Part 30 (1/2)

[288] 'Their cloaks, which are circular capes with a hole in the centre, edged with sea-otter skin, are constructed from the inner bark of the cypress. It turns the rain, is very soft and pliable,' etc. _Belcher's Voy._, vol. i., p. 112. The usual dress of the Newchema.s.s 'is a _kootsuck_ made of wolf skin, with a number of the tails attached to it ... hanging from the top to the bottom; though they sometimes wear a similar mantle of bark cloth, of a much coa.r.s.er texture than that of Nootka.' _Jewitt's Nar._, pp. 77-8, 21-3, 56-8, 62-6. 'Their common dress is a flaxen garment, or mantle, ornamented on the upper edge by a narrow strip of fur, and at the lower edge, by fringes or ta.s.sels. It pa.s.ses under the left arm, and is tied over the right shoulder, by a string before, and one behind, near its middle.... Over this, which reaches below the knees, is worn a small cloak of the same substance, likewise fringed at the lower part.... Their head is covered with a cap, of the figure of a truncated cone, or like a flower-pot, made of fine matting, having the top frequently ornamented with a round or pointed k.n.o.b, or bunch of leathern ta.s.sels.' _Cook's Voy. to Pac._, vol. ii., pp.

304-8, 270-1, 280. 'The men's dress is a blanket; the women's a strip of cloth, or s.h.i.+ft, and blanket. The old costume of the natives was the same as at present, but the material was different.' _Sproat's Scenes_, pp. 25, 315. 'Their clothing generally consists of skins,' but they have two other garments of bark or dog's hair. 'Their garments of all kinds are worn mantlewise, and the borders of them are fringed' with wampum.

_Spark's Life of Ledyard_, pp. 71-2; _Colyer_, in _Ind. Aff. Rept._, 1869, p. 533; _Sutil y Mexicana_, _Viage_, pp. 30-1, 38, 56-7, 126-8; _Meares' Voy._, pp. 251-4; _Grant_, in _Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour._, vol.

xxvii., p. 297; _Lord's Nat._, vol. i., pp. 143-4; _Mofras_, _Explor._, tom. ii., pp. 344-5; _Whymper's Alaska_, p. 37; _Greenhow's Hist. Ogn._, p. 116; _Macfie's Van. Isl._, pp. 431, 443; _Barrett-Lennard's Trav._, p.

46. See portraits in _Cook's Atlas_, _Belcher's Voy._, _Sutil y Mexicana, Atlas_, and _Whymper's Alaska._

[289] On the east side of Vancouver was a village of thirty-four houses, arranged in regular streets. The house of the leader 'was distinguished by three rafters of stout timber raised above the roof, according to the architecture of Nootka, though much inferior to those I had there seen, in point of size.' Bed-rooms were separated, and more decency observed than at Nootka Sound. _Vancouver's Voy._, vol. i., pp. 346-7, with a view of this village; also pp. 324-5, description of the village on Desolation Sound; p. 338, on Valdes Island; p. 326, view of village on Bute Ca.n.a.l; and vol. iii., pp. 310-11, a peculiarity not noticed by Cook--'immense pieces of timber which are raised, and horizontally placed on wooden pillars, about eighteen inches above the roof of the largest houses in that village; one of which pieces of timber was of a size sufficient to have made a lower mast for a third rate man of war.'

See _Cook's Voy. to Pac._, vol. ii., pp. 281, 313-19, and _Atlas_, plate 40. A sort of a duplicate inside building, with shorter posts, furnishes on its roof a stage, where all kinds of property and supplies are stored. _Sproat's Scenes_, pp. 37-43. 'The planks or boards which they make use of for building their houses, and for other uses, they procure of different lengths, as occasion requires, by splitting them out, with hard wooden wedges from pine logs, and afterwards dubbing them down with their chizzels.' _Jewitt's Nar._, pp. 52-4. Grant states that the Nootka houses are palisade inclosures formed of stakes or young fir-trees, some twelve or thirteen feet high, driven into the ground close together, roofed in with slabs of fir or cedar. _Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour._, vol.

xxvii., p. 299. The t.e.e.t.s have palisaded enclosures. _Anderson_, in _Hist. Mag._, vol. vii., p. 74. 'The chief resides at the upper end, the proximity of his relatives to him being according to their degree of kindred.' _Macfie's Vanc. Isl._, pp. 443-4; _Dunn's Oregon_, p. 243; _Belcher's Voy._, vol. i., p. 112; _Lord's Nat._, vol. i., pp. 158, 164-5, 167, 320-21; _Seemann's Voy. of Herald_, vol. i., pp. 105-6. The carved pillars are not regarded by the natives as idols in any sense.

_Sutil y Mexicana_, _Viage_, pp. 128-9, 102; _Barrett-Lennard's Trav._, pp. 47, 73-4. Some houses eighty by two hundred feet. _Colyer_, in _Ind.

Aff. Rept._, 1869, p. 533; _Mayne's B. C._, p. 296; _Gordon's Hist. and Geog. Mem._, pp. 120-1.

[290] 'Their heads and their garments swarm with vermin, which, ... we used to see them pick off with great composure, and eat.' _Cook's Voy.

to Pac._, vol. ii., p. 305. See also pp. 279-80, 318-24. 'Their mode of living is very simple--their food consisting almost wholly of fish, or fish sp.a.w.n fresh or dried, the blubber of the whale, seal, or sea-cow, muscles, clams, and berries of various kinds; all of which are eaten with a profusion of train oil.' _Jewitt's Nar._, pp. 58-60, 68-9, 86-8, 94-7, 103. _Sproat's Scenes_, pp. 52-7, 61, 87, 144-9, 216-70. 'The common business of fis.h.i.+ng for ordinary sustenance is carried on by slaves, or the lower cla.s.s of people;--While the more n.o.ble occupation of killing the whale and hunting the sea-otter, is followed by none but the chiefs and warriors.' _Meares' Voy._, p. 258. 'They make use of the dried fucus giganteus, anointed with oil, for lines, in taking salmon and sea-otters.' _Belcher's Voy._, vol. i., pp. 112-13. _Sutil y Mexicana_, _Viage_, pp. 17, 26, 45-6, 59-60, 76, 129-30, 134-5; _Grant_, in _Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour._, vol. xxvii., pp. 299-300; _Mayne's B. C._, pp. 252-7; _Macfie's Vanc. Isl._, pp. 165-442; _Simpson's Overland Journ._, vol. i., p. 239; _Pemberton's Vanc. Isl._, pp. 28-32; _Dunn's Oregon_, p. 243; _Mofras_, _Explor._, tom. ii., p. 338. The Sau-kau-lutuck tribe 'are said to live on the edge of a lake, and subsist princ.i.p.ally on deer and bear, and such fish as they can take in the lake.' _Lord's Nat._, vol. i., pp. 158-9; _Barrett-Lennard's Trav._, pp. 48, 74-5, 76-7, 85-6, 90-1, 144-50, 197-8; vol. ii., p. 111; _Cornwallis' New El Dorado_, p. 100; _Forbes' Vanc. Isl._, pp. 54-5; _Rattray's Vanc. Isl._, pp. 77-8, 82-3; _Hud. Bay Co., Rept. Spec. Com._, 1857, p. 114.

[291] _Sutil y Mexicana_, _Viage_, pp. 57, 63, 78; _Jewitt's Nar._, pp.

78-81; _Vancouver's Voy._, vol. i., p. 307; _Macfie's Vanc. Isl._, p.

443; _c.o.x's Adven._, vol. i., p. 100. 'The native bow, like the canoe and paddle, is beautifully formed. It is generally made of yew or crab-apple wood, and is three and a half feet long, with about two inches at each end turned sharply backwards from the string. The string is a piece of dried seal-gut, deer-sinew, or twisted bark. The arrows are about thirty inches long, and are made of pine or cedar, tipped with six inches of serrated bone, or with two unbarbed bone or iron p.r.o.ngs. I have never seen an Aht arrow with a barbed head.' _Sproat's Scenes_, p.

82. 'Having now to a great extent discarded the use of the traditional tomahawk and spear. Many of these weapons are, however, still preserved as heirlooms among them.' _Barrett-Lennard's Trav._, p. 42. 'No bows and arrows.' 'Generally fight hand to hand, and not with missiles.'

_Fitzwilliam's Evidence_, in _Hud. Bay Co. Rept._, 1857, p. 115.

[292] The Ahts 'do not take the scalp of the enemy, but cut off his head, by three dexterous movements of the knife ... and the warrior who has taken most heads is most praised and feared.' _Sproat's Scenes_, pp.

186-202. 'Scalp every one they kill.' _Macfie's Vanc. Isl._, p. 470, 443, 467. One of the Nootka princes a.s.sured the Spaniards that the bravest captains ate human flesh before engaging in battle. _Sutil y Mexicana_, _Viage_, p. 130. The Nittinahts consider the heads of enemies slain in battle as _spolia opima_. _Whymper's Alaska_, pp. 54, 78; _Jewitt's Nar._, pp. 120-1; _Lord's Nat._, vol. i., pp. 155-6, 158, 166, 171, vol. ii., p. 251-3. Women keep watch during the night, and tell the exploits of their nation to keep awake. _Meares' Voy._, p. 267.

_Vancouver's Voy._, vol. i., p. 396; _Grant_, in _Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour._, vol. xxvii., p. 296; _Mayne's B. C._, p. 270; _Barrett-Lennard's Trav._, pp. 41-2, 129-36.

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

144; _Vancouver's Voy._, vol. i., p. 338. Their canoes 'are believed to supply the pattern after which clipper s.h.i.+ps are built.' _Macfie's Vanc.

Isl._, pp. 484, 430. _Barrett-Lennard's Trav._, p. 50. _Colyer_, in _Ind. Aff. Rept._, 1869, p. 533.

[294] _Cook's Voy. to Pac._, vol. ii., pp. 271, 308, 316, 326, 329-30.

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

[295] Woolen cloths of all degrees of fineness, made by hand and worked in figures, by a method not known. _Cook's Voy. to Pac._, vol. ii., p.

325. _Sutil y Mexicana_, _Viage_, pp. 46, 136; _Lord's Nat._, vol. ii., p. 254; _Sproat's Scenes_, pp. 88-9; _Jewitt's Nar._, p. 55; _Macfie's Vanc. Isl._, pp. 442, 451, 483-5; _Mofras_, _Explor._, tom. ii., p. 344; _Pemberton's Vanc. Isl._, p. 131; _Cornwallis' New El Dorado_, pp.

99-100. 'The implement used for weaving, (by the t.e.e.t.s) differed in no apparent respect from the rude loom of the days of the Pharaohs.'

_Anderson_, in _Hist. Mag._, vol. vii., p. 78.

[296] _Sproat's Scenes_, pp. 79-81, 89, 96, 111-13; _Kane's Wand._, pp.

220-1; _Macfie's Vanc. Isl._, pp. 429, 437; _Cook's Voy. to Pac._, vol.

ii., p. 284; _Sutil y Mexicana_, _Viage_, p. 147; _Lord's Nat._, vol.

i., pp. 165-6; _Mayne's B. C._, 263-5.

[297] _Jewitt's Nar._, pp. 78-80; _Sproat's Scenes_, pp. 19, 55, 78-9, 92. Before the adoption of blankets as a currency, they used small sh.e.l.ls from the coast bays for coin, and they are still used by some of the more remote tribes. _Grant_, in _Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour._, vol.

xxvii., p. 307. 'Their acuteness in barter is remarkable.' _Forbes'

Vanc. Isl._, p. 25.

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

[299] 'They shew themselves ingenious sculptors. They not only preserve, with great exactness, the general character of their own faces, but finish the more minute parts, with a degree of accuracy in proportion, and neatness in execution.' _Cook's Voy. to Pac._, vol. ii., pp. 326-7, and _Atlas_, pl. 40; _Lord's Nat._, vol. i., pp. 164-5, vol. ii., pp.