arose from their legs being always seen uncovered, which is a severe ordeal for any people. If the men wore blankets, how many presentable legs would there be in an ordinary crowd of Englishmen ? 24 PHYSICAL APPEARANCE. in a climate not much colder. Their young women's skins are as clear and white as those of Englishwomen. But it is different among the Ahts. Cook and Meares probably mentioned exceptional cases in stating that the natives of Nootkah had the fair complexions of the North of Europe. The prevailing colour of the people in Vancouver Island is unmistakeably, as here described, a sort of dull brown. During summer they are much in the open air, lightly clad, and in winter pass most of their time sitting round fires in a smoky atmosphere. All the natives swim well, but not so fast nor so lightly as Europeans; they labour more in the water. As divers they cannot be beaten; a friend of mine saw Maquilla, a noted warrior and fisherman of the Nitinahts, dive from the stern of a boat, in five fathoms of water, and bring up a pup seal in each hand from the bottom. On approaching the boat, one of the seals got away, but Maquilla, throwing the other into the boat, again dived and captured the seal before it could reach the bottom. Till beyond middle age many of the natives bathe every day in the sea, and in winter they rub their bodies with oil after coming out of the water.* The vapour-bath is not known on this coast. Mothers roll their young children in the snow to make them hardy. I should not call the Aht Indians a dirty people in their persons: they wash often, the fresh air circulates round their bodies, and they have not the disagreeable oniony smell about them which is common among the more closely attired poorer classes * Throughout the year, though the climate on the whole is milder than the English climate, the water in the sea round Vancouver Island is colder than on any part of the shores of Great Britain. TRACES OF OLD SPANISH SETTLEMENT. 25 in many countries. After their day's work, the women arrange their dress and hair, and wash themselves in fresh water.* 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; for instance, a single robe of bearskin, or of four red catskins sewn together, was worn instead of a blanket. They use no covering for the head or feet except on canoe journeys, when hats and capes made of bark or grass are worn. There is no difference between summer and winter dresses, nor anything peculiar, on ordinary occasions, in the dress of the chiefs. The men's beards and whiskers are deficient, probably from the old alleged custom, now seldom practised, of extirpating the hairs with small shells. This custom, continued from one generation to another, would perhaps at last produce a race distinguishable as these natives are by a thin and straggling growth of beard and whiskers. Several of the Nootkah Sound natives (Moouchahts) have large moustaches and whiskers, and on that account are supposed to have Spanish or foreign blood in them. A few names and a cast of features reminding one of Spain, cross one here and there on this coast. I have heard an Indian from Nootkah count ten in Spanish. Few traces of the settlement at Nootkah remain, except an indistinct ridge showing the site of houses, and here and there a few bricks half hidden in the ground; but the older natives * It is a characteristic of these natives, that men sometimes saunter along, holding each other's hand in a friendly way: a habit never to be observed in civilized life, except amongst boys, or sailors when intoxicated. 26 PHYSICAL APPEARANCE. sometimes speak of the Spaniards. They say that the foreigners (who must - have been Meares' men or the Spanish) had begun to cultivate the ground and to erect a stockade and fort, when one day a ship came with papers for the head man, who was observed to cry, and all the white men became sad. The next day they began moving their goods to the vessel. 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, and either tied in a bunch or knot at the crown without an attempt at ornament, or allowed to hang loosely from under a handkerchief or wreath of grass, or of feathered birdskin, encircling the head. A favourite place of concealment for a knife carried as a weapon is among the hair behind the ear. The practice of tying the hair behind the head in the Chinese fashion is said to be peculiar to the natives on the outside coast of the Island. Slaves wear their hair short. Now and then, but rarely, a light-haired native is seen. There is one woman in the Opechisaht tribe at Alberni who had curly, Or rather wavy, brown hair. Few grey-haired men can be noticed in any tribe. I once saw a middle-aged native with red hair, and he seemed a pure Indian, but it is difficult to say whether he was so or not. The women are careful of their hair, and have little boxes in which they keep combs and looking-glasses. There is a small white-flowered plant, of about three feet in height, the bruised roots of which are put on their hair by the Indians to make it grow. One frequently sees the women combing their hair and afterwards disposing it on each side into plaits, which taper to a point, and are there PUNISHMENT OF NATIVES. 27 ornamented with beads; or it hangs loosely and is kept down by leaden weights affixed to the end. When at work the women tie up their hair so as not to be inconvenienced. Unlike the men, they are fond of toys and ornaments for themselves and children, and are seldom seen without rings, anklets, and bracelets of beads or brass. Their blankets are often tastefully ornamented with beads. To cut off the hair of an Indian is an effective punishment for minor offences, as he is thereby exposed to the derision of his own people. 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, nor brown. Some of the Chinese workmen brought to Nootkah eighty years ago by Meares, have no doubt left descendants among the Ahts. One occasionally sees an Indian with eyes distinctly Chinese. The nose, of all the features of the human face rarest for beauty, in some instances is remarkably well-shaped. A brilliant ring or piece of cockleshell, or a bit of brass, shaped like a horse-shoe, often adorns this feature. Similar ornaments are worn in the ear by both sexes. The teeth are regular, but stumpy, and are deficient in enamel at the points, as some think from the natives? eating so much dried salmon with which sand has intermixed in the process of drying. No such practice as tatooing exists among these natives. At great feasts the faces of the women are painted red with vermilion or berry-juice, and the men's faces are 28 PHYSICAL APPEARANCE. blackened with burnt wood. About the age of twenty-five the women cease to use paint, and for the remainder of their lives wear feathers in their hair for full dress. Some of the young men streak their faces with red, but grown-up men seldom now use paint, unless on particular occasions. Hair cut short and a blackened face are signs of grief; at a time of rejoicing the face is also of that colour, except a space round the eyes; but in war every portion of the visage is blackened, and the eyes glare through. The leader of a war expedition is distinguished by a streaked visage from his black-faced followers. The curious custom of moulding the heads of infants into a different shape from the natural form does not now extensively prevail among the Ahts, though almost every child's head receives a slight pressure, owing to the mode of resting in the cradle. The traveller leaves on this side of Cape Scott a people with fine, broad—though perhaps slightly flattened—foreheads, and heads well set on, and soon finds himself on the north side of the Cape, among the Quoquoulth nation, a people with disfigured heads, who speak a language different from that of the Ahts, though, of course, liaving many words in common, near the tribal boundaries. In other parts of the Island, also, as well as among the Quoquoulth natives, the practice of moulding the head is followed, but it is principally among the latter people that heads have been seen of the real sugar-loaf shape. I have never seen an Aht head so much distorted as the chief's head shown at page 317, vol. ii., in Wilson's Pre-Historic Man. In Barclay (Nitinaht) Sound, where the Aht tribes have intermarried with the Flatheads, on the American shore of the Strait of Juan de Fuca, CUSTOM OF MOULDING THE HEAD. 29 many of the natives are proud of such children as have their foreheads flattened, but they do not regard this disfigurement as a sign of freedom, nor of high birth—as travellers have reported of the natives at the mouth of the Columbia river. The Ahts imagine that it improves the appearance, and also gives better health and greater strength to the infant. I could not satisfactorily discover whether the brain is injured by this change in the form of the skull. The natives say that no harm is done, but I have observed—from whatever cause the superiority arises —that several of the tribes of the Aht nation, the Klah-oh- quahts, for instance, who do not greatly flatten their heads, are superior to other tribes, not Ahts, known to me which flatten their heads excessively. This superiority, however, may be in the race: the Klah-oh-quahts, for instance— which, from their name, are probably a foreign tribe now assimilated to the other Aht tribes—may have originally possessed a superior organization to any others. It is extremely difficult to compare the intellectual faculties of any two tribes of suspicious, reserved, and weak-minded savages, without a particular acquaintance with both tribes, and a knowledge of their language and subjects of thought, their politics and management of individual and tribal affairs; but I may say that the general opinion which I have formed with respect to these natives is that the flattening of the skull in infancy cannot decisively be said to injure the intellect. The process by which the deformity is effected is similar to that described by Irving as usual with the Coast Indians near the Columbia river. The infant is laid, soon after birth, on a small wooden cradle higher at the head than the foot. A padding is placed on the forehead, 30 PHYSICAL APPEARANCE. and is pressed down with cords, which pass through holes on each side of the trough or cradle; these being tightened gradually the required pressure is obtained, and after a time the front of the skull is flattened. The covering or padding is filled with sand, or sometimes a maple mould is made to fit the forehead. It is said that the process is not painful,. but some of the children, whom I saw undergoing the compression, seemed to breathe slowly, and their faces were pale. The origin of this singular custom cannot with certainty be ascertained. It may have been adopted to celebrate some particular event, or in honour of a great warrior whose head was naturally of that form. It is a fashion; that is all that can be said about it. During infancy the native children are big-headed and ugly, and are subject to eruptive diseases, but in a few years they become interesting and sprightly in appearance and manners. They are plump and fresh-looking, with smooth skins of a rich brown colour. About the age of puberty— which in both sexes is early—the visage of the men assumes the composure, and displays the cold serious traits of the savage. The eye, particularly, has a hard furtive expression that was not there in childhood.* After having reached a vigorous age, no other important stage takes place till their manhood fails, when the Aht natives become thin and wrinkled in a short time. They do not seem to have any intermediate stage in their existence corresponding with the attractive time in an Englishman's * The face of the Indian, while it conceals present thoughts, seems to me to be a much more open book than the face of the white man in expressing settled character. It shows the very normal types of the vices plainly printed in the features, most especially those of anger, cunning, and pride. RAPID DECAY OF MANLY STRENGTH. life between full manhood and the first steps that lead downwards into age. They are either vigorous or weak, young-looking or old-looking. I have known many Indians who have become quite old in appearance within the five vears since I first saw them. PURSUIT OF A FUGITIVE. Strength of the Natives' Fingers—Speed in Running—Skill in Paddling- Escape of a Fugitive. You have not seen such a thing as it is; I can hardly forbear hurling things at him. Tweufth Night. The Upper Canadians and the men of the Northern and Western States of the United States are the finest-looking men I have anywhere seen, with the exception, perhaps, of the Queen Charlotte Islanders, on the North-west of British Columbia. I thought so on seeing them in their homes in Canada and America, and my estimate was confirmed by the appearance of the British Columbian population and the inhabitants of my own settlement, who chiefly were of these nationalities. Finer men cannot be seen, in face and figure, than among the miners and woodmen, say, at a race-meeting in Beacon Hill Park, near Victoria, Vancouver Island, any summer afternoon. I had on an average about 270 men at Alberni—perhaps three-fourths of these Canadians and Americans—stalwart, handsome fellows, accustomed to work with their hands. One day, STRENGTH OF THE NATIVES' FINGERS. 33 when the vessels were discharging cargo into the warehouse, we amused ourselves by trying who could carry round the room, on two fingers, the governor of a steam- engine—a mass of metal like a 10-inch shell—and not one of us could carry it half the distance. A middle-sized Indian, who was present, carried it round the warehouse apparently with ease. The constant use of the paddle may be supposed to make the fingers of the Indians strong; but would the use of the axe from childhood not also strengthen the fingers of the woodmen ? Why should the fingers of a comparatively small Indian be stronger than the fingers of a powerful American woodman ? The generally prevalent opinion, as regards the hand of the Indians, was that it exceeded the white man's hand in power. On a certain occasion, a disturbance having arisen, I armed my men, warning them earnestly not to strike or fire till the last extremity. Every one answered that if the Indians came to close quarters and grasped their clothes, they could not disengage the Indians' hold without drawing blood. The blanket worn by the Indians is a convenient garment in a close struggle. One of my men who had watched an Indian potato-stealer for weeks, gripped him at last one night by slipping round a tree upon him as he was filling his bag; but the savage got off by pulling out the bone skewer that fastened his blanket at the neck, and by running naked across the potato-beds into the thick wood. If an Indian is unarmed, one can hold him only by seizing his hair; if he has a weapon about his person, he should not be seized at all, but should be knocked down. The Indians, as already stated, often carry a knife concealed behind the ear in their long hair. 34 PURSUIT OF A FUGITIVE. The Aht Indian runs well, but does not equal the Englishman in running. In pursuing a native in the open, he should always be turned from the forest, as, when once there, nothing but a hound can follow him. In November, 1864, on a day so dreary and snowy" that we could not work, word reached the settlement that a notoriously bad Indian, who, we were well aware, had committed several murders, and was under sentence of imprisonment, but who had escaped from the constable in 1862, was visiting his married daughter at a temporary Indian hut on the bank of the Klistachnit River, about a mile from Alberni. Taking with me John Eyloc, a New Brunswick shipwright, a quick runner and a first-rate oarsman and paddler, with five other trusty men, • all unarmed, and putting my six-barrelled Adams' revolver in my own belt, I went up the river in a boat, and landed on the bank a few hundred yards below the hut, towards which we walked. Before the inmates discovered our approach, we had surrounded the hut. Cautiously entering the doorway, I looked into the apartment, and saw no one but the son-in- law of the fugitive and two women sitting by the fire, who sprang to their feet on observing me. A noise outside attracted my attention, and, on going out, I found that the savage we wanted to capture had sprung unobserved from an opening at a corner of the hut, and was making for the wood at full speed over the snow. Eyloc was in pursuit, and having gained on him quickly, notwithstanding the disadvantage of shoes (which get clogged in the snow), the Indian abandoned his intention of reaching the wood, and turned towards a near point on the river. We ran to intercept him, but he reached the SKILL IN PADDLING. 35 bank, and, throwing off his blanket, plunged into the stream. The excitement in our party was now so great that one of my men ran towards me, seized my arm, and almost ordered me to shoot, or he would escape. The fugitive had risen to the surface, and was swimming towards a canoe that was quite out of our reach, tied to a drift tree in the river. I covered him several times with my pistol, in the excitement of the moment; but had no intention of firing, especially as two of my own men had got into a small canoe some way down the stream, and were paddling up stream towards the coveted canoe. The Indian reached it, however, first. He looked to see if the canoe contained a paddle, then eagerly grasped the welcome instrument. His pursuers, by this time, were perhaps twenty yards from him, and were labouring with powerful, but unequal and unskilful strokes against the rapid current. We on the bank were not more than thirty, yards distant. The river was about 250 yards wide. It was beautiful to see how boldly the Indian, now seated in a canoe, shot athwart his pursuers, and how skilfully he forced his light skiff both up and across the stream, while our men lost ground greatly in attempting to slant their canoe and follow him. There were more than fifty yards between the two canoes when the Indian reached the wooded bank opposite, and plunged into the forest. We, of course, then lost him. I believe he never again came near the settlement. As our party retraced their steps to the boat, cold, weary, and disappointed, I could see that my not having fired at this fellow was not approved by my companions. During the whole time of the pursuit, the two women,—one of them, as above named, the fugitive's 3—2 I ESCAPE OF A FUGITIVE. daughter,—squatted near me and scolded bitterly. " You a chief! " repeated they. " You pretend to be a chief; and try to steal our papa ! You a chief! You are a common man. So-and-so" (naming one of the foremen) "is a high chief. You are no chief at all." They are adepts in scolding; and it was done, in this case, so vigorously that I could not laugh at them. Next day the same women were quite friendly and chatty when they saw me at the settlement. Their papa, they said, was now far beyond my reach. I remember many instances of Indians having escaped from us through their skill in swimming, and paddling, and travelling through the woods. The management by a single Indian of a canoe in crossing a rapid stream cannot be surpassed. At the same time, I may observe that I have seen a trained crew of white men beat a crew of Indians in a long canoe race on the sea. The civilized man seems to have more bottom in him, when the exertion is intense and prolonged. IL 67 CHAPTER VI. HOUSES. Houses of the Ahts—Custom of Changing Quarters—Mode of Shifting an Encampment—No Appreciation of Natural Scenery—Description of Dwellings and Furniture. Carrying his own home still, still is at home.—Donne. A fish: he smells like a fish; a very ancient and fishlike smell. Shakshbabe. I The framework or fixed portion of the houses in an Indian village here belongs to individuals, generally to subordinate chiefs, or to men of some station in the tribe. The name of the owner of the framework of any division of the house is given to the division formed by such framework for the use of a family, when the whole encampment is planked in for occupation. The planking is a joint contribution from the inmates. It is eustomary for the natives to shift their encampments several times during the year, so as to be near good fishing and root and fruit grounds. They cannot, however, be strictly considered as migratory tribes, as they always move to the same places, according to the season, and these different encampments are not far apart. The framework of the 38 HOUSES—REMOVAL. building is never removed, so that planking the sides and roofs is the only work on re-occupation. Planks required for repairing the houses are made during winter. Following the salmon as they swim up the rivers and inlets, the natives place their summer encampments at some distance from the seaboard, towards which they return for the winter season about the end of October, with a stock of dried salmon—their principal food at all times. By this arrangement, being near the seashore, they can get shell-fish, if their stock of salmon runs short, and can also catch the first fish that approach the shore in the early- spring. Every tribe, however, does not thus regularly follow the salmon; some of the tribes devote a season to whale- fishing, or to the capture of the dog-fish, and supply themselves with salmon by barter with other tribes. If the natives did not thus often move their quarters, their health would suffer from the putrid fish and other nasti- nesses that surround their camps, which the elements and the birds clear away during the time of non-occupation. They remove in the following manner from an encampment :—Two large canoes are placed about six feet apart, and connected by planks—the sides and roofs of the houses—laid transversely upon each other, so as to form a wide deck the whole length of the canoe, space enough for one man being reserved at the bow and stern. On this deck are baskets full of preparations of salmon-roe, dried salmon, and other fish, together with wooden boxes containing blankets and household articles. The women and children sit in a small space purposely left for them. I have seen the goods piled on these rafts as high as fourteen feet from the water. Each canoe is managed by two SITE OF AN ENCAMPMENT. 39 men, who, with the women and children, often raise a cheery song as they float down the stream with all their goods and chattels. The principal men send slaves or others to prepare their quarters, and among the common people it is understood beforehand who shall live together at the new encampment. A willing, handy poor man sometimes is invited to live for the winter with a richer family, for whom he works for a small remuneration. The houses of the natives at their winter camping-grounds are large and strongly constructed. I have seen a row of houses stretching along the bank of a stream for the third of a mile, with a varying breadth, inside the buildings, of from twenty-five to forty feet, and a height of from ten to twelve. Cedar {Thuja gigantea) is the wood used in making the houses. Far from presenting a mean appearance, some of the permanent winter encampments on this coast suggest to us what the wooden halls of the old Northern nations in Europe may have been like. They are far superior, as human dwellings, to the hovels in Connaught, or the mud cabins in the west of Sutherland. The village sites are generally well chosen, and, though not selected for any other reason than nearness to firewood and water, and safety against a surprise, are often beautiful, occupying picturesquely the made * ground at the bend of a river, or a spot near some pleasant brook, where fantastic masses of rock, or the dense mixed forests, keep off the wind.f At such places, occupied for centuries year after * This " made " ground consists of mud or earth, partly deposited from the river itself, and partly washed from the bank of the stream. This washing takes place especially at any bend or turn in the river. f It is not my belief that these savages select pretty spots for their village sites, or that they have any appreciation of natural scenery. The notion that 40 HOUSES. year, shell-mounds have been formed, like the Danish " kitchen refuse heaps," and from some of these in Vancouver Island, on their being dug through, the materials for information respecting a past time may yet be got. A row of round posts, a foot thick, and from ten to twelve feet high, placed twenty feet apart and slightly hollowed out at the top, is driven firmly into the ground to form the framework of the lodge. These posts are connected by strong cross-pieces, over which, lengthwise, the roof-tree is placed—a stick sometimes of twenty inches diameter and eighty or ninety feet long, hewn neatly round by the mussel-adze, and often to be seen blackened by the smoke of several generations. Some of the inside main-posts often have great faces carved on them.* Heavy timbers cap the side-posts, and across from these to the roof-tree smaller cross-poles are laid, which support the roof. The they find a charm in contemplating the beauties of nature while resting hour after hour on the grass near their houses, seems to me to have no foundation. It is easy to imagine, from an Indian's attitude, that he is watching tranquilly the floating clouds, or the light waves on the surface of the water, or that his ear enjoys the pleasant mmmuring of the leaves; but the chances are, I imagine, that the savage either gazes with a dull eye on vacancy, or is half asleep. His rude, coarse organization cannot receive the impressions of which more civilized, elevated natures are susceptible. If his fancy roves, the images before the mind of the savage will be gross and common, and very different from the beautiful conceptions which a refined intelligence would form. The woods, to him, merely shelter beasts ; an angry spirit makes a ripple on the water; and every shadow of a cloud causes alarm. The immediate necessities of his life, vague fears of the future, an unavenged wrong, or some torturing suspicions, fill the mind of the savage, and unfit him even for the sensuous enjoyment of fine scenery and climate. * These are not idols, but rude artistic efforts undertaken without any view to symbolize the notions which the natives have of Quawteaht as a higher being. I could not find that the Ahts possessed any symbols or images that could be properly called idols, as objects of religious or superstitious veneration. CONSTRUCTION OF BUILDINGS. 41 roof is formed of broad cedar boards, sometimes seen of five feet in width by- two inches thick, overlaid so as to turn off water. The roof is not quite flat, but has a slight pitch from the back part. The sides of the house are made of the same material as the roof—the boards overlapping and being tied together with twigs between slender upright posts fixed into the ground. The building is now complete, except that the inmates have no place for the reception of goods. To get this, a sort of duplicate inside building is made by driving into the ground, close to the exterior upright posts, smaller posts shorter by about two feet. Small trees are tied to these shorter inside posts, one end of each tree being fastened to an inside post on one side of the house, about two feet below the top of this inside post, and the other end tied in a similar manner to the opposite short post on the other side of the house. At right angles to these small trees, slender poles are laid, on which the natives stow all sorts of things—onions, fern- roots, mats, packages of roe, dried fish, guns, and hunting and fishing instruments. There is no ceiling, and, with the exception of these poles, the interior is open to the roof. For about a foot deep inside of the building the earth is hollowed out, and on the outside a strong stockade of split cedar is sometimes erected, about six feet from the walls. At the Ohyaht village, in Nitinaht (or Barclay) Sound, I have seen a loopholed stockade of this kind, erected so as to face almost the only beach in the neighbourhood on which an enemy could land. The Nitinahts also have a fortified village. The houses of the Ahts are without windows, and the entrances are small, and usually at a corner of some division of the building. The chimney 42 INTTERIOR ARRANGEMENTS. consists of a shifting board in the roof. There is access from division to division of the house. The inside is divided for family occupation into large squares, partitioned for four feet in height; in the middle of each square is the fire burning on a ring of stones; and round the sides of these squares are wooden couches, raised nine inches from the ground,* and covered with six or eight soft mats for bedding. A more comfortable bed to rest upon I do not know, and the wooden pillow, nicely fitting the head of the sleeper, and covered with mats, is a good contrivance. Boxes are piled between the couches, and also in the corners of these rooms or divisions. The floor is uncovered. There are no prescribed seats in these divisions for the different members of the family. All the houses are so much alike, and the habits of the natives differ so little, that in a night attack the stealthy enemy can enter, and in the dark know where to strike the sleepers. A strong fish-like smell, and rather more pungent smoke than is agreeable, salute the nose and eyes of the careless traveller who enters the • Aht dwellings. The outside, however, is the worst, for the whole refuse of the camp is thrown there; and, not being offensive to the organs of the natives, is never removed. A pinch of snuff and a toothful of good brandy are very grateful to one who picks his way among the putrid fish and castaway mollusks that cover the ground. The principal occupant lives at the extreme end, on the left of the building as you walk * It is worthy of remark that in several villages on the north-east of Vancouver Island, and in nearly all on the coast of British Columbia, the Indian houses are divided into small rooms. I have not seen a house so divided on the west coast of the island. It probably is an imitation of white men's houses. PLACES OF OCCUPANTS. 43 up from the main door; the next in rank at the nearer end, on the left as one enters; the intermediate spaces being occupied by the common people. The half bulkheads between the different families are removed oh great occasions, and the whole building kept clear.* * The Indians saw our carpenters at work constantly, and were present at the building of perhaps a hundred wooden houses—both log-houses and frame-houses—yet, though furnished with sawn wood and the necessary tools and appliances, they built their new houses exactly like their old ones, never altering nor improving them. 44 ) CHAPTER Vn. A JUSTICE OF THE PEACE ON CIRCUIT. A Mutinous Crew—My Canoe stolen—Left upon an Island—George the Pirate—Stormy Sea—Sensations from Freezing—Samaritan Woodmen. Nature, whilst fears her bosom chill, Suspends her pow'rs, and life stands still.—Churchill. The comfort of even such a house as the Indians have is never so much felt, as when one has no house at all to sleep in. I remember one night when the poorest hut would have delighted me. During the afternoon a request had reached me that I would visit officially, as a magistrate, an English ship which had put into Nitinaht (or Barclay) Sound with a discontented crew. I went to the ship in a canoe manned by six Indians, and found her at an anchorage about forty- five miles from our settlement. After spending a night and the greater part of the next day on board, I succeeded in inducing the crew to lift the anchor and set the sails. They made some petty complaints, but the truth was they had a weak captain, and did hot wish to proceed with the vessel. My canoe was alongside, the ship was beginning ISLAND SOLITUDE. 45 to move slowly through the water, and I was signing some papers for the captain, when a sudden hailstorm struck the vessel, and obscured the whole deck for several minutes. When the squall passed I prepared to depart, but on looking over the side found that my canoe was gone. The boatswain of the ship also was missing; he had sprung into the canoe during the squall, and had satisfied the Indians by some story of my going to sea in the vessel, that it would be according to my wishes if they proceeded with him alone—at all events the canoe was nowhere to be seen. Here was a pretty situation—several miles from the mainland, night approaching, the ship increasing her speed every minute, and the sea becoming rough. I need not relate at length how the ship managed to land me without again casting anchor. Suffice it to say, that after several hours I was landed, in the ship's gig, on a small wooded island near the entrance of Nitinaht (or Barclay) Sound; the boat returned to the ship, and she stood away and disappeared in the evening gloom. I had a pocketful of biscuits with me, but no blankets, as I expected to find an Indian encampment on the other side of the island. This chance failed me, however; for after scrambling across the island to the village, I found it empty—the Indians had moved to other fishing quarters. The night was falling, and there was nothing for it but to light a fire, and sit down beside it to chew a biscuit, and to wish the boatswain some well- deserved punishment. He was, no doubt, by this time far on his way, in my fine canoe, to some decent place of shelter. The want of a blanket I felt most; one does not like, on a January evening, to lie down at the foot even of a suitable tree without a covering of some sort. I sat by 46 HAILING A CANOE. the fire till about midnight, and then made a bed of young fir-branches, and drawing several branches over me, fell asleep, with my feet towards the fire. The cold awoke me early in the morning, and I got up and moved about the island, and seated myself finally on an elevated rock, from which I could see numerous other small islands, and a considerable part of the open water of the Sound. I took a breakfast of biscuits here, and looked out anxiously for some Indian canoe. I at last saw one crossing the Sound, a long way off, and waved a handkerchief to attract attention. The Indians made no sign, but changed their course slightly in my direction. I kept on waving till I was certain they saw me, and then sat down to wait their pleasure. It was a wretched small canoe, with a man and woman in it. They did not come on steadily within hailing distance, but stopped now and then and talked, and then paddled a little way farther. Coming near at last, I shouted, " Are you Seshahts ? " to which they replied by a great hoarse laugh, after the manner of the Indians. "Seshahts?" I again shouted interrogatively, and they answered, " No, Ohyahts." " Very well," said I, " come and take me to the Ohyaht village." The answer to this was another guffaw, and an objection that the canoe was too small. All this time they were endeavouring to find the real reason of one white man being there without a boat, and at the same time they were manoeuvring for a hard bargain. I agreed to give them all they asked, and finally was taken by them to the village of the Ohyahts— three or four miles distant. My first inquiry was for George the Pirate, a noted Ohyaht murderer and scoundrel, but a very good paddler. A CANOE VOYAGE. 47 On coming forward, he at once recognized me, and I began to be treated with distinction, which, in view of the inevitable bargain? for a canoe, I was rather sorry for, as chiefs in this part are expected to pay like chiefs for everything they have. Kleeshin, the head chief of the Ohyahts, was sent for, and he invited me into his house, and spread a clean mat on a box for me to sit upon. After many questions and answers, we came to business. I wanted a large canoe, with six Indians, to take me quickly to Alberni. Such a canoe, I ascertained, could not be got—there were no large canoes at the village; so it was finally agreed that Kleeshin and scoundrel George should take me in George's small canoe, at the hire of three blue blankets. They insisted on this agreement being written on paper, to which, though unable to read it, they attached great importance. We started about nine o'clock, and kept close to the shore, as the Indians generally do. About eleven the wind rose, and snow began to fall. We passed a point on which a dog was howling piteously. Kleeshin said this dog had been abandoned by the Indians. Entering the long canal described in the first chapter, the work became very stiff, as . the sea was rough and the wind blew against the canoe; but the two paddlers worked hour after hour with regularity and vigour, and without speaking a word. I was told afterwards that we were in great danger during the whole of this time, and that nothing saved us but the extraordinary skill of Kleeshin and George with the paddles. • The sea was rougher than they had expected, and there was no landing-place, and to go back was as bad as to go on. I was sitting with my back to the stern of the canoe where 48 SNOWED UP IN A CANOE Kleeshin was, but saw every movement of George the bow paddler; and not being aware of any danger, I watched his action with admiration. His manner showed no excitement ; hour after hour his shoulder and arm worked like part of a steam-engine, and when an angry curling wave came close to the gunwale, he cut the top of it lengthwise with his paddle, and not a drop came on board. The snow all this time continued to fall; I was sitting on the bottom of the canoe, without any power of changing my position, and the flakes gathered round my feet and legs in spite of all my endeavours to free myself from their soft embrace. It was a long time before I felt any alarm; but when the line of foam on the steep rocks showed the impossibility of landing anywhere, and I remembered we were only half-way on our journey, a sort of dread crept over me. Using my hands as a scoop, I shovelled the snow out of the canoe : still, hour after hour passed, and the snow never ceased to fall. I spoke to the Indian in front, but he did not reply, nor make any sign that he heard me speaking. Mile after mile was thus slowly passed, and I recollect fancying that I felt the cold less, and that I should be warmer if the snow quite covered my legs. When, in changing his paddle for another lying in the canoe, George accidentally struck my leg, I remember it seemed odd to me that I should see and not feel something striking my leg. After that it was all like a dream ; I seemed to be resting on a soft couch, in a great hall lighted by numerous lamps shedding a pleasant light, and beautiful people were tending me, and there were strains of music in the air. The fact was the cold was becoming too much for me. Then the scene changed to a RECOVERY FROM FREEZING. 49 rough hut, lighted imperfectly by a huge fire of logs under a large chimney in the middle of the hut, at some distance from which fire I was propped up by two strong woodmen, who were rubbing my legs. The pleasant words, " I guess, Jim, he's thawing," recalled me to earth from the land of dreams, and I began to estimate the whole position exactly, though I could as yet not utter a word, but only laugh in recognition of my attendants' kindness. Having had a warm dry shirt and drawers put on, I tumbled into a bunk, under a heap of blankets, and awoke next morning quite myself again. We were a long way from the settlement I but, fortunately for me, several of the men engaged in rafting timber happened to have occupied an old hut for the night; and the Indians, seeing the light and becoming aware of my condition, had steered for the place, and had succeeded in landing safely, though with damage to their canoe. I had no very kindly feelings towards the boatswain who was the cause of this mischance. 50 CHAPTER VIII. DOMESTIC MANNERS. Winter the time for Feasts—Domestic Manners ; Fondness for Jokes and Gossip—Rarity of Serious Quarrels ; Ignorance of Fisticuffs—Unwillingness to labour—Appetite, Meals, Food and Drinks, Cooking ; Gathering Gammass Roots ; Cutting down Crab-apple Trees in Despair—Hospitality to Friendly Unexpected Visitors—Observance of Formalities in Social Intercourse. Come; our stomachs Will make what's homely, savoury; weariness Can snore upon the flint.—Shakspeaeb. In fine seasons, the Ahts, following the salmon up the inlets and streams, have been known not to return to their winter quarters till the end of November. A month sooner, however, is about the usual time. Mirth then prevails, as the whole tribe is gathered like a family round a fireside. There is a general holiday and time of feasting, called Klooh-quahn-nah, which ends about the middle of January, soon after which time the natives begin to look for fish that approach the inlets on the coast in the spring. The winter season is the time when, if one knew the Aht language thoroughly, and had the stomach and nose to live actually — RARENE8S OF QUARRELLING. 51 amongst them, their ways could be best learnt. The natives delight in gossip and scandal, and the strangest rumours circulate freely through every camp. What talks there will be in the smoky houses about the past fishing season, the conduct of other tribes, the doings of the white men ! These natives are not at all times so grave as out of doors they appear to us. When relieved from the presence of strangers, they have much easy and social conversation among themselves. Round their own fires they sing and chat, and the older men, lying and bragging after the manner of story-tellers, recount their feats in war or the chase to a listening group. Joke's pass freely, and the laugh is long, if not loud. According to our notions, the conversation is frequently coarse and indecent. A common fireside amusement is to tease the women till they become angry, which always produces great merriment. The men rarely quarrel except with their tongues, and a blow is seldom given. If struck in anger it must be paid for next day with a present, unless the striker chooses to leave the dispute between himself and his opponent open. The respect entertained for the head of the family is, however, generally speaking, sufficient to preserve order within the family circle. Quarrelling is also rare among the children. The use of the doubled fist as a means of offence is quite unknown among these people, and seemed at first very much to surprise them. I have never witnessed a fight between two sober natives; when drunk, they seek close quarters and pull each other's hair. When there is no dancing, their evenings are passed round the fire, and, as the stories slacken, they retire one by one to their couches. They sleep in the same blankets 4—2 52 DOMESTIC MANNERS. which they use during the day. To judge by their snoring, the natives seem to sleep rather heavily than otherwise. They rise from their beds at an early hour in the morning.' The women go to bed first, and are up first in the morning to prepare breakfast. In their own work, among themselves, I should not call these Ahts a very lazy people, though they have no regular occupation, and though, from the toiling Englishman's point of view, they are the reverse of industrious.* They have a good deal to do in making house utensils, nets, canoes, paddles, weapons, and implements. The high chiefs, of course, are mere gentlemen at large. I have seen Indians hard at work on canoes in the woods at five o'clock on an autumn morning, a long way from their houses (see canoe-making, page 85). Their appetite is capricious and not easily appeased; but when necessary, they have great power of abstaining from food. When at work, only two small meals are taken—in the morning and evening; but, when not at work, cooking ■ continues all day, and as many as six or eight meals are * "When I first employed Indians at Alberni, the price of their labour was two blankets and rations of biscuits and molasses for a month's work for each man, if he worked the whole time. The Indians became very tired after labouring for ten days or a fortnight, and many forfeited the wages already earned, rather than endure longer the misery of regular labour. It was instructive, yet almost painful to witness the struggle between the strong acquisitive instincts of the savage, and the real mental and physical difficulty and pain caused by the stated regularity of the hours for work and for meals. Some of the Indians became fair workmen, and their labour was worth half-a-dollar a day and rations, or about one-third the value of an ordinary white labourer's work; but, on the whole, I found that the Indians were unprofitable workmen. They make better sailors than labourers ; a Tsclahllam slave from the opposite side of the straits of Fuca, whom we named Quartermaster Jack, often took the wheel of th'e%rew-steamer Thames in inland waters, on the way to Alberni. He could see in the dark like a racoon. FOOD. 53 eaten. The principal food of the natives, as before alluded to, is fish—salmon, whale, halibut, seal, herring, anchovy, and shell-fish of various kinds. Their commonest article of food at all times is dried salmon; whale-blubber, preparations of. salmon roe, and the heads of smaller fish are esteemed delicacies. They are particularly fond of picking bones. Twenty years ago, when few trading vessels visited the coast, the Ahts probably were restricted to a diet of fish, wild berries, and roots; but they now use also for food, flour, potatoes, rice, and molasses. This change of food, from what I saw of its effect on two tribes with whom I lived, has proved to be very injurious to their health. The dogfish is occasionally eaten, but is generally caught for the sake of its oil, to barter with the whites. Fur- seals and sea-otters are diligently pursued for their furs, but few good furs are got without going much farther north than any part of Vancouver Island. Only a few individuals in any tribe follow the chase; but there are always some hunters who pursue the bear, beaver, mink, marten and racoon for their skins. Geese, ducks, and deer are also used as food, but are not so well liked as fish, and are seldom kept in stock. The marrow of animals is esteemed a great delicacy by all the natives. They seem to be very improvident, or rather, perhaps, are unable to calculate their probable wants; and it happens sometimes that they are in straits for want of food, when the fish do not appear until late in the spring. Becoming weak and thin, they blacken their faces to hide their altered looks. What we call the refuse of birds and fish, particularly the head, is esteemed by the natives. When the canoes return to shore from fishing, the men fill the baskets with the fish, 54 COOKERY. and place them on the women's shoulders. The latter, assisted by the slaves, immediately cut off the heads, open, and wash the fish, press out the water, and afterwards hang them up to dry in the smoke without salt. The roe is made into cakes or rolls, which are hung up and smoked. The commonest way of cooking fish or flesh is by spitting it on cedar sticks placed near the fire. Whale-blubber and pieces of seal are prepared for food by being boiled in a wooden dish, into which hot stones are thrown to heat the water. A kind of gravy soup is also made from pieces of fish. Another mode of cooking is to cover the fire with stones, on which water is sprinkled and the fish placed, mats saturated with fresh water being thrown over all. In this way as many as fifty salmon are cooked at once, and no better mode could be desired. When used immediately as food, the head, backbone, ribs, and tail are separated from the rest of the body, the heads and tails are strung together and dried, and the backbone, which has a large portion of the fish adhering to it, is generally eaten first. As a corrective of the injurious effects of a continued fish and animal diet, various plants are used by the natives as food. The kammass,—a species of lily common in the north and north-west of America, so called originally, it is supposed, by the early French fur-trading voyageurs, but known to the Ahts as gammass,—comes into flower about the middle or end of April, and remains in flower till June, when it is in a condition to be gathered < Before that time its root is watery and unpalatable. The gathering of the gammass is the most picturesque of all Indian employments. One could hardly wish in his honeymoon, or in any like happy time, for a pleasanter THE GAMMASS LILY. oo dwelling than the little bush camps which the natives form in the gammass districts. It is pleasant to lie on the fern in these cosy abodes, and smoke, and read one of those old books of travel too wonderful by half to be produced in these days. This useful plant is found also in Oregon, and the root is there roasted until black, and is preserved in cakes. In Vancouver Island it is roasted and preserved whole in bags for winter use. The gammass has an agreeable sweetish taste, and, from the great quantity of starchy matter which it contains, is justly esteemed one of the most wholesome of the Indian edibles. It grows only in small quantities on the west coast, and is taken thither as an article of traffic from the south of the island, particularly from the neighbourhood of Victoria, where there are excellent gammass districts. One of the bitterest regrets of the natives is that the encroachment of the whites is rapidly depriving them of their crops of this useful and almost necessary plant. They have never attempted to increase the production of gammass by any kind of cultivation. The roots of the common fern or bracken are much used as a regular meal. They are simply washed and boiled, or beaten with a stone, till they become soft, and are then roasted. All the different kinds of berries are a favourite food, either fresh plucked from the bush, or when pressed into cakes for use in winter. The gathering of berries in the woods by parties of natives, during the lovely summer and autumn days, is a pleasant and favourite occupation of the women and children. The tender shoots of several species of rubus are eaten as a delicacy or relish during the summer, as the shoots of the sweet-briar are 56 CRAB-APPLES PRIZED. •eaten in Scotland. Canoes may be seen quite laden with these shoots. Hazel-nuts and sal-al berries are used in autumn. Many species of seaweed are collected for food, and one species is pressed into cakes for winter use. The dog-tooth violet, wild onions, and the roots or young shoots of several other plants that grow on the coast, form the food of the Indians at different times of the year. Crab-apples are wrapped in leaves and preserved in bags for the winter. The method of cooking them, when fresh plucked, is by simply boiling the apples; but, when they have lost their acidity, they are cooked by being placed in a hole dug/ in the ground, over which green leaves are placed, and a fire kindled above all. The natives are as careful of their crab-apples as we are of our orchards ; and it is a sure sign of their losing heart before intruding whites when, in the neighbourhood of settlements, they sullenly cut down their crab-apple trees, in order to gather the fruit for the last time without trouble, as the tree lies upon the ground. The Indian, As fades his swarthy race, with anguish sees The white man's cottage rise beneath the trees.—Leyden. Water is the only drink of the natives. They dislike salt; at least I have observed they will not boil potatoes in salt-water, even under the pressure of hunger. At meals a circle is formed; the natives sit like Turks, and eat slowly and without much conversation, until the pipe has been passed round, after which they begin to talk. Travellers are generally well received, but members of another tribe are not expected to take their guns or pikes inside the house with them—an act which, according to M. Hue, is A stranger, on entering contrary also to Tartar etiquette. SOCIAL ETIQUETTE. 57 a house, seats himself, and no word is spoken for several minutes. Food is then placed before him without his having to ask for it, and the host is displeased if the stranger does not partake of it. He also feels hurt if by any omission, the guest has to ask for refreshment. A small mat, specially kept for strangers, is spread as a seat, and at the end of the meal, a wooden box of water and some soft bark strips are offered for washing the mouth and hands. Next follows a pipe, if tobacco is plentiful, and then the host asks a string of questions at once : where the guest is from ? where going to ? on what business ? and the news from his tribe ? In reply to which, the guest makes a sort of speech, answering all the questions. Another family now expresses a'wish to entertain him, and, though occasionally a traveller has to eat six or eight times in a night, such invitations cannot be declined without offence. In the morning, the guest receives another meal, and departs without any charge being made for his entertainment. On the arrival of a number of strange canoes on a friendly but unexpected visit, they are brought stern foremost to the shore, and the natives cease paddling and wait without speaking. Had they been expected, the canoes would have approached bow foremost, and the people on shore would have run down and helped to pull their bows on to the beach; but in the case of unexpected visitors, the inmates of the village simply come out of their houses and squat down, looking at the visitors. By- and-by, one, and then another, is asked to go up to the houses; but no person goes without a special invitation, and sometimes it is an hour or more before all the visitors find accommodation. 58 DOMESTIC MANNERS. The Aht Indians have an etiquette by which the manner of receiving guests and visitors is laid down, and all their ceremonies on public occasions are regulated. Extreme formality prevails, and any failure in good manners is noticed. The natives of rank rival one another in politeness. Compared with the manners of English rustics or mechanics, their manners are simple and rather dignified. Since the whites went amongst them, it is amusing to observe the attempts that are made to imitate some of the forms of civilized intercourse. In meeting out of doors, they have no gesture of salutation; in their houses it consists of a polite motioning towards a couch. >9 ) CHAPTER IX. FEASTS. Feasts and Feasting—Description of a great Whale Feast—After-dinner Oratory : Skill in Public Speaking—Seta-Kanim " on his Legs "— Vocal Peculiarities—Indian's reply to Governor Kennedy—Singing : Blind Minstrel from Klah-oh-quaht ; translation of one of his Songs—Amusements^ of Adults and Children—Dances and Plays ; Description of five different Dances. I could be pleased with any one Who entertained my sight with such gay shows.—DetdeN. The great feasts, as before named, take place in winter, but feasting goes on at all times. There are always feasts and distributions when a new house is built. An Indian who thinks anything of himself, never gets a deer or a seal, or even a quantity of flour, without inviting his friends to a feast. The guests go early, and sit chatting while the food is being cooked. They eat in silence, and go away afterwards one by one, each taking the uneaten portion of his allowance with him in a corner of his blanket. After a whale is brought on shore, about a hundredweight of the best part is cut off and presented to the chief. The harpooner who first struck the whale, and the fish-priest—a sorcerer 60 FEASTS. who prophesies as to the success of the fish seasons—next receive their shares; then the minor chiefs, in portions according to their rank; and, finally, the common people, until the whole fish is divided. A round of feasts is now expected from those who have received large portions. Messengers, with red and blue blankets tastefully put on, go to each house, and in a loud voice invite all the men of the tribe to attend a feast at a particular house. The women are not invited to a feast of this kind, and are seldom seen at any large entertainment, except at that called Wawkoahs, which is given by one tribe to another with which they are on very friendly terms. The common people—how odd to talk of common people where all seem so common—go early, and take their seats near, the door by which they enter. It is the habit of men of rank to be late in going to a feast, and to have several messages sent to them to request their presence. Each person's place is duly reserved for him. For a feast of this kind, a large part of the whole building is cleared; all the dividing planks that separate the families are removed, and a clear space left, sometimes fifty feet wide by two hundred in length. Clean mats, or long twists of cedar fibre are laid round the inside of the lodge. On the entrance of a guest, he is announced by name and placed in his proper seat, where he finds a bunch of bark strips for wiping his feet. When a popular chief .enters, he is loudly cheered after the Aht fashion, that is, by striking the walls with the back of the hand or with a piece of stick, in which way the natives also accompany their monotonous songs. The meal is never served till all the invited guests have arrived. Meanwhile the cooking goes on in a corner TREATMENT OF GUESTS. 01 of the house in a manner new to Soyer. Hot stones are put, by means of wooden tongs, into large wooden boxes, containing a small quantity of water. When the water' boils, the blubber of the whale, cut into pieces about an inch thick, is thrown into these boxes, and hot stones are added till the food is cooked. This imperfect boiling does not extract half the oil from the blubber, but whatever appears is skimmed off, and preserved in bladders as a delicacy to be eaten with dried salmon and with potatoes or other roots. Whale-oil is so much liked by the natives that they rarely sell it. The chief's wives at such an entertainment prepare the food, and afterwards wait upon the guests. On everything being ready, the host directs the feast to be served. Silence while eating is considered a mark of politeness. No knives are used ; the blubber, which in tenacity resembles gutta-percha, is held in the hands while being eaten. Each guest receives a larger or a smaller piece according to his rank. During dinner, the host and one of his servants, who may be called a sort of master of the feast, walk round to see that all the visitors have been served with due attention. On finishing his meal, each person receives some soft cedar bark, that he may wipe his mouth and hands. The remains of each person's meal are carefully gathered by the servants of the host, and carried to the guest's dwelling. By-and-by, conversation begins; a few compliments are paid to the chief for his good cheer, and then, perhaps, some tribal topics are introduced, and animated speeches are delivered by various orators. Praises of their own and their forefathers' achievements in war, or skill in hunting and fishing, and boasts of the number of their powerful friends and the 62 NATIVE ORATORY. admirable qualities of each, form the burden of these after- dinner speeches. The principal chief always gives the signal to break up the party, and he leaves first. When the guests retire, it is usual, in fine weather, for small groups to meet and discuss the whole proceedings and criticize the speeches. I had no expectation of finding that oratory —the queen of human gifts—was so much prized among this rude people. It is almost the readiest means of gaining power and station. The Klah-oh-quahts excel in public speaking. Individuals sometimes speak at festive or political meetings for more than an hour, with great effect upon the hearers. My not being able always to follow the words enabled me perhaps more to notice the graces of action which the speakers exhibited. The blanket is a more becoming garment to an orator than a frock coat. The voices of one or two noted chiefs are very powerful, yet clear and musical, the lower tones remark- ably so ; their articulation is distinct, and their gestures and attitudes are singularly expressive. I have been tempted sometimes to cheer them. There is a noticeable difference, I may mention, between the voices of the Ahts and those of Englishmen. I never more distinctly observed this than when a savage replied to Governor Sir Arthur Kennedy on his addressing an assembly of natives in front of the Government House at Victoria, soon after his arrival in the colony, The Governor is a soldier-like man, with a resolute, handsome face, and firm voice ; but the contrast was striking between his measured voice and talk, and the deep, careless tones of the savage, as his utterance in reply burst on the relieved ears of the audience. There is a pith in an Indian's ORATORY, SINGING, AND DANCING. 03 speech altogether, in voice, manner, and meaning, that startles one accustomed to the artificial declamation of English public meetings. It has occurred to me, while hearing savage oratory among the Ahts, that an actor or artist who wished to know what natural earnest manner in public speaking really is, should visit Klah-oh-qu, and hear Seta-Kanim on his legs. Viewing the matter artistically,- it is quite a treat; but, from another point of view, the picture is saddening, even to one ignorant of the language, to see a savage in the open air, pleading, under a sense of injustice, for some object he has much at heart —perhaps his native land. There is nothing to be seen in England like it. We Englishmen converse well indoors across green tables, but out of doors the savage beats us in public speaking beyond compare. In all the externals of oratory, the Bishop of Oxford at Bradford, or Lamartine at the Hotel de Ville, would be tame, placed beside Seta-Kanim speaking for war. Boys practise the recital of portions of celebrated speeches which they retain in memory; and occasionally, as the old men sit on the beach, watching the sunset on a summer evening, they point out future orators and envoys among the youngsters who play before them. Such winter feasts as I have described are often followed by singing and dancing. Singing is very common, but their musical attainments are not great. They have, however, different airs or chants for times of grief or joy, for careless moments, and for the hour of triumph, all of which, rude and informal as they may be, have a distinct character about them. The most unmusical ear, of course, distinguishes at once the song of the mother 64 SONGS AND CHANTS. fondling her child from the wail of the parent lamenting for her offspring; and not less marked is the difference between the terrible death chant and the song of mirth at a feast. And, I daresay, one might perceive, on comparison, 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. The required expression is usually given by uttering the sounds in quick or slow time, more than by any attempt at musical cadence. It is remarkable how aptly the natives catch and imitate songs heard from settlers or travellers. They soon learn to sing the " Old Hundredth " as well as many a Scottish congregation; "Bobbing Around," and "Dixie's Land," were lately familiar tunes; and I have heard several natives join in " God Save the Queen," and sing it fairly well too, without the variations which destroy that grave, simple song. The musical faculty must be far from unimportant that enables the natives thus accurately to catch, after a few hearings, the right expression of songs, the meaning and tendency of which are quite unknown to them. The singer often acts while he sings, representing, for instance, the spearing of fish or the paddling of a canoe. In almost every tribe there is an old man who sings war-chants, and songs of praise at public feasts. One old man from Klah- oh-quaht Sound, blind from age, accompanied by his two sons who lead him about, visits the different tribes of his own—the Aht—nation every summer. He is one of the richest men in his tribe. On landing at a camp, this white-haired minstrel praises the tribe and the chief, and makes a song, to which they listen quite pleased, and some one, whose benevolence or vanity has been touched, gives OUT-DOOR AMUSEMENTS. 65 him a present. The following is a free translation of one of his improvisations :—" The Ohyahts are a great people I with strong, hearts, and all the tribes fear them; they "make good canoes and kill whales. I am an old man I who has seen many snows, but every snow I hear more " about the Ohyahts; they have a great chief who has " taken many heads, and has many slaves; his grand- | father was strong and took many heads. The Ohyahts " are lucky and will catch plenty of salmon ; I have come I far and am old, and will need blankets in winter." The venerable beggar will sing thus for an hour, praising different people and their forefathers, if at every stoppage he receives a present; and should there be any backwardness in giving on the part of the audience, he will ask for a gift in a most unbard-like manner. The men have few out-door amusements except swimming, or trying strength by hooking little fingers, which is always conducted with good humour.* Hunting and fishing may be called more occupations than amusements. The war-dance is now and then practised out of doors, but is little like the dance one's imagination would picture, consisting merely of a number of men with blackened faces running to and fro, now and then jumping on one leg, yelling and firing their guns. The native children are sprightly enough and amuse themselves in various ways; climbing poles, shooting with bows and arrows, and darting miniature spears at shapes of birds and fish made of grass; * From some cause, perhaps the constant use of the paddle, their fingers are very strong ; as already stated, I have seen middle-sized natives carry heavy weights with their fingers which stalwart woodmen could scarcely lift. For this reason an angry Indian should not be allowed to catch the clothes of an opponent; he should be knocked down. 66 PANTOMIMIC DANCES. or alone in a small canoe, upsetting by a quick movement the tiny vessel, soon to right it, and empty the canoe of water before the bold swimmer again gets in to paddle off and repeat the trick. Another boy's pastime, which their elders instruct them in, is cutting off with a knife the heads of clay models made to represent enemies. After a great feast, as a signal for dancing to commence, the host claps his hands, and, in a loud tone, sings a few words of some well-known song. As a rule, the men and women do not dance together; when the men are dancing the women sing and beat time. Hardly an evening passes in winter without a dance in some part of the encampment, and if no one has a party, the chief invites some of the young men to dance at bis own house. The seal-dance is • a common one. The men strip naked, though it may be a cold frosty night, and go into the water, from which they soon appear, dragging their bodies along the sand like seals. They enter the houses, and crawl about round the fires, of which there may be fifteen or twenty kept bright with oil. After a time the dancers jump up, and dance about the house. In another dance, in which all the performers are naked, a man appears with his arms tied behind his back with long cords, the ends of which, like reins, are held by other natives Who drive him about. The spectators sing and beat time on their wooden dishes and bearskin drums. Suddenly the chief appears, armed with a knife, which he plunges into the runner's back, who springs forward, moving wildly as if in search of shelter. Another blow is given; blood flows down his back, and great excitement prevails, amidst which, the civilized spectator shudders and remonstrates. The stroke is repeated and PANTOMIMIC DANCES. 67 the victim staggers weakly, and falls prostrate and lifeless. Friends gather round, and remove the body, which, outside the house, washes itself and puts on its blanket. I never saw acting more to the life; the performers would be the making of a minor theatre in London. Here, in fact, is theatrical performance in its earliest stage. The blood, which by some contrivance flows down the back at the moment the stroke is given, is a mixture of a red gum, resin, oil and water—'the same that is used in colouring the inside of canoes. In these dances men only share, but there is a dance in which men and women join, and which they keep up for a long time. Both sexes are naked to the waist, and the best blanket is worn as a kilt. Such a scene brings Alloway Kirk to mind, and one peers through the smoky, dim-lighted Indian house for a vision of the shaggy fiddler in the corner. The hair is allowed to hang loose, and the women are ornamented with anklets and bracelets. The dancers sing, and the boys standing round keep time with sticks on bearskin drums. No notice is taken of the women except, occasionally, when a gallant youth throws a string of beads round an active maiden's neck. The dancing is not with partners, and each seems to quit the dance alone, and without ceremony. The dancers move slowly through a kind of figure—the nature of which I could not understand — and pass strips of blanket under the arm so quickly to one another, that one cannot see them till some performer, tired out, stops and walks away with a strip in his hand. I may mention here a few more of the Aht dances, which, accompanied with singing, are called by the natives " Nook," as I witnessed them at Alberni, during a large intertribal feast. 5—2 68 NOOK" DANCES. Nook 1.—The great aim in this dance was, that it was to be carried on with energy and without cessation ; when some one was tired out others joined in; and those who had stopped returned to it again, when they had recovered their strength. The words of the song were equivalent to " keep it up." Many of the dancers kept it up till the perspiration appeared freely on their half-naked bodies: some went out and plunged into the river, and returned to renew their exertions. Nook 2.—There was a peculiar song here, as in all the other dances ; but I do not know the words. Probably in this, as certainly in some other instances, there were no words, and tradition had only retained the notes of the tune, and the peculiar feature of the dance. The aim of the performers was to bend the knee excessively, while at the same time they kept time with the quick drum- beating and singing to which they danced. Only a few of the Indians excel in this dance. Nook 3.—This might be called the doctor's (Ooshtukyu) nook. During the song and dance, which at first seemed to present nothing peculiar, a well-known slave (one, however, who was in a comparatively independent position, being employed as a sailor on board the steamer Thames,) suddenly ceased dancing, and fell down on the ground apparently in a dying state, and having his face covered with blood. He did not move or speak, his head fell on one side, his limbs were drawn up, and he certainly presented a ghastly spectacle. While the dance raged furiously around the fallen man, the doctor, with some others, seized and dragged him to the other side of the fire round which they were dancing, placing his naked feet very near the flames. NOOK" DANCES. 69 After this, a pail of water was brought in, and the doctor, who supported the dying man on his arm, washed the blood from his face; the people beat drums, danced, and sang, and suddenly the patient sprang to his feet and joined in the dance, none the worse for the apparently hopeless condition of the moment before. While all this was going on, I asked the giver of the feast whether it was real blood upon the man's face, and if he were really wounded. He told me so seriously that it was, that I was at first inclined to believe him, until he began to explain that the blood which came from the nose and mouth was owing to the incantations of the medicine-man, and that all the people would be very angry if he did not afterwards restore him. I then recalled to mind that in the early part of the day, before the feast, I had seen the doctor and the slave holding very friendly conferences ; and the former had used his influence to get a pass for the latter to be present at the entertainment, to which, probably, he had no right to come. I feel sure that many of the Indians really believed in this exhibition of the doctor's power. When the affair was over, many of the natives asked me what I thought of it, and referred to it as if it must set at rest for ever any possible doubts with regard to the abilities of their native doctors. The Indian, who explained this and other performances to me, said, that the cure was not entirely owing to the doctor, but to the large body of dancers and singers who all " exerted their hearts " to desire the recovery of the sick man, and so procured the desired effect. Nook 4.—This is the roof dance, a performance peculiar to the Seshaht people. Suddenly, during an apparently ordinary course of singing and dancing, the majority of II 70 "NOOK" DANCES. those engaged climb up the posts of the house, thrust the boards aside, and the next moment are heard leaping on the roof and making a noise like thunder. This goes on for a time, some descending from above and joining those below, and others climbing up to take their places on the roof. It may be mentioned, in connection with this roof-dance, that "after all the dances were over, on the occasion I speak of, an old man came forward and made, apparently, a very eloquent speech. He said that the roof-dance was one belonging to the Seshahts, and could not be omitted; but, at the same time, noticed that it was an injurious thing for the roof, as it was apt to split the boards and let in the rain. This was intended as an apology to the owner of the house. Afterwards, several Indians came forward, and each gave a small stick, which was received as a present by the owner of the house. These sticks intimated a gift of roof-boards, and the person presenting one of them undertook, at some future time, to redeem it with a roof-board. Nook 5.—This dance was characterized by having a greater number of dancers, and a movement and song which, though cheerful, was not so quick nor loud as those which had preceded it. It seemed to be intended to have a sort of confidential and conversational tone. The dancers moved softly but actively about, and seemed to address each other in praises of the building; they looked cheerful, and turned the head quickly, as if speaking first to one and then to another, and sang, " It is a very great house» a very great house ; a very great house." Upon a movement of the leader, who with voice and arm never failed to direct all the performances of the company, they changed "NOOK" DANCES. their words (while they kept the same tune, certainly the most pleasant one of the entertainment,) to "It is a very warm fire; a very warm fire; a very warm fire;" and finally ended by praising the household furniture: " These are very nice things; very nice things ; very nice things." On the whole, this dance-song was much the most pleasing of those which we witnessed. There was something dramatic in the way in which these rudely-painted and half- naked creatures attempted to represent, in dance and song, the idea of an animated conversation. CHAPTER XI. AN ATTEMPT AT AN INQUEST. Depredations of the Indians—An Indian shot with Peas—English Staff Surgeon—Soft-hearted Torkshireman—Absurd Verdicts of the Jury. (After they'd almost por'd out their eyes) Did very learnedly decide The bus'ness on the horse's side.—Hudibeas. I was roused from my bed one dark rainy night at Alberni, by a messenger from our farm up the Klistachnit River, bringing word that the man in charge of the farm had shot an Indian. The farm was about two miles distant, and being on the opposite side of the river, could only be reached by water. Not knowing very well what it might be necessary to do, I asked Mr. Johnston, a gentleman in our service, to take a few men and go to the farm and see what had happened. This party had some difficulty, owing to the darkness, in getting their boat past the drift-trees at the entrance of the rapid stream, but in an hour or two they reached the farm. Two men were employed there—an American and a Yorkshireman—who both were sitting in the kitchen, looking at the fire, when A SHOT IN THE DARK. Mr. Johnston entered the house. It appeared that the foreman, the American, had for several nights past been watching a field of potatoes which the Indians were plundering. They came in numbers up a long creek, and half filled their canoes in a few hours, and before morning were many miles distant. The foreman, two nights previously, had caught one of these Indians, a fellow who seemed- a ringleader, but he had escaped by slipping off his blanket and running naked into the forest. The. same Indian had again returned with his plundering gang. On the evening in question the foreman went out to watch the field, and took with him his gun, loaded with five hard peas, thinking that, if he could not catch an Indian, he would frighten them by shooting the peas amongst them. As usual, the depredators were in the field fining their bags, and as soon as they became aware of the foreman's presence, they ran with them to their canoes. He could not overtake them, but having fired his gun with as good an aim as he could take in the dark at the supposed ringleader, he was horror-struck to see the Indian fall flat upon the ground. Rushing back to the house with his discharged gun, the foreman cried to his companion, the Yorkshireman, on entering, '' Jack, I've shot an Indian." These particulars being learnt, Mr. Johnston and two others took a lantern and visited the field, where, after looking about for some time, they found the Indian lying dead. He had fallen over his potato-bag, and his hands were clutching the soil. The body was dragged to the river; but the men forming Mr. Johnston's party objected to take it on board the boat, and proposed tying a string round the ankle, and towing the body astern. Finally, however, a small abandoned 74 AN ATTEMPT AT AN INQUEST. canoe was found, and the body was placed in this and towed behind the boat to the settlement, where it was put into a room full of old casks until the morning. After breakfast next day I proceeded to examine into this affair. The peculiarity of the case was that everybody in the district was in my own employment. I took the word of the American that he would appear when wanted, knowing this to be a better security for his appearance, than locking him up in a room from which he might have escaped. The feeling among the settlers as to the death of this Indian was that nothing was required to be done. Several men came to me and said, " You are not going to trouble Henry about this—are you, sir?" I could only answer that we must do what the law required us to do. It was easy to summon a jury, but where could we get a doctor to make a post-mortem examination of the Indian's body ? The difficulty was solved by a workman advancing from a gang employed in carrying wood, and asking to speak with me. He was a careworn, middle-aged man, dressed in common clothes. We went into the room that served as an office or court-room, and on entering into conversation, this man told me that he had been a staff surgeon in the British army, and that he had his diploma and certificates of service in his chest. He brought me these, and they proved the truth of his statement—so, of course, I gladly accepted his services. The next step was to get a jury. I selected twelve of the most respectable and intelligent workmen, and opened the court: this jury consisted of Canadians, Americans, and Englishmen. We inspected the body, and did everything in proper form. The doctor proved that death was caused by wounds in the chest, AN EXAMINATION. 75 and he produced a pea, which he had found in the left lung. The Yorkshireman, who lived in the farm-house with the American, a fine young fellow above six feet in height, was next examined. He stood in the middle of the room with his cap in his hand; the jurymen standing half-a- dozen on each side of the room. I asked the Yorkshire- man to tell the jury what happened that night. He said his "chum" had gone out of the farm-house, and had come back in about an hour. He took his gun out, and had brought it back. The witness had heard a gun-shot. He knew no more. I asked this witness what his companion said when he returned to the house ? At this question he blushed, and then grew pale, and twirled his cap round, and said nothing. I repeated the question, and told the Yorkshireman to take time, and not to shrink from telling the truth. He seemed embarrassed, and did not reply. Noticing he was ill at ease, I left him alone for a little, and then again asked him the question in a mild, tone. His agitation increased, the cap fell from his hands, he staggered, and finally fainted where he stood. Some of the jurymen caught him in their arms, and carried him outside. I have never seen a strong man faint from mental agitation before or since this occasion; it is probably a very unusual occurrence. The witness must have had a large heart, and he believed that his evidence as to the words of his companion, " Jack, I've shot an Indian," might be fatal words. The examination continued, and, after several other witnesses had given testimony, I stated j the case to the jury, and sent them into another room for their finding. There was, it appeared, a long debate: for nearly half an hour passed before they returned to rERDICT OF THE JURY. my room. One after another entered, and when they had ranged themselves again on the side of the room, I inquired what their finding was. The answer was, " We find the Siwash was worried by a dog." "A what?" I exclaimed. "Worried by a dog, sir," said another juryman, fearing that the foreman had not spoken clearly. Assuming, with great difficulty, an expression of proper magisterial gravity, I pointed out to the jury the incompatibility of this finding with the evidence, and went again over the points of the case, calling particular attention to the medical testimony, and the production by the doctor of the pea found in the body of the Indian; after which I, a second time, dismissed the jury to their room, and begged them to come back with something, at all events, reasonably connected with the facts of the case. A longer time than before elapsed. The jury, on this occasion, left their room, and walked about the settlement, and I saw knots of men conversing eagerly. There was some hope now, I thought, of a creditable verdict, When the jurymen at length sidled into my room for the second time, I drew a paper towards me to record a finding which I expected would suitably end this unpleasant inquest. " Now, men, what do you say ?" Their decisive answer was, " We say he was killed by falling over a cliff." I shuffled my papers together, and told them they might go to their work; I would return a verdict for the jury myself. The farm, I may mention, for a mile every way from where the dead body was found, was as level as a table. I could not but think it strange the jury did not decide upon an open or evasive finding, instead of those extraordinarily absurd ones. The fact was the men were determined to shut AN ARREST AND AN ESCAPE. then* eyes, and they shut them so close that they became quite blind. Not a bit of a joke was in their minds; they acted with perfect seriousness throughout, and this made the comic parts of this tragi-comedy still more ludicrous. I arrested the American, and sent him in our own steamboat to Victoria in charge of a constable, but he escaped from custody. He was an excellent fellow, and I am sure had no intention of killing the Indian. The victim belonged to a distant tribe, but they were too much ashamed of the circumstances of his death to send for the body. We accordingly buried it in the forest. The Indians who lived beside the settlement were rather pleased than otherwise with the death of this Indian, and many of them pointed to the body and said, " Now you see who steals your potatoes ; our tribe does not." I beg the reader to observe that the foregoing statement is not in the slightest degree exaggerated or distorted; it is a mere simple statement of the facts of the case as they actually occurred. CHAPTER XI. ACQUISITION AND USE OF PROPERTY. Acquisition of Property—Sharpness in Bargaining—Restrictions upon Trade—Land considered as Tribal Property—Description of various kinds of Personal Property; Muskets, Bows and Arrows, Canoes, Hand-adze, Bone Gimlet, Elkhorn Chisel, Stone Hammer, Household Utensils, Mats, Clothing—Method of Making and Managing Canoes— Prevalence of Slavery and Slave-Dealing—Condition and Treatment of Slaves. Takes what she liberal gives, nor thinks of more.—Thomson. Commodities are obtained among the Ahts from one another by bartering slaves, canoes, and articles of food, clothing, or ornament; and from the colonists by exchanging oil, fish, skins, and furs. All the natives are acute, and rather too sharp at bargaining. The Ahts are fond of a long conversation in selling, but seldom reduce their price ; living at no expense, they can afford to keep their stock of goods a long time on hand. I have known an Indian keep a sea-otter's skin more than three years, though offered repeatedly a fair price for it. News about prices, and indeed about anything in which the natives take an interest, travels quickly to distant places from one tribe to another. If a trading schooner appeared at one point on the shore, and offered higher prices than are LAWS OF PROPERTY 79 usually given, the Indians would know the fact immediately along the whole coast. An active trade existed formerly among the tribes of this nation, as also between them and the tribes at the south of the island and on the American shore. The root called gammass, for instance, and swamp rushes for making mats, neither of which could be plentifully produced on the west coast, were sent from the south of the island in exchange for cedar-bark baskets, dried halibut, and herrings. The coasting intertribal trade is not free, but is arbitrarily controlled by the stronger tribes, who will not allow weaker tribes to go past them in search of customers ; just as if the people of Hull should intercept all the vessels laden with cargo from the north of England for London, and make the people of London pay for them an increased price, fixed by the interceptors. There is no very strict notion of individual property in land among the Ahts. The land belongs, to the whole tribe. In dealing with other tribes the hereditary chief represents the proprietory body. I have, however, known several instances in which claims to portions of land were put forward by individuals. On one occasion a minor chief, who with his family and friends had for some years occupied a small island near the main encampment of the tribe, claimed to be regarded individually as the possessor of the island. I knew, also, an instance of a man of rank in one tribe who controlled ingress to a lake, and would allow no one to pass without his permission ; but this may not have been so much for his own benefit as that someone should have authority, in the interest of the whole tribe, to prevent the salmon from being disturbed in their ascent up the river. The occupier of a detached house 80 ACQUISITION AND USE OF PROPERTY —of which there are very few—built by bis family on the same spot for several generations, will probably be found to have so far an idea of his right to the land, that he will prevent other persons from cutting down any valuable tree near his dwelling, or from occupying ground immediately adjoining. Trees, when they are cut down, belong to the feller. A noted hunter, in a small tribe where there are few to question his right, will sometimes regard the country along one side of a stream as his own hunting- ground ; or the land will be claimed by the head of a powerful family who will allow none but his own friends to hunt over it. But these are exceptions to the general rule, among all the Aht tribes, that the whole extent of the tribal land is the common property of all the free men in the tribe. This rule is the more easily preserved as the land really is of little use to individuals, except for the berries which the women collect, or unless it is a good hunting-ground for the beaver, mink, marten, or deer. Agriculture is not here practised, and probably separate ownership of the soil nowhere exists generally until cultivation begins. While, however, private property in land is «not fully recognized among these people, each tribe maintains the exclusive right of its members to the tribal territory—including all lands periodically or occasionally occupied or used, sites for summer and winter encampments, fishing and hunting grounds and spots for burial— and would strongly resist encroachment upon these places. They believe (see chapter on religion) that their villages existed and were occupied by birds and beasts even before the Indians themselves took the human form. What Captain Cook said of this people, that " nowhere in his several TRIBAL AND PERSONAL PROPERTY. 81 Voyages did he meet with any uncivilized nation or tribe who had such strict notions of their having a right to the exclusive property of everything that their country produces," is quite true of these tribes, as tribes. In the numerous bays and rivers, the limits of the fishing-grounds, and the; ownership of the islands, are strictly defined. But on the sea-shore, at any distance from a village, the exact boundaries of the land owned by the different tribes frequently remain open until settled in the discussions following some dispute about a stranded, whale or some other waif. None of the natives have any clear views as to the mode in which the tribes acquired the land which they now claim as their own, beyond the general impression which some of them have, that it was bestowed by Quawteaht. The property owned by individuals consists chiefly of slaves, blankets, canoes, muskets, pikes, lances, tools, mats, wooden dishes, fishing spears and nets, inflated seal-skins, trinkets, skins, oil, and furs. Every free man keeps what his own labour earns j and it was an old custom of the tribes that younger men in a family, until they had wives and children, should give their earnings to the eldest brother. I speak of the customs of the tribes before these were influenced and weakened by closer intercourse with the colonists. Perhaps about three-fourths of the grown men on this coast possess muskets, common smooth-bore flint-lock weapons, which are sold in Victoria at about forty shillings, each. They prefer flintlock guns, being apt to lose or wet percussion-caps, or to run out of the supply. The muskets are kept in flannel cases, and great care is taken of them. . The stocks are generally ornamented with brass-headed tacks. Neat powder-horns and seal-skin shot-pouches are 6 82 ARMS AND CANOES. made by the young hunters. The natives seldom shoot at game flying or running. As in other parts of the world, the bow was the weapon formerly used before the musket was known, or could be got. 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. Two such arrows weigh as much as the bow. The bow is held horizontally, and the string is pulled to the right side. It is said that a good native bowman can kill a small animal at fifty yards, but I have not seen any good archery among these tribes. Since muskets were introduced, the bowmen probably have been out of practice. I can understand that the native bow was formerly a formidable weapon. Canoes are made on this coast principally of cedar, and are well shaped, and managed with great skill by men, women, and-children. They are moved by a single sail or by paddles, or in ascending shallow rapid streams, by long poles. I have seen an Indian boy with a single pole make good way with a small laden canoe against a stream that ran at the rate of six miles an hour. Canoes are of all sizes, but of a uniform general shape, from the war- canoe of forty feet long to the small dug-out in which children of four years old amuse themselves. Outriggers are not used, but the natives sometimes tie bladders or MANAGEMENT OF CANOES. 83 seal-skin buoys to the sides of a canoe to prevent it from upsetting in heavy weather. The sail—of which it is • supposed, but rather vaguely, that they got the idea from Meares some eighty years ago—•* is a square mat tied at the top to a small stick or yard crossing a mast placed close to the bow. It is only useful in running before the wind in smooth water. The management of a canoe by natives in a heavy sea is dexterous; they seem to accommodate themselves readily to every motion of their conveyance, and if an angry breaker threatens to roll over the canoe, they weaken its effect quickly by a horizontal cut with their paddles through the upper part of the breaker when it is within a foot of the gunwale {see page 48). Their mode of landing on a beach through a surf shows skill and coolness. Approaching warily, the steersman of the canoe decides when to dash for the shore; sometimes quickly countermanding the movement, by strenuous exertion the canoe is paddled back. Twenty minutes may thus pass while another chance is awaited. At length the time comes; the men give a strong stroke and rise to their feet as the canoe darts over the first roller; now there is no returning : the second roller is just passed when the bow- paddler leaps out and pulls the canoe through the broken water ; but it is a question of moments : yet few accidents happen. The paddles used by the Ahts are from four to five feet long, and are made of crab-apple or yew. Two kinds are used; the blade of one is shaped like a leaf, and the other tapers to a sharp point. The sharp-pointed * Would it be fanciful to connect their first notion of a canoe sail with their observation of the membranous fan of the pine-seed, which they often see floating through the air, in the forest, after falling from the cones ? 6—2 84- MODE OF PADDLING. paddle is suitable for steering, as it is easily turned under water. It was formerly used as a weapon in canoe-fighting for putting out the eye—a disfigurement which many of the old Aht natives show. In taking a seat in a canoe, the paddler drops on his knees at the bottom, then turns his toes in, and sits down as it were on his heels. The paddle is grasped both in the middle and at the handle. To give a stroke and propel the canoe forward, the hand grasping the middle of the paddle draws the blade of the paddle backwards through the water, and the hand grasping the handle pushes the handle-end forward, and thus aids the other hand in making each stroke of the paddle : a sort of double-action movement. As a relief, the paddler occasionally shifts to the handle the hand grasping the middle of the paddle, and vice versa. Such a position looks awkward, but two natives can easily paddle a middle-sized canoe forty miles on a summer day. The Strait of Juan de Fuca is about fifteen miles wide, and trading canoes often cross during the summer season to the American shore.* The Indians paddle best with a little wind ahead; when it is quite calm, they often stop to talk or look at objects in the water. It is useless to hurry them : they do quite as they"please, and will sulk if you are too hard upon them. In a small canoe, when manned by two paddlers, * I read with surprise the doubtful opinions of ethnological writers as to whether savages could cross in canoes from the Asiatic to the American shore. The Aht natives, and particularly the bolder Northern Indians, could do so in such canoes as they now have without any difficulty. It is not easy to determine what motive could induce savages to undertake such a voyage, or to migrate at all over the sea. The hope of reaching a better country would not be likely to enter the mind of a savage. He would not move unless forced to move. {See Paper by G. M. Sproat in the Transactions of the Ethnological Society, 1866.) MAKERS OF CANOES. 85 One sits in the stern and the other in the bow. The middle is the seat of honour for persons' of distinction. An Indian sitting in the stern can propel and steer a canoe with a single paddle. In crowded war-canoes the natives sit two abreast. No regular time is kept in the stroke of the paddles unless on grand occasions, when the canoes are formed in order, and all the paddles enter the water at once and are worked with regularity* The most skilful canoe-makers among the tribes are the Nitinahts and the Klah-oh-quahts. They make canoes for sale to other tribes. Many of these canoes are of the most accurate workmanship and perfect design—so much so that I have heard persons fond of such speculations say that the Indians must have acquired the art of making these beautiful vessels in some earlier civilized existence. But it is easy to see now, among the canoes owned by any tribe, nearly all the degrees of progress in skilful workmanship, from the rough tree to the well-formed canoe. Vancouver Island and the immediately opposite coast of the mainland of British Columbia have always supplied the numerous tribes to the northward with canoes. The native artificers in these localities have in the cedar {Thuja gigantea) a wood which does not flourish so extensively to the north) and which is very suitable for their purpose, as it is of large growth, durable, and easily worked. Savages progress so slowly in the arts, that the absence of such a wood as cedar, and the necessity of fashioning canoes with imperfect implements from a hard wood like oak, as the ancient people of Scotland did, might make a difference of many centuries in reaching a stated degree of skill in their construction. 86 MODE OF MAKING CANOES: The time for making canoes in the rough is during the cold weather in winter, and they are finished when the days lengthen and become warmer. Few natives are without canoes of some sort, which have been made by themselves, or been worked for, or obtained by barter. The condition of the canoe, like an Englishman's equipage, generally shows the circumstances of the possessor. Selecting a good tree not far from the water, the Indian cuts it down laboriously with an axe, makes it of the required length, then splitting the trunk with wedges into two pieces, he chooses the best piece for bis intended canoe. If it is winter, the bark is stripped and the block of wood is dragged to the encampment; but in summer it is hollowed out, though not finished, in the forest. English or American tools can now be easily procured by the natives. The axe used formerly in felling the largest tree,—which they did without the use of fire—was made of elkhorn, and was shaped like a chisel. The natives held it as we use a chisel, and struck the handle with a stone, not unlike a dumb-bell, and weighing about two pounds. This chisel- shaped axe, as well as large wooden wedges, was also used in hollowing the canoe. The other instruments used in canoe-making were the gimlet and hand-adze, both of which indeed are still generally used. The hand-adze is a large mussel-shell strapped firmly to a wooden handle. The natural shape of the shell quite fits it for use as a tool. In working with the hand-adze, the back of the workman's hand is turned downward, and the blow struck lightly towards the holder, whose thumb is pressed into a space cut to receive it. The surface of the canoe, marked by the regular chipping of the hand-adze, is prettier than MODE OF MAKING CANOES. if it were smooth. The gimlet, made of bird's bone, and having a wooden handle, is not used like ours : the shaft is placed between the workman's open hands brought close together, and moved briskly backwards and forwards as on hearing good news; in which manner, by the revolution of the gimlet, a hole is quickly bored. Thus, also, did the natives formerly produce fire, by rubbing two dry cedar sticks in the same way. A few slits, opening on one side, were made in a dry flat stick, and on the end of the rubbing stick being inserted into one of these, and twirled round quickly between the palms, a round hole was made, at the bottom of which ignition took place among the wood dust. When the wood was in bad order for lighting, two or three natives were sometimes employed successively in the work, before fire was obtained. The making of a canoe takes less time than has been supposed. With the assistance of another native in felling and splitting the tree, a good workman can roughly finish a canoe of fifteen or twenty feet long in about three weeks. Fire is not much used here in the hollowing of canoes, but the outside is always scorched to prevent sun-rents and damage from insects. After the sides are of the required thinness, the rough trunk is filled with fresh water, which is heated by hot stones being thrown into it, and the canoe, thus softened by the heat, is, by means of cross-pieces of wood, made into a shape which, on cooling, it retains. The fashioning is done entirely by the eye, and is surprisingly exact. In nine cases out of ten, a line drawn from the middle of the extremities will leave, as nearly as possible, the same width all along on each side of the line. To keep the canoe in shape, light cross- pieces fastened to the inside of the gunwales are placed 88 HOUSEHOLD UTENSILS. about four feet apart, and there remain. The gunwale is turned outwards a little to throw off the water. The bow and stern pieces are made separately* and are always of one form, though the body of the canoe varies a little in shape according to the capabilities of the tree and the fancy or skill of the maker. Red is the favourite colour for the inside of a canoe, and is made by a mixture of resin, oil, and urine; the outside is as black as oil and burnt wood will make it; the bow and stern generally bear some device in red. The natural colour of the wood is, however, often allowed to remain. The baling-dish of the canoes is always of one shape—the shape of the gable-roof of a cottage— and is well suited to its purpose* Of all the household articles, the prettiest is the common basket, which is of different sizes,-and is used by the women in carrying salmon or berries—being supported on their backs by a thong passing across their foreheads. The dishes used are wooden, either hollowed from a block, or having the sides fastened together with wooden pegs ; cedar and alder are commonly used in making them* Some of these dishes are very neatly formed. Water is brought from the stream in square wooden boxes, by the younger women and children; Similarly shaped are their-wooden pots, which, of course, are not placed on the fire; the practice is, to throw hot stones into them till the water boils. For keeping fishhooks, gun-flints, and other small necessaries, a cedar-bark case is used, which fits into another similar case, like the common cigar-cases sold in England. Three kinds of mats are used, one made of rushes for bedding, one of white-pine bark for bed-clothing and such purposes, and one of cedar- bark for use in canoes. To get the black colour considered HATS AND CAPS. 89 ornamental in a portion of the mat, the strips of bark are steeped in a mixture of charcoal, oil, and water. The inside of the curious hats worn by the natives in canoe voyages is made of white-pine bark and the outside is made of cedar-bark, the hat being shaped so as to shade the head and throw the rain off the shoulders. The upper part of the body is, on these occasions, protected by a cape made of white-pine bark, which is soft, but not close in texture* and which looks pretty when clean, and edged with marten fur. A strong fine thread is made of this bark, of which the Aht natives, who all are expert with the needle, make constant use. Their needle is a slender twig sharpened at one end* It is unnecessary to give any further account of their property in personal chattels, which, as may be supposed, are all of the simplest description. I may mention that the stock of salmon collected for consumption in winter is not quite regarded as common property* but is an article which a native, in case of need, will give freely to another. If a quantity, the product of one man's fishing, is stored in his particular division of a house, he will not object to another industrious Indian using it for food, should he be destitute. The Indians give food ungrudgingly, to one another ; they have generally plenty and can be free with it. In connection with the descriptions of property owned by the Ahts, I must not omit to refer to the slaves. No institution is more specifically defined among the Ahts than that of slavery. It has probably existed in these tribes for a long time, as many of the slaves have a ■characteristic mean appearance, and the word " slave " is used commonly as a term of reproach. If a man acts meanly or is niggardly in his distributions of property (see 90 INSTITUTION OF SLAVERY. chapter on Tribal Ranks), it is said that he has a " slave's heart." Next to a " heart of water," which means a coward, the " heart of a slave" is the most opprobrious epithet. It is the fashion for slaves to wear short hair. Formerly almost every well-born native owned a slave, and some of the chiefs had five or six. A slave was considered a useful and honourable possession, and if sold or lost, was replaced immediately by another. Women and children, as well as men, were enslaved. Slave-wromen are at the present day bought and sold on this coast like sheep. A slave never sat at meat with his owner; he waited upon the family and their guests, and took his own meals afterwards. His duty was to split salmon, pluck berries, carry wood and water, and to do all that he was told to do, without remonstrance or remuneration. There were means, though what they were I do not know, by which a person recently enslaved might regain his freedom ; but this was a rare occurrence, and I could not discover any instance of a person becoming free who had been born in slavery and was basely descended. Stories, however, are told of great chiefs in former times, such as Tsosiatin of the Kowitchans, who occasionally freed a number of slaves in order to show their magnanimity. I believe that a well-born native, captured in war and reduced to slavery, could be bought back by his friends for a large price; and if he remained a captive until death, and left an orphan born of his own wife, the child, in some cases, on growing up, would, on account of his better descent and unfortunate condition, so far become free that he could not be sold out of the tribe. On this subject, however, I found it difficult to get accurate information. Like other native institutions, slavery has INSTITUTION OF SLAVERY. 91 been shaken by the approach of civilization, and sometimes what the traveller now might mistake for old customs are, in reality, but the mere portions or remnants of them. The natives take great pride in honourable birth, as distinguished from the base mixed extraction from slaves.* One instance, however, is known to me of a chief having pro^ moted a slave to be one of his inferior wives.t The slave is at the absolute disposal of his master in all things ; he is a bond-servant who may be transferred without his own consent from one proprietor to another. A master sometimes directs a slave, on pain of death, to kill an enemy, and the slave dares not again appear in the presence of his master without the head of the person. The behest of the Sheikh Al Jebel is not more faithfully obeyed. The case, in this instance, is one in which—native evidence being excluded by the working of the British criminal law as administered in Vancouver Island—the slave would be put to death, while the chief, who cares nothing for a slave's life, would probably go free, and boast of his successful crime. So complete is the power over slaves, and the indifference to human life among the Ahts, that 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; he is clothed and has plenty to eat, and is seldom beaten except for desertion, when a severe flogging is administered. A runaway slave, if belonging to a chief, is occasionally * The Vancouver Indians dislike and have a contempt for Chinamen and negroes. They regard them as inferior people to themselves. t The fathers of the offspring of female slaves are not known, as the slaveholders hire out the women to infamy. SLA VE-TRADINQ. returned, through courtesy, by the chief of another friendly tribe; but more frequently he is seized and immediately conveyed along the coast for sale, the captors being unwilling to risk the hostility of his owner by detaining him. As it is the practice of powerful tribes to prevent the canoes of smaller tribes from passing their villages in search of customers, the price of a slave increases at each stage, as he is conveyed along the coast to the best market. Men formerly were preferred to women, but since the island has been colonized women have brought higher prices, owing to the encouragement given to prostitution among a yonng unmarried colonial population. A young woman worth, say, thirty blankets on the west coast towards the north end of the island, will, at Victoria, be worth fifty or sixty blankets* or about thirty pounds. I know of several instances of slave-dealing between the west coast and Victoria within the last two years. The coast of British Columbia, and the islands towards the north are, however, the chief sources of this odious and shameful traffic with Victoria. On the west coast of Vancouver Island there is not much slave-trade with Victoria; it is directed chiefly from that quarter to the American side of the Strait of Juan de Fuca, where the Cape Flattery Indians are great promoters and supporters of this hateful commerce. Being comparatively rich and numerous, they induce the larger Vancouverian tribes to attack the small ueighbouriiv tribes on their own shores, and capture persons fit for the slave-market. 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, who make prisoners, and sell them as slaves. ( 93 CHAPTER XII. CONDITION OF WOMEN. Condition of the Aht Women—Unmarried and Married—their Betrothal- Marriage—Divorce—Widowhood—Polygamy—Polyandry. Allegiance and fast fealty Which I do owe unto all womankind.—Spencer. The condition of the Aht women is not one of unseemly inferiority; the men have their due share of the labours necessary for subsistence. The women do all the work of the camps, prepare fur-skins, collect roots and berries, take charge of the fish on the canoes reaching the shore, manage the cooking, and prepare food for winter. They also make mats, straw-hats and capes, wreaths and ornamental niceties of grass or cedar-fibre. I have met women in the woods in autumn, at four o'clock in the morning, staggering under a great burden of cedar-bark. They are seldom invited to feasts, and do not share in public ceremonies, except as assistants. On reaching puberty, young women, on a given occasion, are placed in the sort of gallery already described as in every house, 94 CONDITION OF WOMEN. and are there surrounded completely with mats, so that .neither the sun nor any fire can be seen. In this cage they remain for several days. Water is given to them, but no food. The longer a girl remains in this retirement the greater honour is it to the parents; but she is dis^ graced for life if it is known that she has seen fire or the sun during this initiatory ordeal. Feasts are given at this time as part of the ceremony, by her parents or by other near friends.* The average age at which native women marry is about sixteen. They suffer little during pregnancy or at childbirth, but seldom bear children after the age of about twenty-five. As a rule they have few children, and, I think, more boys than girls. 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. Instances are known of women having been at work twelve hours after their confinement. They suckle one child till another comes. I have seen a boy of four following his mother for her milk. The women are good and kind mothers, and the crime of infanticide after birth is unknown; but, in order to spite their husbands after a quarrel, they frequently take means to procure abortion. I could find no evidence among the Ahts for the past prevalence or present existence of the custom of the couvade, by which, among some savages, when a child is born, the father, not the mother, goes to bed and is treated as a patient. Before meeting with white men, it is supposed that the Aht women were * This reminds one of the Mexican superstition at the rekindling of the sacred fire, according to which women were confined to their houses with covered faces, lest, if they saw the fire, they should be changed into beasts. PRIVILEGES OF WOMEN. 95 generally faithful to their husbands, who, according to the accounts of former travellers, valued them so much as sometimes to show jealousy on their account—a feeling: not found often in savage bosoms, but which implies a certain degree of affection. The Ahts, indeed, within recent times, were distinguished by the respect which they showed towards their women, and especially towards their wives. A girl who was known to have lost her virtue, lost with it one of her chances of a favourable marriage; and a chief, or man of high rank in an Aht tribe, would have put his daughter to death for such a lapse. He would not, for any consideration, have prostituted his wife, but his female slaves were readily devoted to such infamy. The reverse, as far as the wife is concerned, is the case farther north among the tribes on the coast of British Columbia: the temporary present of a wife is one of the greatest honours that can be shown there to a guest. Generally speaking, wives are not harshly treated among the Ahts. They have the important privilege, with the consent of their own friends, of at any time leaving their husbands, who thus have to treat them well if they wish them to remain. An active female slave, however, is more valued than any wife who does not bring riches or powerful connections, for the slave cannot leave the master's service. Wives may be divorced at the will of their husbands, and a discarded wife is not viewed with disfavour. A singular mode of punishing an unfaithful wife came under my notice. The frail fair one was taken to the beach, and her husband, kneeling upon her, surrounded by wailing friends, fired a succession of blank musket charges close to her head. The woman was much frightened, 06 PRIVILEGES OF WOMEN. and afterwards sat by herself weeping for several days. On separating from his wife, a husband has to give up the fishing or hunting grounds acquired with her at marriage. The property reverts to the woman's sole use, and is a dowry for her next matrimonial experiment. In the case of a marriage between persons of different tribes, and their separation while the children are young, the children go always with the mother to her own tribe. Separations and new connections are ordinary occurrences. The baskets and mats made by a wife for sale belong to herself, and she has also a certain small share of all the property acquired by her husband. He cannot interfere with her portion, which is a sort of pin-money used by the wife in the purchase of personal requirements. Additionally, as the traders well know, a wife has an important say in the disposal of articles. She and her husband talk together, and argue as to what shall be asked for oil or furs. The one may want blankets, and the other cotton. Privileges such as these prevent the women from being treated otherwise than with consideration. Early betrothals are common, and in the betrothal of chiefs' children the parents on both sides deposit a number of blankets to ensure good faith. Betrothals are so much respected that the wounded pride of a disappointed suitor or his tribe will not be satisfied by the mere return of the pledge. It is pretty well known at the betrothal what the price at marriage will be; but a chief can raise the price up to ten blankets above the original agreed number, if his daughter is pronounced by a majority of her own tribe to have greatly improved. Strange to say, this happens less frequently than might be expected. Prices for COURTSHIP AND BETROTHAL. 97 marriage, when the price has not been fixed at the time of betrothal, are sometimes offered formally, year after year, by the betrothed man; and the reception of the third offer is considered to show truly whether the betrothal is likely to be respected. It is an understood custom that if the ' third offer is rejected, the original betrothal is cancelled, and the pledge forfeited by the woman's friends. This leads always to bitterness of feeling, and is only done when some more distinguished native chief, or rich white man, seeks the woman in marriage. There is, however, a way of cancelling a betrothal by mutual agreement; and as a symbol of such termination, if the parties are well-born, each tribe sends a canoe laden with blankets, and manned with a full crew, who paddle to a distance from land, and, singing all the while a song, throw the blankets one by one upon the waves. For several days before a young girl's marriage the old women are busily engaged with hex- in a variety of ceremonies. The young men, under the like circumstances, to show their pluck, scratch their faces till blood comes.* Wives, as has been before stated, are obtained by purchase, and the price is regulated by the rank and wealth of both parties. There is no particular mode of courtship; the matter has generally to be arranged with the parents. No English father, in his library, raising his spectacles to survey a diffident youth who longs to be his son-in-law, is sterner in the matter of " settlements " than a family man among the Ahts. I was offered a young, * A fond practice in courtship among the common people (not among the chiefs) is for the woman to search the man's head, and give him to eat the fattest and least nimble of the population which she is able, to secure. 7 98 POLYGAMY. pretty, well-bom woman for one hundred blankets; but a wife can be bought sometimes for an old axe or half-a- dozen mink-skins. Though a wife is always purchased, it is a point of honour that the purchase-money given for a woman of rank—not for a common woman—shall, sometime or other, be returned by her friends or her tribe in a present of equal value. A man occasionally steals a wife from the women of his own tribe; but it is much like eloping in England, for both parties understand each other: and, after all, it is a purchase, as the friends of the woman must be pacified with presents. Though the different tribes of the Aht nation are frequently at war with one another, women are not captured from other tribes for marriage, but only to be kept as slaves. The idea of slavery connected with capture is so common, that a free- born Aht would hesitate to marry a woman taken in war, whatever her rank had been in her own tribe. Polygamy is permitted in all classes, but, owing to its inconveniences, is not generally practised. There is no rule by which any wife obtains precedence over the others ; the oldest wife, if she has children, seems to have most authority in the house. It is not uncommon, on the death of a poor native, for a friend to take the widow for one of his own wives, and to adopt the children. These children are kept much in the position of slaves, and, in the course of time, the younger ones are regarded as slaves, but they cannot be sold out of their tribe. Unless widows have property of their own, their position is hard. The eldest son takes all that property of his father not given away to the deceased's friends, during his last illness, nor buried with him. POL YANDR Y—INTERMARRIA GE. 99 I could find no traces of the existence of polyandry among the Ahts. The people have a strong idea of blood- relationship ; so strong that it may be described as the principal constituent in the structure of their simple society. The groups of relatives round the different heads of families are very noticeable in a tribe, and any injury to a member of such a group is resented by the family and all the family's friends. The feeling of relationship is not confined merely to their offspring, nor is it of temporary duration, as in the case of animals, but it extends to all kinsmen—to the son and grandson, and, also, collaterally to marriage connections. Whether kinship is now, or ever was, considered by the Ahts to be stronger when derived through males than females, I do not know; the fact of its great influence at present among these primitive tribes on this coast is undoubted. Intermarriage with other tribes is sought by the higher classes to strengthen the foreign connections of their own tribe, and, I think also, with some idea of preventing degeneracy of race. Before the house of the head chief of the Khah-oh-quahts there is a large stone which a man must lift and carry, in the presence of the people, before he may woo the chief's daughter. The poorer orders are unable to do otherwise than marry among their own people. By the old custom of the Aht tribes, no marriage was permitted within the degree of second-cousin. The marriage of a patrician is an important affair. He loses caste unless he marries a woman of corresponding rank, in his own or another tribe. Affection or attachment has little to do with the marriage ; the idea is to preserve the family from a mixture of common blood. The marriage of a head chief 7_2 100 WIVES OF CHIEFS. must be with the descendant in the first line of another chief of similar rank, and no head chief is permitted to take a first wife for himself, or to agree to a marriage for his children by such first wife, without the consent of his tribe. Few of the head chiefs have more than one wife. Should a head chief wish for more wives than one, it is not necessary that he take other than his first wife from women of his own rank ; but the children of his extra wives have not the father's rank. The purchase of wives is made in public, and great ceremony is observed when a chief's wife is purchased. Crave tribal discussions as to the purchase-money, the suitableness of rank, and all the benefits likely to follow, accompany any such proposal of marriage. Most of the tribes have heralds or criers, who announce important events, and their office, like the har- pooner's, is obtained by inheritance.* On this official giving public notice that distinguished visitors are at hand, every person in a native encampment comes out, and squats down, covered with a blanket to the chin. Further proceedings are awaited in silence. If it is a marriage visit, thirty or forty canoes sometimes escort the suitor to the shore. No word is spoken on either side for ten minutes. At last, on the question being asked, where the visitors are from, and what is wanted— a form that is gone through, though the object of the visit is perfectly well known—a speaker rises in one of the canoes, and addresses the natives on shore in a loud voice. Talk of a voice, it would fill St. Paul's ! He gives the * The Bishop of Columbia and Commander Helby of the Grappler will remember the Seshaht herald who intci-preted their speeches to the tribes assembled at Alberni in 1860. MARRIAGE CEREMONIES. 101 name, titles, and history of the expectant husband, and states the number and influence of his friends and connections in his own and among other tribes ; the object being to show that the honour of marrying so great a person should suffice without much purchase-money. At the end of the speech a canoe is paddled to the beach, and a bundle of blankets is thrown on land. Contemptuous laughter follows from the friends of the woman, and the suitor is told to go away, as he places too small a value upon the intended bride. Then some orator on shore in turn gets up, and praises the woman; and thus, with speeches and additional gifts, many hours are occupied, until finally the woman is brought down to the shore, stripped to her shift, and delivered to her lover. His first wedding present is the necessary covering of a blanket. After the marriage, a feast is spread which lasts for several days. Instead of throwing the proffered blankets on shore in a bundle, the natives sometimes land from their canoes, and, standing a few paces apart, hold up the red, white, blue, and green blankets in a long pretty line before the eyes of the woman's tribe. But this is not the ordinary practice of the Ahts : in the few cases in which it has been done among them, the custom of some other tribes has been imitated. When the man's rank is much higher than the woman's, the latter is sometimes brought to the man's tribe to be married; and Raleigh's courtesy is then outdone, for blankets are laid, not only over the puddles, but all the way, for her to walk upon, from the canoe to the house. There are several minor ceremonies in marriage, which, however, are hardly worth mentioning, as they vary greatly, and no one can explain their meaning. .j 102 MARRIAGE CEREMONIES. A wooden head-piece, fringed with human hair, and having a long snout, is worn by the bridegroom on his head. At great marriages, such as I have just alluded to, this ugly covering is simply thrown upon the beach; but on common occasions, when merely the friends of the " young people " and not the whole tribe are present, the bridegroom, decorated with feathers and accompanied by a friend, walks into the woman's house, and throws the head-piece upon the floor, returning afterwards to his canoe. When the feasting, the speeches, and marriage mummeries are over,. I have been told that the women's friends light two torches in her late house, and after a time extinguish them in water that is spilt for this purpose on the ground. 103 ) CHAPTER XIII. ESCAPE FROM THE TOQUAHTS. Eespect for Rank—Yisit to the Toquahts—Dangerous Encampment- Indians circumvented. In vain thy Kate awaits thy comin', Kate soon will be a woefu' woman.—"Burns. The high consideration in which rank or actual authority is held by these savages is extraordinary. After deciding whether a stranger is a friend or enemy, the first question, in the mind of a native, is as to his rank,— whether he is a chief or a common man. If several travellers are together, the natives are not satisfied till they know who is the leader, and who is next in command. At Alberni, where more than two hundred men were engaged in various employments, the Indians in the neighbourhood knew particularly the position of every person in the settlement. In their own villages, the common men point out the chiefs to a visitor, and show the differences of rank- by holding up one forefinger for the highest chief, and placing the other forefinger against it, at points gradually lower and lower, for the inferior chiefs. I once VISIT TO THE TOQUAHTS. visited, with a companion,—leaving three of my party in a boat at the entrance of the Toquaht river—the ancient and somewhat rascally tribe of Toquahts, now reduced by war to comparatively a small number,* whose village is in a dreary, remote part of Nitinaht (or Barclay) Sound. As our canoe rounded a corner of the shallow river, and came suddenly upon their village, a loud yell was raised by a group of natives, who sat on a bank making cedar-traps for salmon; and the shout was repeated by the inmates of the houses, who rushed out of doors.. There is a strange wildness in the half-human, half-beast cry which these savages raise on being thus surprised, and it made the blood go back to our hearts; however, as we much wanted a fish for our supper, we hauled up the canoe, and walked towards the group. There was no fish to be got; so we lighted our cigars and entered into conversation. The natives ceased work, and formed a half circle round a middle-aged, important-looking savage, who was pointed out to us as the chief, and who sat looking unconcernedly before him, while all the others surveyed us with curious eyes. We did not speak much, and I daresay ten minutes passed before any of the natives opened their mouths. The evening was approaching; it was a wild remote place : the dense, motionless pines were everywhere around, and no sound broke the stillness but the murmuring of the shallow stream, as it flowed past the village. I began to have a feeling of apprehension as to these crouching Toquahts, wrapped all round in bearskins to * In the list of the tribes, given in the Appendix, the real TcqunhN appear as few ; but many fugitives from other tribes join them. A JOKE. 105 the chin, above which their savage, furtive eyes looked out upon us.* At last, a grey-haired man commenced a song in praise of the chief, to whom he pointed often while singing, and who, with his hands crossed before him, carried himself, all the while, as a man of rank. Our visit seemed to have been turned into an occasion of glorifying this chief of twelve men—the remnant of a large tribe distinguished formerly in war and for savage arts. The time for speeches, and explanations, and presents was arriving; but being hungry, and having to trust to our guns or hooks for providing our supper, and having to select our camping ground for the night, we lost patience and retired to our canoe. The Toquahts, no doubt, thought us unmannerly visitors, and, in fact, aroused us next morning, on discovering our encampment, in a way which made us glad to get out of their neighbourhood. I will relate how' this occurred. After leaving the village, on our way down the river, we met several fierce- looking savages in canoes, one of whom, as he passed, grinned at us and presented a large horse-pistol. This was meant probably as a joke on his part, and, as a joke in return, I showed him the muzzles of our two six-barrel revolvers. He grinned still more, and asked where we were going. "■ Very far," I answered, and we pushed away from him, and by-and-by joined the remainder of * The Indians rarely kill a well-known white man, as they know that he would be inquired for ; but they think no more of cutting off a common man's head than of killing a salmon. You may, perhaps, travel safely alone, from one tribe to another, all round the island ; but it is a matter of chance : your head may be cut off at. any time. The Indians are the creatures of impulse ; you never know what they will do ; they are like grown children subject to ferocious demoniacal possession. 106 ENCAMPING FOR THE NIGHT. our party, whom we had left in the boat. We were now five in number; we had the prospect only of biscuit and coffee for our supper, as no fish had been got. It was with great difficulty we found a camping place along the shore. Not trusting the Toquahts, we wanted to go a long way from them. There were few streams of water in this part of Nitinaht (or Barclay) Sound; one place was too stony, another too wet; so it was almost dark before we found a place for our tent. One very suitable place was reached as we coasted along, where there was a nice stream and the remains of an Indian camp, but the smell of the decayed fish was so offensive we could not stay there. Taking with us a slender hewn pole from the standing framework of the temporarily abandoned huts, we proceeded farther, and at last encamped—just beyond a point—on a narrow stony beach, fifteen yards wide from the forest to the water, and perhaps two hundred yards long. Having pitched the tent with the pole above mentioned, we boiled some coffee, drew up the boat, and lay down to sleep. In using the pole for this purpose, we cut off about a foot of its length. The night was dark, and we let the fire burn, without fearing that the smoke would be seen. I remember we all looked uneasy; though, as often happens on such occasions, we laughed and talked a good deal about the very objects of our suspicions, namely the Indians we had just left. At length we fell asleep, I waking occasionally during the night when startled by the scream of the owl (known to ornithologists as the " great owl ") from some neighbouring high tree. Having awoke about five o'clock, I lay still, and occasionally lifted up a corner of the tent to observe the M_ SURROUNDED BY INDIANS. 107 morning. On doing so once, I thought I saw the form of an Indian through the mist moving about between the wood and the water. I do not know whether it was an Indian or not, but the appearance rather startled me, for there were no Indians but Toquahts in the neighbourhood, and, as already stated, we rather wished to avoid them. Waking my companions, we thought it prudent quietly to pack everything within the tent, without appearing outside ; then first one and next another went out of the tent, and, with apparent unconcern, made the usual arrangements for breaking up the camp. Breakfast we thought we would take later in the day; our present object was to remove quickly from the spot. Our supposition that Indians were near was soon confirmed, for, in a short time, about a dozen Toquaht Indians appeared coming towards us along the beach, sauntering with their usual undecided step, and their blankets tightly folded round them. A large canoe with a crew of twenty Indians was also seen through the mist coming round the point, near which, as above stated, we had placed our camp. The canoe stopped near the shore, and we saw that the crew wore their war-paint. The Indians on shore had no war-paint; they saluted us, and came near and began talking. One commenced a song, and accompanied it by imitating the action of paddling. We continued our preparations for embarking, when all at once, for the first time, we remembered that our heavy boat was fast aground. I shall not forget my sensations at that moment; I was certain that the savages meant mischief, and we seemed to be fairly trapped. Badly as all this looked, I was glad it was daylight. The shore party of the Indians had now mixed 108 PRETEXT FOR QUARREL. with us, and laughed and chatted; we working quietly, but on our guard. I asked why the Indians in the canoe wore war-paint, while those on shore did not, and was answered that the canoe was going to surprise a party of You-clul-ahts who had a fishing station somewhere near. As we moved about packing our things and collecting sticks for a make- believe fire, one of our party, a quick-witted woodman from the State of Maine, whispered, " Manoeuvre to make them launch the boat for us." I was about replying, when a wild angry shout from one of the Indians on shore arrested the conversation; it was followed by a louder howl from the canoe. The song of the paddler ceased; angry exclamations and shouts filled the air, and the savages literally danced with passion. It appeared that, in search of a cause of quarrel, one of them had stumbled on the tent-pole we had cut, which they said belonged to the Toquaht tribe. " Toquaht house," " Toquaht stick," " steal stick," "steal stick," " you come here to steal stick," were among the cries the maddened Indians uttered. We were now familiar with the danger, and had reckoned our chances ; we were getting into that dogged state of feeling very noticeable in the English race during a time of danger; and which would be expressed by saying, " Come now, if you mean business, set to work; we have had enough of this." The excitement of the Indians drew them all together, so that we had them before us, and they seemed at a loss how to proceed. The canoe came near the shore, and landed half its crew, who joined the shore party. Still we stood ready, but without drawing our pistols. When a party of the Indians tried to slip along the shore with the evident intention of getting behind us, we INDIANS CIRCUMVENTED. 109 moved back one by one, till their movement was neutralized. Their excitement continued, but they hesitated to attack. At length I shouted to them, "Where is your chief, I want to talk to him : we did not know the stick was yours ; we will pay for it." A score of voices answered " The chief is up the river." " Well, go and bring him," said I. " No," they replied, "you go to the chief." A thought having struck me, I said, we would go to the chief; our hearts were good to the Toquahts : they must get into their canoe, however, and show us the way, as the channel of the river when reached was intricate. The Indians talked this over among themselves for a short time, and seemed pleased with the proposition. Finally, they got into their canoe, and remained close to the shore, leaving half a dozen common men to help us to launch our boat, which still was aground. Stowing everything in it, we placed the oars handy, shipped the rudder; and went to work to shove the boat off, not with a " Yo-heave-oh ! " but with the Indian " Tchoo, Tchoo, Tchoo." It was odd to see how the frantic excitement of the Indians had now subsided, and how willingly they seemed to comply with our wishes. They, no doubt, thought they had us nicely in a trap of our own contriving, forgetting quite that once up the Toquaht river was enough for any one. No sooner, with a great | Tchoo, Tchoo," did the keel of our boat cease to grate on the bottom, than each man sprang on board to his place, shipped his oar, and pulled vigorously in an opposite direction from the Toquaht river and from the expectant Indian canoe. The Indians in the canoe said nothing, but rose to their feet and sat down again; those who had helped to launch our boat stood in the water 110 ESCAPE FROM THE TOQUAHTS. stupefied. I watched them for a long time throngh a field glass, and they were still about the same place. A stern chase after a boat with five men in it, each armed with a six-barrelled rifled revolver, was not to their mind. These Indians had expected to find our encampment during the night, but coming unexpectedly upon our party in the morning, and finding us moving, they were disconcerted. This trip was the last trip I made to the Toquaht river; their tribe was the most mischievous I saw on the west coast of Vancouver Island. ( in i CHAPTER XIV. TRIBAL RANKS. Use made of an Accumulation of Personal Chattels—Custom of Distributing Property—Object of such Distribution—Degrees of Tribal Ranks— Position of Hereditary Chiefs ; of Minor Chiefs; War Chiefs, and Military Officers—Rank bestowed on Women. Let it not then seem strange to you, That here one strange thing more you see.—Mace. The principal use made by the Ahts of an accumulation of personal chattels is to distribute them, periodically among invited guests, each of whom is expected to return the compliment by equivalent presents on like occasions. The following particulars refer to the distribution of property by individuals to others of their own tribe: Blankets are usually given to men; beads, trinkets, and paint for the face, to women. Not more than two blankets are usually given to any person at one time. Sometimes a new musket is divided, and the stock, lock, and barrel given to three different persons. The destruction of certain kinds of property serves the same purpose as its distribution. Canoes, for instance, are rarely 112 DISTRIBUTION OF PROPERTY. given away. The practice is to make a hole in them, and allow them to sink. The distributor shows by this act his total indifference to his property; he gives it away, he destroys' it; his heart is very strong. Yet the same man, who has rid himself of almost his whole property, will haggle the next minute about the price of a trinket. Slaves are rarely given away at a distribution. This singular custom of distribution, which prevails among the coast tribes here, is thought by some to have been necessary, owing to the thievish habits of the people which prevented any individual from retaining what he had collected; but, whatever may have been its origin, the continuance of the custom probably is secured by the gratification which the practice affords to two strong propensities in human nature—pride of rank, and love of display. A lavish distribution of property among the Ahts shows what the natives call the " strong heart" of the distributor.* The practice is not so highly appreciated now as it was a generation since ; still, the gaining of property with a view to its distribution is a ruling motive for the actions of O the Ahts, and without bearing this in mind no one can understand their character, nor appreciate the difficulties in the way of reclaiming them. The collection of property for the purpose of distribution is the constant aim of many of the natives who, to the common observer, seem listless and idle. The Indian who stands by your side in a tattered blanket, may have twenty new blankets and yards of calico in his box at home. Whatever he acquires beyond immediate necessaries goes to increase this stock, until his high * This term expresses what is frequently meant by our word " manliness." POSITION OF THE HEAD CHIEF 113 day comes in the winter season, when he spreads his feast and distributes gifts among the guests, according to their rank. To include all present at such a feast, a single blanket is sometimes torn into twenty pieces; and it is said, but this I can hardly believe, that the exact quantity or value given to each guest is accurately remembered. It is customary to throw the article briskly into the face of the receiver, to show that it goes from a willing heart. The giver does not now consider that he has parted with his property : he regards it as well invested, for the present recipients of his largess will strive to return to him at their own feasts more than he has bestowed. The person who gives away the most property receives the greatest praise, and in time acquires, almost as a matter of course, but by the voice of the tribe, the highest rank obtainable by such means. This rank is not of the highest class. It is only for life, and is different from the ancient hereditary tribal rank. With each step in rank there is usually a change of name; and thus, bearing different names, the industrious or acquisitive native may rise from one honour to another, till finally he reaches a high position. The head chief in an Aht tribe occupies apparently a position of which the type is patriarchal. His authority is rather nominal than positive. He generally calls the old men together to consider weighty matters, but neither he nor they can do anything without the consent of the people. At these public councils, where the tribal interests are debated with much shrewdness, the principal persons are seated according to their rank, and much 8 114 TRIBAL OFFICERS. respect is shown throughout to the ancient ceremonies. There is no formal way of taking a vote; the *will of the tribe is expressed by acclamation. The chief has no officers, except his slaves, who could enforce obedience in his own tribe; but there are proper tribal officers through whom he communicates all resolutions of his own people to other tribes. He cannot give in marriage, nor betroth his children, contrary to the tribal custom or will. He never joins an embassy, nor leads an expedition in war. Though frequently receiving presents from his tribesmen, the chief is not often wealthy, as he has to entertain visitors and make large distributions to his own people. There is at this day one instance, which possibly is the remnant of an old general custom among the Ahts, of all the members of a tribe paying tribute to their chiefs. The instance to which I allude is that of the Klah-oh-quahts, some of whom pay annually to their chief certain contributions, consisting of blankets, skins, oil, and other articles. On public occasions, or in intertribal communications, the hereditary chief is an important person, whose official dignity is maintained by strict etiquette. But his actual influence in the tribe is frequently exceeded by that of some vigorous underchief. It is not uncommon for the principal chief, under his people's displeasure, to abandon his property, and abdicate his position in favour of the nest heir. On retiring into private life he is little noticed. When a chief is childless, his next of kin, male, commonly succeeds to the chiefship, but occasionally a more distant kinsman is preferred by the tribe, if bis property is large and his character approved of. As with the DEGREES OF RANK. 115 Irish septs in old times, and with most Eastern people, much reverence is shown by the Ahts to the true reigning family, though individuals belonging to it are occasionally set aside in the line of succession. Minor tribal rank, of what may be called the first degree, is hereditary, but children only can inherit it, and in default of children, the dignity ceases. Unless accompanied with wealth, inherited rank in a tribe is a poor possession. The native grandee without blankets is like an English peer without land. The value of his distributions of property among the people is expected to befit his rank, and he gets no commendation for what would bring praise and honour to a plebeian. Whatever may have been the origin or purpose of these dignities, it is evident that the particular rank and position of every person in an Aht tribe are well understood. Some are called high chiefs, others half chiefs or small chiefs; and any insult, wrong, or injury offered to a chief by another tribe, is resented by his own tribe according to the rank of the sufferer. But his " blue blood " avails not in a dispute with one of his own people; he must fight his battle like a common man. In marriage, however, or at burials, feasts and public ceremonies, and in a council of the tribe, the privileges of a man of rank are strictly regarded. The sons of high chiefs often have a following of eight or ten free-born youngsters, who, unremunerated, follow them about, and receive their commands. In the actual conduct of war, civil rank fails to secure for the possessor an important position. The war chiefs and the under officers in war 8- 11Q DEGREES OF RANK. are, as a general rule, chosen for their special fitness for military command, and not at all on account of their rank. Success in war, is a broad stepping-stone in an ambitious career. So far as I can learn, there are among the Ahts the following degrees or classes of rank. It must be understood that I speak of what is already almost of the past. So great has been the disturbing force of contact with the colonists, that rank has lost much of its value, and as regards some of their ancient customs, they are now but little regarded by the natives. First, then, as to ranks ; there is' the head chief's rank, which is hereditary in the male line, and to which, owing to the respect generally entertained for the true lineage (if not in all cases for the immediate heir), it is almost useless for any low-born native directly to aspire. Next are the various degrees of rank which probably have been held by inheritance from generation to generation. Degrees of rank are sometimes acquired, by the consent of the tribe, for great services or special acts of valour, but these are .aot altogether of so high a character as the former. The way the natives have of fixing the intended degree of rank is by saying that it is the will of the tribe, that so-and-so shall be equal to so-and-so, or next under him. The harpooner, in the tribes that live on the seaboard, possesses high hereditary rank. Inferior to these are the various degrees of rank, obtained by the consent of the tribe, consequent upon large distributions of property. This practice of distribution, it may be observed, is not confined to any particular class; all ranks find it useful in supporting their influence. All the ranks above mentioned appear to be CONFERRED RANK. 117 hereditary. There are two additional descriptions of rank, both ending with the possessor's life ; one, which, in our own country, we should call a courtesy title or rank, is enjoyed, as a matter of course,.by well-born youths ; the other it is the privilege of the hereditary chief and the principal chiefs to confer. This last-named rank is generally conferred during the festive period following the return of a tribe to winter quarters. I did not know that the chiefs had this power, or that rank could be possessed except with the expressed consent of the people, till I learnt that the right was exercised by the chief or chiefs independently, at this season, in a tribe near which I lived. This rank can be bestowed on men or women, adults or children; and its bestowal is preceded, if not actually obtained, generally by presents to the chiefs. Those seeking such rank signify their wish to the chief, who, on ascertaining the number of aspirants, directs them, at stated times, to assemble at his house, where they dance, sing, and go through various exercises, day-after day—sometimes for weeks—before they receive the honour. The women, on these occasions, dress in their best; they are ornamented with beads and brass rings, and pretty shells are attached to their noses and plaited among their hair. This is the only description of rank which the women can acquire, by any tribal usage, but they partially inherit their parent's rank, to the extent, at least, of a regard being paid to it at their marriage. 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, less rich as a body than the men of rank, but who live 118 LOWER-CLASS INDIANS. much in the same way, the difference of position being noticeable only on public occasions.* It is among the idle, poor, and low-born youth of the last-named class that the worst Indians are found; as a rule well-born natives, and especially the heads of families in a tribe are quiet and well-behaved. * Was Darwin long enough among the Puegians to be enabled authoritatively to affirm that perfect equality exists among the individuals composing the Puegian tribes ? ( 119 ) CHAPTER XV. INTELLECTUAL CAPACITY AND LANGUAGE. Intellectual Capacities—Mode of Numeration—Division of Time — Language ; its Imperfect Structure ; Pormation of New Words— Remarks on some Peculiarities of the Language—Nitinaht Variations —Cook's List of Words—Little Change in the Language since Cook's Time—The Aht Language probably Allied to the Real Chinook— Tribal Names. He in the lowest depth of Being framed The imperishable mind.—Southey. Speak what terrible language.you will, though you understand it not Yourselves, no matter! Chough's language, gabble enough, and good enough. Shakespeabe. Until the effect of a judicious education of the Aht natives has been fairly tested through several generations, it will be difficult for any one to express a confident opinion as to their capability for improvement. Mr. Duncan, the missionary, has succeeded beyond his expectation in his educational efforts among the Tshimpseans on the coast of British Columbia ; and there is no such great difference, apparently, between the Tshimpseans and the Ahts as to lead us to suppose that the one nation would be incapable of what is evidently within the capacity of the other. I 120 INTELLECTUAL CAPACITY could not be easily persuaded that any barrier exists to prevent savage races from attaining a fair degree of mental cultivation, whatever might be their capacity for advancing ultimately in civilization beyond a certain point. The cleverness shown in modes of hunting, fishing, and warfare, and in the adaptation of their manufactures to intended uses, might be exhibited, no doubt, by savages in other studies and pursuits. I had abundant proof, in conversing with the Ahts about matters in which they took an interest, that their mental capabilities are by no means small. It is true that the native mind, to an educated man, seems generally to be asleep; and if you suddenly ask a novel question, you have to repeat it while the mind of the savage is awaking, and to speak with emphasis until he has quite got your meaning. This may partly arise from the questioner's imperfect knowledge of the language; still, I think, not entirely, as the savage may be observed occasionally to become forgetful, when voluntarily communicating information. On his attention being fully aroused, he often shows much quickness in reply and ingenuity in argument. But a short conversation wearies him, particularly if questions are asked that require efforts of thought or memory on his part. The mind of the savage then appears to rock to and fro out of mere weakness, and he tells lies and talks nonsense. I do not doubt, however, that, in course of time the mental powers of the Indian could be greatly improved by education. The chief difficulty is that the people would vanish from before the white man during the polishing process, as so many tribes of savages have done in other parts of the world. I will mention the system of numeration of the Ahts, SYSTEM OF NUMERATION. 121 in connection with the question of their intellectual capacity. It will be seen from the list of Aht numerals in the Appendix, that there is no impediment to prevent the Indian from counting up to any number. As a matter of fact, he has seldom any necessity to use the higher numbers. The young men are, many of them, not well acquainted with their own numeration, and not un- frequently make kochtseyk "thirty," sootcheyk "fifty," and so on; but this is certainly repudiated by the elders and those who still place a value upon the national mode of enumeration {see "Numerals," in the Appendix). It may be noticed that their word for one occurs again in that for six and nine, and the word for two in that for seven and eight. The Aht Indians count upon their fingers. They always, count, except where they have learnt differently from their contact with civilisation, by raising the hands with the palms upwards, and extending all the fingers, and bending down each finger as it is used for enumeration. They begin with the little finger. This little finger, then, is one. Now six is five (that is, one whole hand) and one more. We can easily see then why their word for six comprehends the word for one. Again, seven is five (one whole hand) and two more—thus their word for seven comprehends the word for two. Again, when they have bent down the eighth finger, the most noticeable feature of the hand is that two fingers, that is, a finger and a thumb, remain extended. Now the Aht word for eight comprehends atlah, the word for two. The reason for this I imagine to be as follows :—Eight is ten (or two whole hands) wanting two. Again, when the ninth 122 CONNECTION OF NUMERALS WITH WORDS. finger is down, only one finger is left extended. Their word for nine comprehends tsow-wauk, the word for one. Nine is ten (or two whole hands) wanting one. The classical reader will recollect that the Greeks expressed such a number as, for instance, " thirty-nine " by saying "forty, wanting one," or such a number as " thirty-eight" by saying " forty, wanting two." On this point, then, I think a similarity of view must have existed in the mind of the polished Greek, and the rude, but shrewd savage. There seems no cause to doubt the above reasonable explanation, which I had from an intelligent Indian.* A curious feature in connection with the numerals is that, in agreement with a certain class of words, they are used simply as they are set down in the list {see Appendix); but, with another class of words, the numerals have the affix of kamilh or kumilolah; and again with other words, the affix of sok or sokko. Thus the Ahts say, tsow-wauk or atlah, that is, "one" or "two," ko-us (man); or klootsmah (woman); or tsoowit (salmon); or waw-it (frog); but with other words, for instance, with the words for dollar, paddle, house, stone, bird and beast of any sort, articles of clothing, and, in fact, with the majority of common names, the numerals noop- {kamilh), atlah- * It may be interesting to notice some of the modes in which certain of the British Columbian Indian tribes express their numbers. For 6 the Carrier says twice 3. In 7, the Tshimpsean, like the Aht, has a 2. Into 8, the Indians who live near the English towns of Douglas and Tale introduce a 1 ; while the Carrier, strong in his arithmetic says twice 4. For 9, the Douglas and the Carrier have 10 save 1, and the Yale and Lytton Indians have 9 and 1 for 10, borrowing their Temilk from Teemilh, their Shewshwap neighbours' term for 9. METHOD OF DIVIDING THE YEAR. 123 {kamilh), kochtsa-{kamilh), &c, are made use of. The affix sok or sokko is used of trees or masts, as sootcha- sokko klakkahs, "five trees;" kochtsa-sokko-kloksem chaputs, " a vessel with three masts." Of compound words in which numerals appear, I may mention tsow- wauchinnik, " unaccompanied; " atlahchinnik, " with one other" {i.e. "himself the second"); and so on with the other numbers: tsow-wauklus, " sole occupant" of a house; tsow-wista, atlista, kochtsista, &c, "a canoe manned by one, two, three," &c.; tsow-wautshamma, atlistshamma, " with one wife," " with two wives." The method in which the natives divide the year may also be stated. The natives 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. 1. Mah-mayksoh is the first moon, to which, meaning "elder brother" {see Vocabulary), the word is appropriately applied. "In this month the seals pair." 2. Kathlahtik means " brother." Of this moon, and of another occurring seventh from it, they say, " It does not travel, but stays for two days." 3. Hy-yeskikamilh, " the month of most snow." (So described and probably so derived, ei-yeh quees, i.e. hy-yes). 4. Kahs-sit-imilh. 5. Ay-yak-kamilh, " when the herrings spawn." NAMES OF MONTHS. very {Ayyak, perhaps, is Uh-yeh-yahk, i.e. long"). 6. Outlohkamilh, " the month in which the geese leave for the lakes to breed.-' 7. Oh-oh-kamilh. "In this month the strange geese from a distance fly at a great height on their way to the inland lakes." 8. Tahklahdkamilh. " Before the end of this month the salmon-berry has just begun to ripen, and a small bird, with a single human sort of whistle, has arrived." 9. Kow-wishimUh. So named from kow-wit, " salmon- berry," and hishimilh, a " crowd " or " quantity," this being emphatically the salmon-berry month. Like kathlahtik, " this moon stays for two days." 10. Aho-sit sis. 11. Satsope-us. Evidently from the salmon so called. 12. Enakonsimilh. Evidently from the salmon so called. 13. Cheeyahk-amilh. I notice that this last moon (about October) and the fifth moon (about March), have each yak or yahk in them, which, by itself, as well as in composition, has the meaning of " long." I will now make a few remarks about the language of these people. Language of the Ahts. If the language has any grammatical construction at all—of which there certainly seem to be some traces— still it is in a most imperfect and partially developed state. LANGUAGE OF THE AHTS. 125 Case, gender, and tense are not found, number is only recognised in the personal pronouns, and the inflection of the verbs, which is very irregular and imperfect, marks, so far as I know, little difference between singular and plural. The special characteristic of the language is that it is evdently made up of roots expressive of natural sounds and generic ideas. In many instances, in the case of newly formed or derivative compound words, in which, perhaps, one root retains its full form and significance, and the other or others retain their significance, but have partially lost their form, the Indian immediately recognises the unaltered root, and quickly also the roots of altered form when they are pointed out to him and his attention is given to them. Connected with this extensive use of roots in composition, is the readiness with which the natives invent names for any new objects. A compound word is suggested by some individual in the tribe who is considered skilful in forming appropriate names, and who, for the sake of sound, subjects the roots to great change and, often, abbreviation in the process of compounding. Yet all the Indians who hear the new word at once recognise its meaning, and it is added to their vocabulary. It is surprising to find how quickly universal among the tribes any such new name becomes. As a rule, in the formation of Aht Compounds, one root remains unchanged, or nearly so, in the compound word, but the other roots in it are freely altered. A marked feature of the language is the numerous terminations to words which, evidently, have been formed from the same root. Mr. Anderson {see Cook's Voyages) mentions this as a defect of the language, as if the variety were useless and unreasonable; 126 ROOTS AND TERMINATIONS OF WORDS. but there is no doubt that these various terminations have their proper significance, though this may often be difficult to discover. The extensive use of roots and great variety of terminations may be mere barbarisms in a language ; but these peculiarities, on the other hand, may be usages and even proofs of qualities that are beautiful and valuable_ in the highest degree,—all depends on the language itself, its genius and capabilities. In the Greek, which in Homer's time, was used in a very primitive state of society, these peculiarities are at once observed; and the scholar is well aware how adapted that most perfect language is for the conveyance of spiritual and moral truths, and how much this power of conveyance depends on its abundant use of root terms. I do not offer an opinion on the capabilities of the Aht language—these may, perhaps, be comparatively small—but, without for a moment comparing it with any more civilized language, I name the beauty and value of a great variety of terminations and an extensive use of roots, both alone and in compound derivative words,—usages which, in themselves, in the Aht language, cannot be considered as defects. The language of the savage came from the same source as the most perfect and philosophically constructed language, that is, from God Himself; and it is a wonderful proof of wisdom, as regards language, that it should be simple enough for the use of even a savage, and yet contain elements, in common with the most refined and beautiful of languages, by which it is fitted for a development equal to the requirements of the most advanced stages of divine knowledge, of civilization and taste. A few instances of the Aht manner of compounding COMPOUND WORDS. 127 words may be given. We find the root yats or yets, which expresses the idea of movement of the feet or legs : yetsook, is "to walk; " yetspannich, " to walk and see; " yetshitl, is "to kick;" and yetseh-yetsah (their only way of expressing either a frequentative or plural being by reduplication), is " to kick frequently." Yetseh-yet- sokleh, undoubtedly from the same root, is a " screw steamer." When the natives first saw one of these vessels, noticing the disturbance of the water astern, they attributed the propulsion to some action analogous to the stroke of the legs of a swimmer, and so the name of | continual kicker " was at once invented and universally received. This is an Indian's explanation, without suggestion or assistance. I may add that, in compound words, several consonants or syllables of the component parts are often run into one. This being the case, it is not unlikely that the tsok in the above word gives (as in many other instances) the idea of water {chu-uk). Another example of a new name, adopted within my own knowledge, may be mentioned, which shows that parts of different Aht words, expressing different ideas, are some^ times brought together and combined into one word. Yahk means "long," and is probably connected with the yet more radical yeh, yah, which I have noticed seems in some words to give the idea of distance. Apuxim is | hair upon the face," hynmuxhel is " the mouth;" and there are other words of a similar sound showing the uxim and uxhel to have a particular reference to the face. These roots are formed into yahkpekuksel, "a beard." From this word, and ko-us, " a man," a combination of six syllables, the two-syllabled word yakpus is derived. 128 ROOTS IN COMPOUND WORDS. Yakpus is a proper name, meaning " beard-man," and was applied by its Indian inventor or suggestor to my dear friend, the late George Reid, of Alberni. Klahchoochin, "a stranger," or literally, "the newly- come," is derived from klah, a root signifying " present time," and chookwah, " come." This last word is connected with the Chinook word chako. The radical klah is found also in the word klahooye, " now;" klah-huksik, " the present generation; " and probably in klah-oh, "another," with its derivatives, klah-oh-quiU, "the day after to-morrow," and klah-oh-quill-ooye, " the day before yesterday." The quill in the two latter words is found also in atlah-quiU, " eight," and tsow-wauk-quill, "nine," and probably means "beyond," or "in addition;" and the ooye of the last word is a word of time, used by itself to express " soon " or " presently," and found in words implying both the present and the past, as klah-ooye, ahm-ooye, klah-oh-quill-ooye. Even to one possessing only an imperfect knowledge of the language, the continual presence of significant roots in compound words is evident. The peculiarity may be noticed in instances where the meaning of the root is entirely unknown (that is, unknown to any Indians I conversed with); thus, while chapwts is the word now used for canoe, the syllable kleet is found to occur in many words connected with a canoe. The similarity of the following words—kleetcha, " the steersman;" kleetchaik, "a rudder;" kleetshitl, "to steer;" kleetsuppem, "a sail;" kleetsviah, "stuff to sit on in a canoe;" and even klootsinnim, " the board which the paddler kneels upon," can hardly be accidental. Next to these prominent features of the Aht Ian- TERMINATIONS OF WORDS. 129 guage, which may be further verified by consulting the vocabulary,—to which I must generally refer the reader, as it is not my intention to comment on the Ian* guage at length,—some of the most usual terminations of words deserve notice. Ah or mah is, in verbs, the termination of the first | person both in the singular and plural; huk or ayts, of the second; and mah, win, or sometimes utlma, of the third person. These terminations, however, are not so bound to the verb but that sometimes they are transferred to an accompanying adverb, the exact manner of expression being apparently a good deal determined by phonetic considerations, subject to rule. From wik, " not," and kumotop, " to understand," we get either wikah-kumotop, or wimmutomah, both equally meaning, " I do not understand ; " but the latter word has lost two prominent consonants in the process of composition. In contradistinction to the terminations mah and utlma, which are applicable to the third person, the ultimate win, also applicable to the third person, has specially the curious meaning, in some instances, that the speaker has not seen that which he speaks of, and in other instances, that the object is not in sight at the time of his speaking. This reference to a past and a present may indicate a growth of the language towards the formation of tenses, but the form has reference at present to space and locality, rather than to time, though the idea of time is often necessarily included in the expression. What I mean to observe is that perhaps ultimately the savage may use this termination " win " to express one of the two times (past or present), and adopt some other termination to express the other time. The "w" and the " n" sounds frequently are found in compound 9 i 130 EXPRESSIONS OF NUMBER AND TIME. words, the one implying a negative, and the other the idea of sight. It might, however, be considered fanciful to look for the derivation of the syllable win in these, even although waw-win, "to hunt by shouts from unseen hunters " (the game hearing only, and not seeing, their pursuers); and tupwin, to gird or girdle the waist (and so to conceal the nakedness), might seem to point in the same direction. The first syllable in waw-win is obviously the same as in waw-wah or waw-waw, "to speak" or " shout." The expression of number is more definite in the Aht language than that of time. Reduplication of a significant syllable is used to describe number in objects and frequency in action. The words waw-waw and tseka tseka are both used of sustained speech; waw means simply "to utter a shout," or "to say." I find the single word tsechkah in a vocabulary of eighty years ago, though I have not myself heard it without the reduplication. Of three words in the Aht language, meaning " to work," two, oo-ooshtuk and pe-pe-sati, have the doubled syllable, implying, no doubt, repeated action. Yetseh-yetsah and yetseh-yetsokleh have been already mentioned. Maht-mahs means " all the houses " or "the entire population," mahte or mahs being the word for a single " house " or " settlement." The significance of the following terminals must be considered as only implying a general rule, more or less liable to exception. Instruments end in ik—as hukkaik, "a knife;" hissik, "a saw;" kleetchaik, "a rudder." Colours end in uk or ook, as ey-yoh-quk, " green; kistohkuk, " blue ; " May-hook, " purple ; " kleesook, " white ; " toop- kook, "black" {hissit, " red," is an exception). TERMINA TIONS. 131 Trees and grasses end in pt, as kow-whipt, see-whipt, ootsmupt, klakkupt, klakkamupt, and many others. Genera end in oop and toop, as eesh-toop, "household things ; " sush-toop, " beasts of the forest; " tel- hoop, " fishes of the sea." The word kleetstoop means I blankets," in contradistinction to the special name given to each blanket according to its colour. Verbs often end in shitl, shetl, and chitl. This termination is, on the whole, well-marked, though exceptions are very numerous. It would, in fact, be more correct to say that these endings, when occurring, are generally found in verbs, than to call them verbal terminations. They probably imply action or movement. Thus, apart from verbs, we meet with these ultimates in kleeshitl, (from kleesook, " white,") " the growing light of morning which comes before sunrise; " in toopshitl, {toop-kook,< "black,") " the increasing darkness of sunset and immediately after;" and in moolshitl, " the flood, or flowing tide." The most common termination in the language is Ih. It is difficult to assign any uniform meaning to this termination. I have sometimes thought that it expresses the application of the meaning of a general word to a word of a more particular import. Thus ey-yoh-quilh, the usual term of the Ahts for a green blanket, means " a green one." The general term for blanket, as named above, is kleetstoop; as this word has no apparent connection with ey-yoh-quilh, and as the Ahts use now almost exclusively blankets for dress, we must suppose that in saying "a green one," they are referring to their usual and almost only covering. The word for a black blanket is toopkulh | for white, kleeselh; for red, klayhulh; {klayhook is purple, IISllUj 132 THE NITINAHT DIALECT. hissoolh is bloody.) Attalh or uttalh is an Aht word for black, evidently formed from attyh or nttyh, night. Terminations in up seem to convey the* meaning of loss, curtailment, injury, as chd-tay-up, "to cut off with a knife;" kddsup, "to hurt, to wound;" hy-yusatyup, " to lessen or diminish ; " kawkushup, " sickness of the eyes; " ash-sup " to break a cord or string; " quoy-up " to break'a stick." The Nitinaht Dialect. Among the various tribes living round Nitinaht (or Barclay) Sound, that called the Nitinahts is the largest tribe of all those both round the Sound and on the coast. The Nitinahts live on the seaboard close to the Sound, and it is worthy of remark that they have more words and changes of verbal form peculiar to themselves than any other of the Aht tribes. Their speech differs more from that of the other tribes in Nitinaht (or Barclay) Sound than from the speech of the tribes immediately north of the "Sound, though the latter are farther removed from them. This probably arises from the circumstance of the seaboard tribes of the Ahts having more intercourse with the tribes of other nations of Indians speaking different languages than the Aht tribes have who live inside the large Sounds, The Nitinaht tribe, known specially by that name, is nearer to the Indians on the other side of the Strait of Juan de Fuca; and, additionally, as being a powerful tribe, represses, to a certain degree, the foreign intercourse of other seaboard tribes, and, therefore, naturally has most mixture of language, as the Nitinahts most visit and are visited by foreigners. Also, both Nitinahts and all other THE NITINAHT DIALECT. 133 seaboard tribes have more foreign intercourse than the tribes living inside the Sounds, their position hindering these latter from visiting other nations, and strangers, on their/part, being afraid to venture into the Sounds or inland. In common with several of the seaboard Aht tribes to the north, the Nitinahts have boouch {moouch) for " deer;" and I have also heard Nitinahts use atlah-sib, tsow-wau-sib, {Atlah-sim and tsow-wau-sim) for " eight" and " nine." On the other hand, the tribes inside Nitinaht (or Barclay) Sound use ahtoosh and atlahquill and tsow-toauk-quill respectively for the same, that is, for " deer," 1 eight" and " nine." The Nitinaht dialect, however, is understood by all the tribes, though now and then one notices that, in conversation with Indians of other tribes of their own nation, the Nitinahts have to repeat their words with some alteration of expression in order to make themselves understood. Much of the difference of their dialect from that of others of the Aht tribes consists in the fact that, in almost every instance, the m and n of the other tribes are changed by the Nitinahts into b and d; this, with the frequent abbreviation or expansion of words in composition, often leads to singular alterations. Thus, for the common Aht wordsnoowayksoh, "father," and oomayksoh, | mother," the Nitinahts have respectively dooux and abahx; for quequenixo, " a hand," they have kookadooxyeh ; for nismah, "country" or "territory," dissibach; for mamook " to work," baboik. Two of the Nitinaht numerals I may remark, chayukpalh, " six," and klah-ioha, " ten,'' are entirely different from those of the other tribes ; the rest are substantially the same. 134 THE NOOTKAH DIALECT. Cook's List op Nooteah Woeds. Any one duly appreciating the difficulty of collecting the words of an unknown language without an interpreter will admire the industry of Mr. Anderson, surgeon of Cook's ship, the Resolution, who, in the short space of less than a month, obtained in the neighbourhood of Nootkah some 280 native words. The tribes who live in that neighbourhood, I may state, are the Moouchaht, Ayhutti- saht, Noochahlaht, and these form part of the Aht nation —a fact hitherto unknown. On examining Mr. Anderson's list, I recognize, inclusive of the first ten numerals, 133 words which are substantially the same as words now spoken by the tribes in Nitinaht (or Barclay) Sound. The distance along the coast between Nootkah and Nitinaht is about 90 miles. When from the remaining 147 words in Mr. Anderson's list are deducted those words in which the Nootkah Indians at present differ from the Nitinaht (or Barclay) Sound tribes, and those words in which they may agree, but with which agreement I am unacquainted, it is probable that very little change will be found to have taken place in the Aht language since Cook's visit eighty years ago; perhaps not a greater change than might be observed in the language—say of the south of Scotland, within the last hundred years. It is singular that an unwritten language should have been preserved with so little alteration among tribes so widely scattered, and who have so often opposed each other with deadly hatred.* * Tbe language of the Indians in the interior of America—commonly called the Indians of the Plain—is constantly changing, owing to their roving habits and intermixture with other tribes. In the case of some of MR. ANDERSON'S VOCABULARY. 13E The curious pronunciation remarked upon by Mr. Anderson as only approximately represented by lozth may have been somewhat altered and simplified by lapse of time, or it may be a peculiarity not shared by those of the Aht tribes best known to me. The words spelt by him according to that pronunciation are now pronounced in different instances as thl, Ith, or Ih, or are at least nearly represented by such a combination of letters; not very different, after all, from Mr. Anderson's pronunciation, only I cannot distinguish the sound of s or z. I quite recognize ; what Mr. Anderson means when he says, "It is formed by clashing the tongue partly against the roof of the mouth with considerable force, and may be compared to a very coarse or harsh method of lisping." I do not, however, recognize an actual lisp, which would, of course, imply the presence of a sibilant. In Mr. Anderson's vocabulary I find, without any very careful examination, a few words either erroneously set down by him, or which have since changed their meaning. The error (if any) in one or two cases may easily be explained. I here give a few words, as set down by Mr. Anderson, and also their present pronunciation and meaning:— Mr. Anderson's Words. Nootkah. Opulszhl," the sun." Onalszthl, " the moon." Tsechkah, " a general song." Present "Words. Nitinaht (or Barclay) Sound. Hoop-palh, " the moon." Nas, " the sun." Tseka, " to speak, say, or Sing." these tribes, the vocabulary of a missionary is of little use to his successor after the lapse of a dozen years. The Coast Indians, on the other hand, remain for generations—perhaps for centuries—on one spot, and their language, consequently, is less susceptible of alteration, notwithstanding the effect of the coast intercourse before alluded to. 136 MR. ANDERSON'S VOCABULARY. Mr. Anderson's Words. Nootkah. Haweelsth, or Hawalth, "friendship, •friend." Eineetl, "goat, deer." Okumha, | the wind." Tchoo, " throw it down." Jakops, "a man." Nahei, Naheis, " friendship." Ta-eetcha, " full, satisfied with eating." Present Words. Nitinaht (or Barclay) Sound. How-wilh, " chief." Ahtoosh, or, Moouch, " deer." Ennitl, " dog." Wikseh, " wind." Tchoo, "incites to any sort of action." Chekoop, " a husband." Ko-us, " a man." Nahay, Nahais, " give or to give." Teech, " well; not sick." Teechah, " I am well." The present meaning of tush-she is " a door-way," the same word being applied to any gangway, and also to a track or road in the woods. Mooshussem is "a door or lid." For Mao or hlao-appi, a word of likely occurrence in barter with Indians, Mr. Anderson has "keep it," or "I'll not have it," having, I daresay, assigned that meaning to the word from the evident dissatisfaction expressed by the person using it. The real meaning of klao is " another," or I something else;" and klao-appi means " substitute something else." The expression, therefore, does not convey so much a refusal of the article offered in barter as a request that something else more acceptable should be produced. Klao, or klah-oh, is a word which enters frequently into the speech of the Ahts, and always with the signification of " another " or " some more." Ah-ah- tomah-klah-oh Oliver is a literal rendering of " Oliver asks for more." Ohkullik, or ohquinnik, set down by Mr. Anderson as the general term for " box," is now used only to describe a box with double sides, the inner ones sliding out. The innik or tdlik gives the idea of duality; klah-hix is the common term for "a box;" AFFINITY OF INDIAN LANGUAGES. 13i klah-haytsoh for one having a lid fitting over the sides. The word allee, or alia, which Mr. Anderson translates "friend," or "hark ye," is the same as the present Nitinaht (or Barclay) Sound anni, and the Chinook annah, the transition from n to I, easy in all languages, being particularly so in the Aht language, in which a sound often lies halfway between two kindred consonants. The exact meaning of anni is "look." It is connected with the reply generally made to it, anni-mah, "I see;" with cheh-neh, " I do not know," or,-more literally, " I do not see," or "have not seen;" and also, no doubt, with the* Chinook nanich, "to see;" and many other words in which the same root may be traced. The word 'kaweebts applied by Mr. Anderson to the wild raspberry* is now used by the Ahts for a very common and well-known berry- bush, to which the colonists give the name of " the salmon- berry." Though not the wild raspberry, it is of the same order of plants, and not unlike it in appearance, and when in flower might easily be mistaken for the wild raspberry. Affinity of the Indian Languages on the North-West Coast. An adequate acquaintance with the Indian languages spoken in Vancouver Island, and on the north-west coast of the continent, would throw a trustworthy and most interesting light on the early history of the different nations of Indians; at least on so much of their early history as consisted in their migrations. On this point, however, I will confine my observations to the people on the outside coast of the island, with whom I happen to be acquainted. A cursory notice is sufficient to prove to the traveller the 138 LANGUAGE OF THE AHT TRIBES. close similarity of the languages of all the Aht tribes, and, therefore, the relationship of the people; and he is surprised, on going along the coast towards the north of the island, where no great physical obstruction prevents communication between the different tribes, to find a boundary, as it were, beyond which the speech of the Aht people (phonetically, at least,) is so much changed, that even numerals and other radical forms have no appearance of similarity. I hesitate to affirm that the several languages in Vancouver Island are absolutely distinct, for I have not •closely studied the whole of them. The contrast I speak of, in reference to the Aht language, appears about Cape Scott, at the northern end of Vancouver Island, where this language meets the language of the Quoquoulth (the Indians of the north and north-east of the island); and the contrast appears again towards the south end of the island at some point between Pacheenah and Victoria, where the Aht language comes into abrupt contact with the Kowitchan, or dialects of the Kowitchan. But though these points, north and south, are the limits of the districts in which the Aht language proper in Vancouver Island is spoken, the same language probably crosses the Straits of Juan de Fuca, and is traceable, with gradual and increasing alterations, through all the tribes along the ocean-coast, from about Cape Flattery to the mouth of the Columbia Biver. There is a decided resemblance between the Aht language and many words of the Chinook jargon, which is a portion of the language of the now almost extinct Chinook tribes at the mouth of the Columbia River, supplemented by words of other tribal dialects on the north-west coast; also by French, English, Hawaian, and, CHINOOK AND AHT WORDS. 139 perhaps (but of these I am doubtful), Spanish words. The real Chinook was the first coast language of the northwest coast languages that was learned by settlers and traders on the banks near the mouth of the Columbia Biver ; and a portion of it was afterwards incorporated into a barbarous jargon, to facilitate communication with other natives.* I know about 100 words of the Chinook jargon, and probably 500 of the Aht language, and among these, without research, I can recall the following parallels :— Chinook. Aht. Mowitch, " a deer " Moouch, " a deer " Syah, " far away " Si-yah, " far away." Kloosh, " good " Kloothl, " good." ( (Ihu-uk," water." Chuk, " water " i m ,