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Maps, plates, charts, etc., may be filmed at different reduction ratcos. Those too iarge to be entirely included in one exposure are filmed beginning in the upper left hand corner, left to right and top to bottom, as many frames as required. The following diagrams Klustrato the method: Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvent dtre filmds d des taux de reduction diffdronts. Lorsque le document est trop grand pour dtre reproduit en un seul clichd, il est filmd A partir de Tangle supdrieur gauche, de gauche d droite, et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'images n6cessaire. Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la m6thode. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 f 1 twaaiWi'iii f. SMITHSONIAN CONTllIBUTICNe TO KNOWLEDGE. 2G7 TUE HAIDAH INDIANS QUEEN CHARLOTTE'S ISLANDS, BRITISH COLUMBIA. WITH A BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THEIR CARVmOS, TATTOO DESIGNS, ETC. BY JAMES G. STTAX. POHT TOWSSESll. WASIIl.vr.TijS IMI.I [ACOKPTBD FOB PUBLIOATIOH, JANTARY, 1874.] * rl -.;& ADVERT IS EM ETs^T. This ]Momoir was rcforrcd for cxamiur'.tion to Dr. Jamps C. Wolling, LL.D., President of Columbian University, Washington, U. C, and to Dr. (jreorgc A. Otis, of the Surgeon General's Office, U. S. Army. Their report states that "the Memoir is a valuable ccmtribution to oin- general knowledge of anthropology and arclireology, while yielding besides a special con- tingent to the ethnology of the North American continent. Under the latter of these heads it raises some questions which seiin of great significance, and wliicli it is to b(^ hoped Avill lead to further investigation." JOSEPH HENllY, Secretary S. 1. - S.MiTiisoNiAN Institution, ■Washington, July, 1874. iii) THE IIAIDAII INDIANS OF QUEEN CnARLOTTE'S ISLANDS. Queen Charlotte's Islands are a group in the Pacific Ocean, lying off tlie northwest coast of North America about seventy-five miles northwest of Vancouver's Island, between latitude 51° 30' and 54° 20' north, and at a distance from the mainland varying from one hundred miles at their southern extremity to about sixty miles at the northern portion of the group. Tliey were first discovered by Captain Cook, R. N., in the year 1776, and it ia said that he landed on the most northerly portion near a spot now known as Cook's Inlet. Captain Juan Perez, a Spanish navigator, had sighted this land two years previously, but it was not taken formal possession of by either the English or Spanish until 1787, when Captain Dixon took possession in the name of King Crcorge the Third, and named the group after the consort of the King, " Queen Charlotte's Islands." These Islands form together a healthy picturesque territory, rich in natural resources, and well adapted to colonization. Nevertheless, for the space of nearly a century no attempt has been made by the English to colonize them. There they lie waste and fallow, yet marvellously productive, and awaiting nothing but capital, enterprise, and skill to return manifold profit to those who will develop their resources. The names of this group are North, Graham's, Moresby's, and Prevost. Graham's and Moresby's Islands are the largest, and constitute at least 95 per cent, of the whole area of the group. North and Prevost Islands, one at the extreme northv/ost, and the other at the extreme southeast of the group, are quite small, being only a few miles in area. There are a great numbfy: of small islands and islets around the main group, particularly on the eastern side. Some of these islets are of considerable extent, but are of minor importance when compared with the maui group. The general direction of Queen Charlotte's Islands is northwest and southeast, following the general outline of the coast in that region of the continent. 'The widest portion is at the northern end of Graham's Island, a little north of the 54° parallel, and measures, from Cape Fife on the east, to Cape Knox on, the west, about sixty nautical miles. From the 54° paia!..i the group narrows towards its southern extremity till it is reduced, at Prevost Island, to about one mile, 1 May, 1874. % I 2 THE IIAIDAII INDIANS OP The whole length of the group from Norlii Point to Cnpc St. James, its southern extremity, is about one hundred and sixty miles. The islands of the group aro separated by three channels. Tarry Passage, at tlie north, separates North Islaiul from Graham's, Skidegate Ciiannel separates (iraliaiii's and Moresby's Islands, and Stewart Channel separates Moresby's and Provost Islands. These Islands are inhabited by a tribe of Indians called Ilaida or Ilydah, who in manners and customs seem sonunviiut ditt'erent from the neigliboring tribes of tlie mainland, and those of ^'ancouver's Island. The name is spelled Ilyder, llaida, or Ilaidah. I have adopted the latter stylo as it is more expressive of the true pronunciation of tlu; natives. In general appearance the llaidahs resemble the natives of the northeastern coast of Asia, who have a marked resemblance to the Tartar hordes and who seem to have extended along the Siberian coast, the Aleutian Islands, and down the American shores as far south as Queen Charlotte's Islands, where this peculiar type of the Indian race ceases, and is succeeded innnediately by the Selish or flat-head branch of the Nor±h American Indians, who have been classed by Morgan as the (iauowanian family or I5ow and Arrow pcoide. I apjtly the term Si/ish in this paper to the tribes of \\'ashiugtou Territory and British Columbia south of the 51" parallel of north latitude. The distinctive features of these two classes of Indians are appannit to the most casual obseiver. The Ilaidah, Chimsean, and other tribes nortli of Vancouver's Island, who are termed by the residents of Paget Sound "Northern Indians," are, as a general rule, of larger stature, better proportion, and lighter complexion than the Selish. Although there are numerous instances of well-developed individuals among the Vancouver Island tribes, and of small-sized individuals among the Northern, yet the general appearance of the Northern Indians, both men and women, is much larger and finer. This difference is particularly marked in the females. Those of the Ilaidah and other northern trilies are tall and athletic, while the Selish women are shorter and more given to corpulency. The Ilaidali Iiulians, living on an island Feparat(>d from th;? mainland by a wide and stormy strait, are necessarily obliged to resort to canoes as a means of travel, and are exceedingly expert in their construction and management. Some of their canoes are very large and capable of carrying one hundred persons with all their equipments for a long voyage. But those generally used will carry from twenty to thirty p'*rsons; and in these conveyances they make voyages of several hundred miles to Victoria on Vancouver's Island, and from thence to the various towns on Puget Sound. These canoes are made from single logs of cedar, which attains an immense size on Queen C'harlotte's Islands. Although not so graceful ui model as the canoes of the west coast of Vancouver's Island and Washington Territory, which are commonly called Chenook canoes, yet they are most excellent sea boats, and ca])able of being navigated with perfect safety through the storms and turbulent waters of the northwest coast. QUKKN CHARLOTTE'S ISLANDS, H lU T I S 11 rOI,I'MllIA. 3 'I'Ih; Iliiidnhs bring with tlicm as articles of triiffic, furs of various kinds, dogfish, and seal oil, and carvings in wood and ston(>, as well as ornaments in silver of excell(tches illustrative of these carvings and also of vaiious tattoo designs, which were copied by me from the persons of the Indians, and also have caused photogriiphs to be taken to still further illustrate this sid)ject. The first of these carvings which I shall describe is of wood (riate 2, fig. 1). It is intended to represent one of the carved posts or pillars which are raised in front of the houses of the chiefs or principal men. These pillars are sometimes from fifty to sixty feet high, elaborately carved at a cost of hundreds of blankets; some of the best ones even costing several thousand dollars, consequently, only the most wealthy individuals of the tribe arc abk^ to ])urchase the best specimens. These pillars are carved out of a single cedar tree, the back hollowed out so as to relieve the weight when raising it in a perpendicular position. They are deeply and firmly set in the earth directly in front of the lodge, and a circular opening near the ground constitutes the door of entrance to the house. The Chimsean Indians, at Fort Simpson, and the Sitka tribes have this style of carved posts, but they set them a short distance from the front of their houses. The figures carved on these posts arc the family totems or heraldic designs of the family occupying the house, and as these Indians build large wooden lodges capable of containing several families, the carvings may be said to indicate the family names of the diffierent occupants. The chief or head man owns the house, fTul the occupants are his family and relatives, each one of whom will have on some part of the body a representation in tattooing of the particular figure which constitutes his or her family name or connection. JtlHpi 4 Til i: TT ATP A H INDIANS OP The chief will have nil the figures tattooed on his boortion of tiu- body tattooed is the back of the hand and forearm; and a llaidah, imrticnlaily tlic women, can bo readily designated from any other northern tribe by tliis peeidiarity. • r •! The carvinK whicii 1 sliall next describe is the wooden (igure on the lelt of Sketch No. '2. Tills iias fonr ligures, one above the other. Tlie lowest one is the beaver Tsrhimi. On his head sits the mythological mother of the llaidah trilx-, who is named" Itl-iaih-dah. In her arms she holds tlie yomig crow h'rl-hw, and on her head is seated the erow yA«>-/y<7/, bearing in his beak the new moon K<^gend connected with this carving is, that the beaver THcJdng occupies himself by eating the moon, and when he has finished his meal and obliterated it. rtl-tdiUiJah s(>nds out Ihm-nrh, the crow, to hunt fm- a new nujon which he Ijriags home in his bill. The duty of llvoiis the bear is to keep watch that all goes on well. The second carving is of stone (I'late 1, fig. 1), and consists of Txrhinr/ the beaver, SkaniU;nn the eagl(\ and ni-Uuh-dah the grandmother. In the inider lip of the old woman is seen the «/<(/(, un oblong piece of wood or ivory which is inserted in the under lip, and increased in size till the lip is distorted and stretched out of all shape. Tliis practice was formerly universal, but of late years has fallen somewhat into disuse, particularly with those females who have visited Victoria and seen the customs of civUization. Carving No. 2 is of stone, and represents two figures, the lower one is IbMnis tlie bear hokling in his jiaws the Sivu or crayfish. The upper figure is the Tuchiiitj or Tmnr/, the beaver, holding the Tl-lcam-kostan or frog in his paws. The Indian, however rude or grotesque his carvings or paintings may be, is always true to nature, lie knows that the bears eat crabs, crayfish, and other littoral marine Crustacea, and that the frog is the fresh-water companion of the beaver. Hence, if the carver had reversed the grouping, he would have been laughed at by his friends, for the Indians are keen critics of each other's work, and prone to ridicule. Stone carving No. 3 represents three figures. The lower one is the Talui or sea- lion ; on his head is the Wusko, a mythological animal of the wolf species similar to the CJin-cJm-hii-iiu-l of the Makah Indians. Above the Wonko is the bear, £ur- monuted by a head resembling a human head, but intended to represent the young bear. The other stone carving (Plate 5, No. 5) is unfinished. It represents two figures : the lower one, the bear, and the upper one, the Senna or killer (Orcaafvr). AVith tl 1 exception of the first-named carving, I did not learn of any legend or allegorical history connected with these carvings of the llaidahs. But they will be of interest and vale, to study at some future opportunity. QUEKN I'llA III.OTTK'S ISI.ANUS, UKITISII C (> I, I' M I! I A 5 Tin- flrinvirif^s of tattoo drsiijfiisi wliicli I'ccDmpaiiy tlic ciirviiif^s were copiiil liy iiic fnmi tlic persons of tin- Indiims who (mimc Io my o'Hcc for iliiit jmrposc. TIh' ftrst o:ic (IMiitc -l, fig. 1) is tlic luilml'ii or codfish. 'I'liis was tattooed on tlie I)rou!-t of Kitl-.rm, a chief of the Laskeek village of lluidahs, on tlu; east side of Moreshy's Island. Kilh-i'tn. and Iiis hrothcr (icncs-kelos — a carver and tattooer— A7/-/,v7-(/'''4«, one of the head men of the liaiid, and Captain Skcdance, chief of the Koona villa<;c, with their i)arty (^ave ni;; the information and descriptions, and from their persons 1 made the drawinf^s. Fig. 2 (tattoo mark) is the Oolula, a mytholo-,'ical l)cinf,', half man, half hird, similar in all respects to the Thunder hird of the Midviih Indians. It lives on \us. It is siniil ir to the Chu-chv-hiMixl vi the Makahs, and the tradition is, that after tlu- primitive race had produced the present genus of wolf, the Wasko were transformed into the killer {orcu (tier). The sharp teeth and powerful jaws of the killer, resemhling moi-e the mouth, of a carnivorous land animal than any of the inhaoitants of the water, was undoubtedly the origin of the fahlo. Scannnon, in his Cetacea of the Northwest Coast, styles them the cannibals of the whale tribe. The Wado, as I have copied it, was tattooed on the back of the chief Kithnii. rig. 4 (Plate 4) is the Scami or killer {Orcaalcr). Fig. 5 is the Kmne or whal Plate 5, Fig. (), is the Tl-ham-kosttm or frog. Fig. 7 is th(! TIthnnd or skate. Fig. 8, mama-ihlon-kma or humming bird. Plate ;], Fig. !), is the fish eagle {Kout). This drawingwas made by Gencskclos, the painter and tattooer of the tribe. Plate (), Fig. 10, is the Cldmose or Tchlvwtc, a fabnlous animal supposed to drift about in the ocean like a log of wood, floating perpendicularly, and believed by the Ilaidahs to be very destructive to canoes or to Indians who may fall into its clutches. The tahln-slcUlik or hat shown in the drawing indicates this aninud to belong to the genii or more powerful of these mythologi . beings. Fig. 11 is the crow, ironi/cJi. This is sometimes drawn "ith a double head. Fig. 12 is the bear, IToorts. iMg. 13 is a young skate, the BlUacItie of the Makahs and tiie Chcctl-a of the Ilaid'idis. The young skate has on each side of its body an elliptical brown spot surrounded by a ring of bright yellow, and a brown ring outside of all. As the skiite grows large this spot disappears. I have noticed it only on very small ones, and the Ilaidahs infcn-nied me that it is from this pecidiar spot that they got their elliptical designs, which are to be seen in many of their paintings, and particularly in Fig. 12. Figs. 14, 15, and IG (Plate 7), representing the Skamaom or thunder bird, squid 6 THE IIAIDAH INDIANS OF ll (oc/opm), noo, ai/d the frog, T l-lMm-hoata.i, were copied f'om the tattooed marks on Kitkagens; the akamson ox slamaquin on L.s buck, the mm on front of each thigh, and tlie Tl-ham-kostan on each ankle. Tlie designs which 1 have copied and described are but a portion of the wliole which were tatt<.oed on th ; persons of this party; bnt tlie limited time they remained did not enable me to make a very extended examination. Enough, however, hag been obtained to show tliat this subject is on. of great ethnological value, and if followed up with zeal and intelligence would be certain to produce interesting results. The method by which I detcrmin-^d with accuracy the meaning of these various carvings and tattoo designs was by natural ol j.'cts, by alcoholic specinunis of frogs and crayiisli, by dried specimens, by carvings of bears and seals, and by pictures, and by the mythological drawings of similar objects which I had previously obtained and dc^tcnnined among the ^fakahs. The llaidahs, in explaining to mo tlie meaning of their viirious designs, pointed to the articles I had, and tlius proved to me what they meant to represent. The tattoo marks of the codfish, squid, humming-bird, etc., never could have been determined from any resemblance to those objects, bnt by having the spe- cimens and pictures before me they could easily poiui each one out. Nor was I satisfied imtil I had submitted my drawings to other Indians, and proved by their giving the same ULmes to each, that my fiist hiformant liad told me correctly. The allegorical meaning, however, will retpiire for determination time and car"fnl study. Indians are very peculiar in giving information relative to their myths and allegories. Even when one is well accpiainted with them and has their confidence, much caution is required, and it is useless to attcMnpt to obtain any reliable infor- mation unless they are in the humor of imparting it. 1 have observed another peculiarity among the llaidalis. They do not seem to have any particular standard style of drawing their figures ; consequently, unless a person is familiar enough with the general idea to be conveyed, it woidd be diffi- cult to determine tUe moaning either of a carving or drawing, unless the Indian was present to explain what he intended to represent, For instance. Figs. 6 and IC are drawn by two diff"erent Indians, and both represent the frog. The bear, beaver, and Wasko or wol.*", are different in the carvnigs from the tattoo designs, and so of other tattoo figures. Si ill, there are certain pecidiarities which, once known, wiil enable one readily to determine what the correct meaning is. I have even known the Indmns them.-.elves to be at a loss to tell tln^ meaning of a design. I will cite one instance illustrative of this. One of the llaidahs brought me a bone which he had rudely carved to resemble an animal ; I pronounced it without hesitation to be a lizard. He said he would leav it with me till the next day, and would then tell me what it was. I showed it to several Indians in the mean time, and they 'iionght as I did, tinit it was a lizard or newt. Any person on the Atlantic coa,-'*; would have pronoimced it an alligator. After v.'o had exhausted our guessing, the Indian wlio carved it - ;i;d it was an otter, and pointed to its teeth which were the only distinguishing features to prove that it was not a lizard or a crocodile. The carvings of the pillars are thought by many persons to rescndjle Chinese or m QUEEN CHARLOTTE'S ISLANDS, BRITISH COLUMBIA. Japanese work, and in order to satisfy myself upon that point, I showed the carvings to a party of very intelligent Japanese who visited Port Townsend several months since. They examined them carefnlly and critically, and pronounced them entirely unlike anything thople. I have seen similar carvings by tlie natives of the Feejee Tslands, but on the northwest coast they are confined almost exclusively to the Haidahs on Queen Charlotte's Island, and to the Chimseans on the mainland. The carvings I particularly allude to are those representing several figures one above the oth'.r, as shown by the sketches and photographs of the carved posts or pillars placed before the entrances to their houses. The limited time the Haidahs were at Port Townsend did not enable me to ascer- tain the origin of this system of carving, or of their custom of tattooing their bodies ; what little information I did obtain was given with evident reluctance ; but, as we became more acquainted and they began to understand what my object was in obtaining information, they became more communicative, and promised me that, this present summer (1874) they would again be here and would bring more carvings and would give me all the information I wished. Plate No. 2, fig. 8, show;, a tattoo design of a halibut, and a painting on a buckskin cape representing the thunder bird of the Sitka Indians, worn by a medi- cine man during his incantations. The belief in the thunder bird is common with all the tribes of the northwest coast, and is pictured by each tribe according to their fancy. I have traced this allegory from the Chenooks, at the mouth of the Coinmbia, through all the coast tribes to Sitka. The general idea is the same throughout ; it is a belief in a super- natural being of gigantic stature, who resides in the mountains and has a human form. When he wi.shcs for food he covers himself v.'ith wings and feathers as one would put on a cloak. Thus accoutred, he sails forth in search of prey. His body is of such enormous size that it darkens the heavens, and the rustling of his wings produces thunder. The lightning is produced by a fish, like the Ilypocampus, which he gets from the ocean and hides among his feathers. AN'hen he sees a whale he darts one of these animals dcwn with great velocity, and the lightning is produced by the creature's tongue, which is supposed to be like that of the serpent. This is the general idea of the mythological legend, slightly altered in the narrative by different tribes and difix-rently depicted by various painters. The Haidahs seem to have the greatest variety of designs, and they seem to be :he principal tribe who tattoo themselves to any extent. Where they acquired the practice or from whom it was learned, it will be difficult to determine. This is an interesting ethnological question, and worthy of further investigation. Among other customs of the Haidahs which I observed 's the practice of gambling, which is common among all the North American Indians. In my paper on the Indians of Cape Flattery, published by the Smithsonian Institution (No. 220), I have given an account of the gambling implements of the Makahs, which consist of circular disks of wood, highly polished and marked on wiiraT r? fHfii -"■-"— r" 8 THE n AID A II INDIANS OF ;he edges to designate their value. Tlie Haiddis, instead of disks, use sticks or Bieces of wood four or five inches long, and a quarter of an inch thick. Ihese ;tick9 are rounded and beautifully polished. They are made of yew, and each stick has some designating mark upon it. There is one stick entirely colored and one entirely plain. Each player will have a bunch of forty or fifty of these sticks, and each will select either of the plain sticks as his favorite, just as in backgammon or checkers the players select the black or white pieces. The Indian about to play, takes up a handful of these sticks, and, putting them under a quantity of finely-separated cedar bark, which is as fine as tow and kept constantly near him, he divides the pins into two parcels which he wraps up in the bark and passes them rapidly from hand to hand under the tow, and finally moves them round on the ground or mat on which the players are always seated, still wrapped in the fine bark, buc not covered by the tow. His opponent watches every move that is made from the very first with the eagerness of a cat, and finally, by a motion of his finger, i>-.aic:ites whicli of the parcels the winning stick is in. The player, upon. such indication, shakes the sticks out of the bark, and with much display and skill throws them one by one into the space between the players till the pijce wanted is reached, or else, if it is not there, to show t!iat the game is his. The winner takes one or more sticks from his opponent's pile, and the game is decided when one wins all the sticks of the other. As neither of the players can see the assortment of the sticks, the game is as fair for one as the other, and is as simple in reality as "odd or even" or any child's game. But the ceremony of manipulation and sorting the sticks under the bark tow gives the game an appearance of as much real importance as some of the skilful combinations of white gamblers. The tribos nortli of Vancouver's Island, so far as my observation has extended, use this style of sticks in gambling, while the Selish or Flat-heads use the disks. Some persons have termed this game Odd and Even, and others have designated it Jack Straws: but tl;e game as played by the Haidahs is as I have described it. Kitkun, the chief whom I have alluded to, came to my office one day with one of his tribe, and took quite an interest in explaining the game. The two men played slowly at first, the Chief explaining as the game proceeded, till finally they ])lay('d with their usual earnestness and rapidity, and I found that the game, with its accompaniment of singing and beating time, was quite as exciting and as inter- esting as any Indian game I ever witnessed. Sometimes the game is played between only two persons, it otlie^ times a dozen may be seen seated on each side, particularly when different bands meet. Then the excitement is intense, and the game is kept up day and niglit without intermission, and some Indians lose every- thing they possess, and -come out of the play stark naked and remain in a state of nudity till some friend gives them a blanket or an old shirt. It is probable that the llaidahs have other gambling games, but I have seen only this kind, and the game wliich Kitkun explaiaed to me was played with a bunch of sticks which I obtained in Sitka, sliowing that the northern tribes have the same game with sticks, in common, as the Selish or Flat-head Indian tribes have a common game with disks. QUEEN CHARLOTTE'S ISLANDS, BRITISH COLUMBIA. The Haidah Indians have another custom which I have not ohsorvcd among any of the tribes of tlie northwest coast, with the exception of these people. It is the practice of cremiitioii or burning the bodies of any of their friends who may die while absent from their homes. An instance of this kind came under my obser- vation at Port Townsend, W. T., on Sunday, March 29th, 1874. A large party of men, Avomen, and children, numbering about one hundred and fifty persons, had been encamped for a couple of weeks on the beach. One of the men who had been at work at the saw-mill in Port Discoverv, some seven or eiKht miles distant from Port Townsend, had died there, and his body had beer, brought around to Port Townsend. On the morning of the day named, the party broke up their camp and moved in slow procession in six large canoes to Point Wilson, near Port Townsend, where a pile of drift logs was formed into a sort of altar and the body placed upon it, and the whole reduced to ashes; the women singing their death songs, amid bowlings, beating of tambourines, and other savage dis- plays. When tlie whole was burned, one old woman gathered the charred bones and placed them in a box, and the -whole party left for Victoria, British Columbia, on their way home to Queen Charlotte's Islands. I asked one of the Indians why they burned the body. He replied that if they buried it in a strange land their enemies would dig it up and make charms with it to destroy the Haidah tribe. This is the only instance of the kind which has come under my own immediate observation, but I have been informed by other persons that they have observed the same practice on other occasions, but I am not prepared to say whether cremation is a general custom among the Haidahs, or only conf "led to particular cases like the one I have described. The Haidahs are one of the most interesting tribes I have met with on the northwest coast. Their insular position and the marked difference in their manners and customs from the Indians of the mainland give me reason to think that very interesting and valuable results in ethnology can be had by a thorough investigation among the villages on the islands. Their carved images, their manufactures in wood and stone, and in silver ornaments, and other evidences of their present skill, and the rich stores of material of a former age to be found in the shell heap re;r*ins, are matters well worthy of the careful consideration of those who desire to make up a history of the coast tribes of the northwest. British Columbia is, as it were, sandwiched between Alaska and Washington Territory, and a description of the coast Indians from the Cohunbia River to the Siberian borders, cannot be complete without including the Indians of Vancouver's Island, Queen Charlotte's Islands, and the adjacent mainland, I am of the opinion that it will be found more economical and attended with better and more satisfactory results, to have such investigations pursued by persons resident on the northwest coast, rather than to entrust them to the very limited visits of scientific expeditions. Investigations of this kind require time and care- ful study before correct results can be arrived at. A knowledge of the habits, mnuners, and customs of the natives, and a general understanding of the language, is of the first importance. The person making the investigation should be his own interpreter, and these requisites can be 2 M«7. 1874. I?' 10 THE iT AID A II INDIANS OP attained only by a long residence and observation among tliese Indians. The im- pressions of casual travellers are not always reliable, nor are the interpreters who generally accompany scientific expeditions always capable of understanding cor- rectly what they are required to translate. It is interesting to read the reports and observadons of the early voyages of Cook, La Perouse, Portlock and Dixon, Marchand, and others who have visited Queen Charlotte's Island, and see how little they really knew or understood about these natives. Tlie best account thit I have seen, and that is but a meagre one, is in Alar- chand's Voyage Hound the World, performed during the years 1770 '71, '72, in the " Solidr," a ship fitted out in France for the purpose of trading on the Northwest coast of America. But Marchand and all the other early voyagers labored under a very great difficulty ; they did not mulerstand the language of the natives, and their only means of intercourse was by signs. Hence we find the accounts of the voyages of every nation, Spanisli, Portuguese, French, and English, full of theories, and scarce any two alike. 'Wlicn the narrators confine themselves to descriptions of things which they saw, SMch as the dwellings, carvings, canoes, and other manufactures, and the usual appearance of the natives, their accounts generally agree; but when they commence to fori' hypotheses on imaginary mean- ings of the tilings they saw, they arc lamentably at fault. The following description of a house at Cloak Bay, on North Island, the most northerly island of the group, gives a general idea of a Ilaidah house of the pre- sent day. I quote from Marchand : — " The form of these habitations is that of a regular parallelogram, from forty- five to fifty feet in front, by thirty-five in depth. Six, eight, or ten posts, cut and pliinted in the ground on each front, form tlie enclosuie of a habitation, and are fastened together by planks ten inches in width, by three or four in thickness, which are solidly joined to the posts by tenons and mortises ; the enclosures, six or s{>\en feet high, are surmounted by a roof, a little sloped, tlie summit of which is raised from ten to twelve feet above the ground. These enclosures and the roofing are faced witii planks, each of which is about two feet wide. In the middle of the roof is made a la'ge square opening, which afl'ords, at once, both entrance to the light, and issue to the smoke. There are also a few small windows open on the sides. These houses have two stories, altnough one only is visible, the second is under ground, or rather its upper part or ceiling is oven with the surface of the place in which the posts are driven. It consists of a cellar about five feet in depth, dug in the inside of the habitation, at the distance of six feet from the walls tluougliout the whole of the circumference. The descent to it is by three or four steps made in the platform of earth which is reserved between the foundations of the walls and the cellar; and these steps of earth well beaten, are cased with planks which prevent the soil from falling in. Beams laid across, and covered with thick planks, form the upper floor of this subterraneous story, which preserves from moisture the upp(T story, whose floor is on a level with the ground. This cellar is the winter habitation." The entrance door of their edifices is thus described : — QUKEN CHARLOTTE'S ISLANDS, BRITISH COLUMBIA 11 "This door, the threshold of which is about a foot and a half above the ground, is of an elliptical f.gure ; the gresit diameter, which is given by the height of the opening, is not more than tliree feet, and the small diameter, or the breadth, is rot more than two. This opening is made in the thickness of a large trunk of a tree which rises perpendicularly in the middle of one of the fronts of the habitation, and occupies the whole of its height; it imitates the form of a gaping human moath, or rather tliat of a beast, and it is surmounted by a hooked nose about two feet in length proportioned in i)oint of size to the monstrous face to which it belongs. ♦ * * * Over the door is the figure of a man carved, in a crouching attitude, and above this figure rises a gigantic statue of a man erect, which termi- nates the sculpture and the decoration of the portal. The head of this statue is dressed with a cap in the form of a sugar-loaf, the height of which is almost equal to that of the figure itself. On the parts of the surface which are not occupied by the capital subjects, are interspersed carved figures of frogs or toads, lizards, and other animals." This description by Marquand is that of the houses of the present inhabitants. The hooked nose mentioned is the SiMmsqnin or eagle; and the sugar-loaf hat is the Tudn skillik. If INIarquand had been able to procure the services of a skilled interpreter, he and his officers could have ascertained the true meaning of these emblems as easily as I have done; but not being able to exchange ideas with the natives, they came to their conclusions, and framed their theories by a series of guesses; and as all the early explorers formed their theories of the Indians upon the same lucid basis, it is not to be wondered at that so much of er^or has found place in all their narratives. It is, however, a source of surprise, that, since the time of those old voyagers, a lapse of nearly a century, no one has attempted to give a description of those islanders, or to explain the simple meaning of their devices. The .;ucen Charlotte's group presents to-day as fresh a field for the ethnologist and arcut^olo- gist as if no explorers had ever set foot upon their shores. Of the extent and nature of these carvings, Marquand adds:— "These works of sculpture cannot undoubtedly be compared in any respect to the master-pieces of ancient Greece and Rome. But can we avoid being astonished to find them so numerous on an island which is not, perhaps, more than six leagues in circumference, where popiUation is not extensive, and among a nation of hunters f The writer was alluding to North Island, one of the smallest of the group; and when it is remembered that in every village on every one of the islands of the group these sculptures are quite as abundant, some idea can be formed of the number to be seen on Queen Charlotte's Islands. "Is not our astonishment increased," adds Marquand, "when we consider the progress these people have made in architecture "? What instinct, or, rather, what genius, it has required to conceive and execute solidly, without the knowledge of the succors by which mechanism makes up for the weakness of the improved man, those edifices, those heavy frames of buildings of fifty feet in extent by eleven in elevation ! Men who choose not to be astonished at anything will say, the beaver alr.o builds his house; yes, but he does not adorn it; nature, however, has given the beavtr the instru- 12 THE HAIDAH INDIANS OP meat necessary for building it; she has certainly placed the man of the forest in the middle of the materials with which to construct his ; but he has been under the necessity of creating the varying tools without which he could not employ those materials. A sharp stone, hafted on a branch of a tree, the bone of a quad- ruped, the bone of one fish, and the rough skin of another, form instruments more fit to exercise patience than to help industry, and which would have been ineffectual in seconding his efforts, if fire which he discovered, and the action of which he learnt to regulate and direct, had not come to the assistance of his genius, and of the art which he executes through the impulse of genius." When we examine tlie whole of the operations necessary for constructing and ornamenting one of the edifices which I have just described, when we reflect ou this assemblage of useful arts, and of those which are merely agreeable, we are forced to acknowledge that these arts have not taken birth ou the small islands wliorc they arc cultivated ; they come froni a greater distance. Marquand observes that " the distinction between the winter and summer habita- tions of the Queen Charlotte Islanders, recalls to mind the custom of the Kamt- schadales, who have their hulmjans for summer and tlieir jourts for winter ; the former erected on posts or pillars, twelve or thirteen feet in height, and the latter duj; in the Lnound and covered with a roof: it is even remarked that some of the hala