approach, except a few brave spirits, who boldly present their naked arms, from which he bites and swallows large mouthfuls. This, skillfully done, adds to the reputation of both biter and bitten, and is perhaps all the foundation that exists for the report that these people are cannibals; although Mr Duncan, speaking of the Chimsyans in a locality not definitely fixed, testifies to the tearing to pieces and actual devouring of the body of a murdered slave by naked bands of cannibal medicine-men. Only certain parties of the initiated practice this barbarism, others confining their tearing ceremony to the bodies of dogs.263MAGICIANS AND MEDICINE-MEN.
None of these horrible orgies are practiced by the Queen Charlotte Islanders. The performances of the Haidah magicians, so far as they may differ from those of the Nootkas have not been clearly described by travelers. The magicians of Chatham Sound keep infernal spirits shut up in a box away from the vulgar gaze, and possess great power by reason of the implicit belief on the part of the people, in their ability to charm away life. The doctor, however, is not beyond the reach of a kinsman's revenge, and is sometimes murdered.264 With their ceremonies and superstitions there seems to be mixed very little religion, as all their many fears have reference to the present life. Certain owls and squirrels are regarded with reverence, and used as charms; salmon must not be cut across the grain, or the living fish will leave the river; the mysterious operations with astronomical and other European instruments about their rivers caused great fear that the fisheries would be ruined; fogs are conjured away without the slightest suspicion of the sun's agency.265 European navigators they welcome by paddling their boats several times round the ship, making long speeches, scattering birds' down, and singing.266 Ordinary presents, like tobacco or trinkets, are gladly received, but a written testimonial is most highly prized by the Haidahs, who regard writing as a great and valuable mystery. They have absolutely no methods of recording events. Although living so constantly on the water, I find no mention of their skill in swimming, while Poole states expressly that they have no knowledge of that art.267
Very slight accounts are extant of the peculiar methods of curing diseases practiced by the Haidahs. Their chief reliance, as in the case of all Indian tribes, is on the incantations and conjurings of their sorcerers, who claim supernatural powers of seeing, hearing, and extracting disease, and are paid liberally when successful. Bark, herbs, and various decoctions are used in slight sickness, but in serious cases little reliance is placed on them. To the bites of the sorcerer-chiefs on the main, eagle-down is applied to stop the bleeding, after which a pine-gum plaster or sallal-bark is applied. On Queen Charlotte Islands, in a case of internal uneasiness, large quantities of sea-water are swallowed, shaken up, and ejected through the mouth for the purpose, as the natives say, of 'washing themselves inside out.'268
HAIDAH BURIALS.
Death is ascribed to the ill will and malign influence of an enemy, and one suspected of causing the death of a prominent individual, must make ready to die. As a rule, the bodies of the dead are burned, though exceptions are noted in nearly every part of the territory. In the disposal of the ashes and larger bones which remain unburned, there seems to be no fixed usage. Encased in boxes, baskets, or canoes, or wrapped in mats or bark, they are buried in or deposited on the ground, placed in a tree, on a platform, or hung from a pole. Articles of property are frequently deposited with the ashes, but not uniformly. Slaves' bodies are simply thrown into the river or the sea. Mourning for the dead consists usually of cutting the hair and blackening anew the face and neck for several months. Among the Kaiganies, guests at the burning of the bodies are wont to lacerate themselves with knives and stones. A tribe visited by Mackenzie, kept their graves free from shrubbery, a woman clearing that of her husband each time she passed. The Nass Indians paddle a dead chief, gaily dressed, round the coast villages.269
The Haidahs, compared with other North American Indians, may be called an intelligent, honest, and brave race, although not slow under European treatment to become drunkards, gamblers, and thieves. Acts of unprovoked cruelty or treachery are rare; missionaries have been somewhat successful in the vicinity of Fort Simpson, finding in intoxicating liquors their chief obstacle.270
THE NOOTKAS.
The Nootkas, the second division of the Columbian group, are immediately south of the Haidah country; occupying Vancouver Island, and the coast of the main land, between the fifty-second and the forty-ninth parallels. The word nootka is not found in any native dialect of the present day. Captain Cook, to whom we are indebted for the term, probably misunderstood the name given by the natives to the region of Nootka Sound.271 The first European settlement in this region was on the Sound, which thus became the central point of early English and Spanish intercourse with the Northwest Coast; but it was soon abandoned, and no mission or trading post has since taken its place, so that no tribes of this family have been less known in later times than those on the west coast of Vancouver Island. The chief tribes of the Nootka family, or those on whose tribal existence, if not on the orthography of their names authors to some extent agree, are as follows.272 The Nitinats, Clayoquots, and Nootkas, on the sounds of the same names along the west coast of Vancouver Island; the Quackolls and Newittees,273 in the north; the Cowichins, Ucletas, and Comux, on the east coast of Vancouver and on the opposite main; the Saukaulutuchs274, in the interior of the island; the Clallums,275Sokes, and Patcheena, on the south end; and the Kwantlums and Teets,276 on the lower Fraser River. These tribes differ but little in physical peculiarities, or manners and customs, but by their numerous dialects they have been classed in nations. No comprehensive or satisfactory names have, however, been applied to them as national divisions.277
Between the Nootka family and its fish-eating neighbors on the north and south, the line of distinction is not clearly marked, but the contrast is greater with the interior hunting tribes on the east. Since their first intercourse with whites, the Nootkas have constantly decreased in numbers, and this not only in those parts where they have been brought into contact with traders and miners, but on the west coast, where they have retained in a measure their primitive state. The savage fades before the superior race, and immediate intercourse is not necessary to produce in native races those 'baleful influences of civilization,' which like a pestilence are wafted from afar, as on the wings of the wind.278
NOOTKA PHYSIQUE.
The Nootkas are of less than medium height, smaller than the Haidahs, but rather strongly built; usually plump, but rarely corpulent;279 their legs, like those of all the coast tribes, short, small, and frequently deformed, with large feet and ankles;280 the face broad, round, and full, with the usual prominent cheek-bone, a low forehead, flat nose, wide nostrils, small black eyes, round thickish-lipped mouth, tolerably even well-set teeth; the whole forming a countenance rather dull and expressionless, but frequently pleasant.281 The Nootka complexion, so far as grease and paint have allowed travelers to observe it, is decidedly light, but apparently a shade darker than that of the Haidah family.282 The hair, worn long, is as a rule black or dark brown, coarse, and straight, though instances are not wanting where all these qualities are reversed.283 The beard is carefully plucked out by the young men, and this operation, repeated for
СКАЧАТЬ
<p>263</p>
Scouler, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 223; Duncan, in Mayne's B. C., pp. 285-8, and in Macfie's Vanc. Isl., pp. 434-7; White's Oregon, p. 246; Simpson's Overland Journ., vol. i., p. 205; Hutchings' Cal. Mag., Nov. 1860, pp. 222-8; Ind. Life, p. 68; Reed's Nar.; Anderson, in Hist. Mag., vol. vii., p. 79.
<p>264</p>
The Indians of Millbank Sound became exasperated against me, 'and they gave me the name of "Schloapes," i. e., "stingy:" and when near them, if I should spit, they would run and try to take up the spittle in something; for, according as they afterwards informed me, they intended to give it to their doctor or magician; and he would charm my life away.' Dunn's Oregon, pp. 246-7. See pp. 279-80; Poole's Q. Char. Isl., pp. 320-1.
<p>265</p>
Lord's Nat., vol. ii., pp. 32-4, 53-4; Dunn's Oregon, pp. 367, 274-5.
<p>266</p>
Vancouver's Voy., vol. ii., pp. 385-9.
<p>267</p>
Poole's Q. Char. Isl., pp. 109-10, 116; Anderson, in Lord's Nat., vol. ii., p. 242.
<p>268</p>
At about 52° 40´, between the Fraser River and the Pacific, Mackenzie observed the treatment of a man with a bad ulcer on his back. They blew on him and whistled, pressed their fingers on his stomach, put their fists into his mouth, and spouted water into his face. Then he was carried into the woods, laid down in a clear spot, and a fire was built against his back while the doctor scarified the ulcer with a blunt instrument. Voy., pp. 331-33; Dunn's Oregon, pp. 258, 284; Poole's Q. Char. Isl., pp. 316-18; Duncan, in Mayne's B. C., 289-91; Reed's Nar., in Olympia Wash. Stand., May 16, 1868.
<p>269</p>
At Boca de Quadra, Vancouver found 'a box about three feet square, and a foot and a half deep, in which were the remains of a human skeleton, which appeared from the confused situation of the bones, either to have been cut to pieces, or thrust with great violence into this small space.' … 'I was inclined to suppose that this mode of depositing their dead is practised only in respect to certain persons of their society.' Voy., vol. ii., p. 351. At Cape Northumberland, in 54° 45´, 'was a kind of vault formed partly by the natural cavity of the rocks, and partly by the rude artists of the country. It was lined with boards, and contained some fragments of warlike implements, lying near a square box covered with mats and very curiously corded down.' Id., p. 370; Cornwallis' New El Dorado, pp. 106-7. On Queen Charlotte Islands, 'Ces monumens sont de deux espèces: les premiers et les plus simples ne sont composés que d'un seul pilier d'environ dix pieds d'élévation et d'un pied de diamètre, sur le sommet duquel sont fixées des planches formant un plateau; et dans quelques-uns ce plateau est supporté par deux piliers. Le corps, déposé sur cette plate-forme, est recouvert de mousse et de grosses pierres' … 'Les mausolées de la seconde espèce sont plus composés: quatre poteaux plantés en terre, et élevés de deux pieds seulement au-dessus du sol portent un sarcophage travaillé avec art, et hermétiquement clos.' Marchand, Voy., tom. ii., pp. 135-6. 'According to another account it appeared that they actually bury their dead; and when another of the family dies, the remains of the person who was last interred, are taken from the grave and burned.' Mackenzie's Voy., p. 308. See also pp. 374, 295-98; Simpson's Overland Journ., vol. i., pp. 203-4; Dunn's Oregon, pp. 272, 276, 280; Mayne's B. C., pp. 272, 293; Lord's Nat., vol. ii., p. 235; Macfie's Vanc. Isl., pp. 440-41; Dall's Alaska, p. 417.
<p>270</p>
On the coast, at 52° 12´, Vancouver found them 'civil, good-humoured and friendly.' At Cascade Canal, about 52° 24´, 'in traffic they proved themselves to be keen traders, but acted with the strictest honesty;' at Point Hopkins 'they all behaved very civilly and honestly;' while further north, at Observatory Inlet, 'in their countenances was expressed a degree of savage ferocity infinitely surpassing any thing of the sort I had before observed,' presents being scornfully rejected. Voy., vol. ii., pp. 281, 269, 303, 337. The Kitswinscolds on Skeena River 'are represented as a very superior race, industrious, sober, cleanly, and peaceable.' Ind. Aff. Rept., 1869, p. 533. The Chimsyans are fiercer and more uncivilized than the Indians of the South. Sproat's Scenes, p. 317. 'Finer and fiercer men than the Indians of the South.' Mayne's B. C., p. 250. 'They appear to be of a friendly disposition, but they are subject to sudden gusts of passion, which are as quickly composed; and the transition is instantaneous, from violent irritation to the most tranquil demeanor. Of the many tribes … whom I have seen, these appear to be the most susceptible of civilization.' Mackenzie's Voy., p. 375, 322. At Stewart's Lake the natives, whenever there is any advantage to be gained are just as readily tempted to betray each other as to deceive the colonists. Macfie's Vanc. Isl., pp. 466-68, 458-59; Lord's Nat., vol. i., p. 174. A Kygarnie chief being asked to go to America or England, refused to go where even chiefs were slaves – that is, had duties to perform – while he at home was served by slaves and wives. The Sebassas 'are more active and enterprising than the Milbank tribes, but the greatest thieves and robbers on the coast.' Dunn's Oregon, p. 287, 273. 'All these visitors of Fort Simpson are turbulent and fierce. Their broils, which are invariably attended with bloodshed, generally arise from the most trivial causes.' Simpson's Overland Journ., vol. i., p. 206. The Kygarnies 'are very cleanly, fierce and daring.' The islanders, 'when they visit the mainland, they are bold and treacherous, and always ready for mischief.' Scouler, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 219. The Kygarnies 'are a very fierce, treacherous race, and have not been improved by the rum and fire-arms sold to them.' Dall's Alaska, p. 411. Queen Charlotte Islanders look upon white men as superior beings, but conceal the conviction. The Skidagates are the most intelligent race upon the islands. Wonderfully acute in reading character, yet clumsy in their own dissimulation… 'Not revengeful or blood-thirsty, except when smarting under injury or seeking to avert an imaginary wrong.' … 'I never met with a really brave man among them.' The Acoltas have 'given more trouble to the Colonial Government than any other along the coast.' Poole's Q. Char. Isl., pp. 83, 151-2, 185-6, 208, 214, 233, 235, 245, 257, 271-72, 289, 309, 320-21. 'Of a cruel and treacherous disposition.' Hale's Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 197. They will stand up and fight Englishmen with their fists. Sproat's Scenes, p. 23. Intellectually superior to the Puget Sound tribes. Reed's Nar. 'Mansos y de buena indole.' Crespi, in Doc. Hist. Mex., s. iv., vol. vi., p. 646. On Skeena River, 'the worst I have seen in all my travels.' Downie, in B. C. Papers, vol. iii., p. 73. 'As rogues, where all are rogues,' preëminence is awarded them. Anderson, in Hist. Mag., vol. vii., pp. 74-5.
<p>271</p>
'On my arrival at this inlet, I had honoured it with the name of King George's Sound; but I afterward found, that it is called Nootka by the natives.' Cook's Voy. to Pac., vol. ii., p. 288. 'No Aht Indian of the present day ever heard of such a name as Nootkah, though most of them recognize the other words in Cook's account of their language.' Sproat's Scenes, p. 315. Sproat conjectures that the name may have come from Noochee! Noochee! the Aht word for mountain. A large proportion of geographical names originate in like manner through accident.
'The Newatees, mentioned in many books, are not known on the west coast. Probably the Klah-oh-quahts are meant.' Sproat's Scenes, p. 314.
<p>274</p>
There are no Indians in the interior. Fitzwilliam's Evidence, in Hud. B. Co., Rept. Spec. Com., 1857, p. 115.
<p>275</p>
The same name is also applied to one of the Sound nations across the strait in Washington.
<p>276</p>
The Teets or Haitlins are called by the Tacullies, 'Sa-Chinco' strangers. Anderson, in Hist. Mag., vol. vii., pp. 73-4.
<p>277</p>
Sproat's division into nations, 'almost as distinct as the nations of Europe' is into the Quoquoulth (Quackoll) or Fort Rupert, in the north and north-east; the Kowitchan, or Thongeith, on the east and south; Aht on the west coast; and Komux, a distinct tribe also on the east of Vancouver. 'These tribes of the Ahts are not confederated; and I have no other warrant for calling them a nation than the fact of their occupying adjacent territories, and having the same superstitions and language.' Sproat's Scenes, pp. 18-19, 311. Mayne makes by language four nations; the first including the Cowitchen in the harbor and valley of the same name north of Victoria, with the Nanaimo and Kwantlum Indians about the mouth of the Fraser River, and the Songhies; the second comprising the Comoux, Nanoose, Nimpkish, Quawguult, etc., on Vancouver, and the Squawmisht, Sechelt, Clahoose, Ucle-tah, Mama-lil-a-culla, etc., on the main, and islands, between Nanaimo and Fort Rupert; the third and fourth groups include the twenty-four west-coast tribes who speak two distinct languages, not named. Mayne's Vanc. Isl., pp. 243-51. Grant's division gives four languages on Vancouver, viz., the Quackoll, from Clayoquot Sound north to C. Scott, and thence S. to Johnson's Strait; the Cowitchin, from Johnson's Strait to Sanetch Arm; the Tsclallum, or Clellum, from Sanetch to Soke, and on the opposite American shore; and the Macaw, from Patcheena to Clayoquot Sound. 'These four principal languages … are totally distinct from each other, both in sound, formation, and modes of expression.' Grant, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxvii., p. 295. Scouler attempts no division into nations or languages. Lond. Geo. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., pp. 221, 224. Mofras singularly designates them as one nation of 20,000 souls, under the name of Ouakich. Mofras, Explor., tom. ii., p. 343. Recent investigations have shown a somewhat different relationship of these languages, which I shall give more particularly in a subsequent volume.
<p>278</p>
See Sproat's Scenes, pp. 272-86, on the 'effects upon savages of intercourse with civilized men.' 'Hitherto, (1856) in Vancouver Island, the tribes who have principally been in intercourse with the white man, have found it for their interest to keep up that intercourse in amity for the purposes of trade, and the white adventurers have been so few in number, that they have not at all interfered with the ordinary pursuits of the natives.' Grant, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxvii., p. 303.
<p>279</p>
'Muy robustos y bien apersonados.' 'De mediana estatura, excepto los Xefes cuya corpulencia se hace notar.' Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, pp. 55, 124. 'The young princess was of low stature, very plump.' Vancouver's Voy., vol. i., p. 395. Macquilla, the chief was five feet eight inches, with square shoulders and muscular limbs; his son was five feet nine inches. Belcher's Voy., vol. i., pp. 110-12. The seaboard tribes have 'not much physical strength.' Poole's Q. Char. Isl., p. 73. 'La gente dicen ser muy robusta.' Perez, Rel. del Viage, MS., p. 20. 'Leur taille est moyenne.' Mofras, Explor., tom. ii., p. 343. 'In general, robust and well proportioned.' Meares' Voy., p. 249. Under the common stature, pretty full and plump, but not muscular – never corpulent, old people lean – short neck and clumsy body; women nearly the same size as the men. Cook's Voy. to Pac., vol. ii., pp. 301-3. 'Of smaller stature than the Northern Tribes; they are usually fatter and more muscular.' Scouler, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 221. In the north, among the Clayoquots and Quackolls, men are often met of five feet ten inches and over; on the south coast the stature varies from five feet three inches to five feet six inches. Grant, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxvii., p. 297. 'The men are in general from about five feet six to five feet eight inches in height; remarkably straight, of a good form, robust and strong.' Only one dwarf was seen. Jewitt's Nar., pp. 60-61. The Klah-oh-quahts are 'as a tribe physically the finest. Individuals may be found in all the tribes who reach a height of five feet eleven inches, and a weight of 180 pounds, without much flesh on their bodies.' Extreme average height: men, five feet six inches, women, five feet one-fourth inch. 'Many of the men have well-shaped forms and limbs. None are corpulent.' 'The men generally have well-set, strong frames, and, if they had pluck and skill, could probably hold their own in a grapple with Englishmen of the same stature.' Sproat's Scenes, pp. 22-3. 'Rather above the middle stature, copper-colored and of an athletic make.' Spark's Life of Ledyard, p. 71; Prichard's Researches, vol. v., p. 442. 'Spare muscular forms.' Barrett-Lennard's Trav., pp. 44; Gordon's Hist. and Geog. Mem., pp. 14-22.
<p>280</p>
Limbs small, crooked, or ill-made; large feet; badly shaped, and projecting ankles from sitting so much on their hams and knees. Cook's Voy. to Pac., vol. ii., pp. 301-3. 'Their limbs, though stout and athletic, are crooked and ill-shaped.' Meares' Voy., p. 250. 'Ils ont les membres inférieures légèrement arqués, les chevilles très-saillantes, et la pointe des pieds tournée en dedans, difformité qui provient de la manière dont ils sont assis dans leurs canots.' Mofras, Explor., tom. ii., pp. 343-4. 'Stunted, and move with a lazy waddling gait.' Macfie's Vanc. Isl., p. 428. 'Skeleton shanks … not much physical strength … bow-legged – defects common to the seaboard tribes.' Poole's Q. Char. Isl., pp. 73-4. All the females of the Northwest Coast are very short-limbed. 'Raro es el que no tiene muy salientes los tobillos y las puntas de los pies inclinadas hácia dentro … y una especie de entumecimiento que se advierte, particularmente en las mugeres.' Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, pp. 124, 30, 62-3. They have great strength in the fingers. Sproat's Scenes, p. 33. Women, short-limbed, and toe in. Id., p. 22; Mayne's B. C., pp. 282-3. 'The limbs of both sexes are ill-formed, and the toes turned inwards.' 'The legs of the women, especially those of the slaves, are often swollen as if oedematous, so that the leg appears of an uniform thickness from the ankle to the calf,' from wearing a garter. Scouler, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 221.
<p>281</p>
The different Aht tribes vary in physiognomy somewhat – 'faces of the Chinese and Spanish types may be seen.' 'The face of the Ahts is rather broad and flat; the mouth and lips of both men and women are large, though to this there are exceptions, and the cheekbones are broad but not high. The skull is fairly shaped, the eyes small and long, deep set, in colour a lustreless inexpressive black, or very dark hazel, none being blue, grey, or brown… One occasionally sees an Indian with eyes distinctly Chinese. The nose … in some instances is remarkably well-shaped.' 'The teeth are regular, but stumpy, and are deficient in enamel at the points,' perhaps from eating sanded salmon. Sproat's Scenes, pp. 19, 27. 'Their faces are large and full, their cheeks high and prominent, with small black eyes; their noses are broad and flat; their lips thick, and they have generally very fine teeth, and of the most brilliant whiteness.' Meares' Voy., pp. 249-50; Barrett-Lennard's Trav., p. 44. 'La fisonomia de estos (Nitinats) era differente de la de los habitantes de Nutka: tenian el cráneo de figura natural, los ojos chicos muy próximos, cargados los párpados.' Many have a languid look, but few a stupid appearance. Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, pp. 28, 30, 62-3, 124. 'Dull and inexpressive eye.' 'Unprepossessing and stupid countenances.' Poole's Q. Char. Isl., pp. 74, 80. The Wickinninish have 'a much less open and pleasing expression of countenance' than the Klaizzarts. The Newchemass 'were the most savage looking and ugly men that I ever saw.' 'The shape of the face is oval; the features are tolerably regular, the lips being thin and the teeth very white and even: their eyes are black but rather small, and the nose pretty well formed, being neither flat nor very prominent.' The women 'are in general very well-looking, and some quite handsome.' Jewitt's Nar., pp. 76, 77, 61. 'Features that would have attracted notice for their delicacy and beauty, in those parts of the world where the qualities of the human form are best understood.' Meares' Voy., p. 250. Face round and full, sometimes broad, with prominent cheek-bones … falling in between the temples, the nose flattening at the base, wide nostrils and a rounded point … forehead low; eyes small, black and languishing; mouth round, with large, round, thickish lips; teeth tolerably equal and well-set, but not very white. Remarkable sameness, a dull phlegmatic want of expression; no pretensions to beauty among the women. Cook's Voy. to Pac., vol. ii., pp. 301-2. See portraits of Nootkas in Belcher's Voy., vol. i., p. 108; Cook's Atlas, pl. 38-9; Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, Atlas; Whymper's Alaska, p. 75. 'Long nose, high cheek bones, large ugly mouth, very long eyes, and foreheads villainously low.' 'The women of Vancouver Island have seldom or ever good features; they are almost invariably pug-nosed; they have however, frequently a pleasing expression, and there is no lack of intelligence in their dark hazel eyes.' Grant, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxvii., pp. 297-8. 'Though without any pretensions to beauty, could not be considered as disagreeable.' Vancouver's Voy., vol. i., p. 395. 'Have the common facial characteristics of low foreheads, high cheek-bones, aquiline noses, and large mouths.' 'Among some of the tribes pretty women may be seen.' Mayne's B. C., p. 277.
<p>282</p>
'Her skin was clean, and being nearly white,' etc. Vancouver's Voy., vol. i., p. 395. 'Reddish brown, like that of a dirty copper kettle.' Some, when washed, have 'almost a florid complexion.' Grant, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxvii., pp. 297, 299. 'Brown, somewhat inclining to a copper cast.' The women are much whiter, 'many of them not being darker than those in some of the Southern parts of Europe.' The Newchemass are much darker than the other tribes. Jewitt's Nar., pp. 61, 77. 'Their complexion, though light, has more of a copper hue' than that of the Haidahs. Scouler, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 221. 'Skin white, with the clear complexion of Europe.' Meares' Voy., p. 250. The color hard to tell on account of the paint, but in a few cases 'the whiteness of the skin appeared almost to equal that of Europeans; though rather of that pale effete cast … of our southern nations… Their children … also equalled ours in whiteness.' Cook's Voy. to Pac., vol. ii., p. 303. 'Their complexion is a dull brown,' darker than the Haidahs. 'Cook and Meares probably mentioned exceptional cases.' Sproat's Scenes, pp. 23-4. 'Tan blancos como el mejor Español.' Perez, Rel. del Viage, MS., p. 20. 'Por lo que se puede inferir del (color) de los niños, parece menos obscuro que el de los Mexicanos,' but judging by the chiefs' daughters they are wholly white. Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, p. 125. 'A dark, swarthy copper-coloured figure.' Lord's Nat., vol. i., p. 143. They 'have lighter complexions than other aborigines of America.' Greenhow's Hist. Ogn., p. 116. 'Sallow complexion, verging towards copper colour.' Barrett-Lennard's Trav., pp. 44-6. Copper-coloured. Spark's Life of Ledyard, p. 71.
<p>283</p>
'The hair of the natives is never shaven from the head. It is black or dark brown, without gloss, coarse and lank, but not scanty, worn long… Slaves wear their hair short. Now and then, but rarely, a light-haired native is seen. There is one woman in the Opechisat tribe at Alberni who had curly, or rather wavy, brown hair. Few grey-haired men can be noticed in any tribe. The men's beards and whiskers are deficient, probably from the old alleged custom, now seldom practiced, of extirpating the hairs with small shells. Several of the Nootkah Sound natives (Moouchahts) have large moustaches and whiskers.' Sproat's Scenes, pp. 25-7. 'El cabello es largo lacio y grueso, variando su color entre rubio, obscuro, castaño y negro. La barba sale á los mozos con la misma regularidad que á los de otros paises, y llega á ser en los ancianos tan poblada y larga como la de los Turcos; pero los jóvenes parecen imberbes porque se la arrancan con los dedos, ó mas comunmente con pinzas formadas de pequeñas conchas.' Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, pp. 124-5, 57. 'Hair of the head is in great abundance, very coarse, and strong; and without a single exception, black, straight and lank.' No beards at all, or a small thin one on the chin, not from a natural defect, but from plucking. Old men often have beards. Eyebrows scanty and narrow. Cook's Voy. to Pac., vol. ii., pp. 301-3. 'Neither beard, whisker, nor moustache ever adorns the face of the redskin.' Lord's Nat., vol. i., p. 143; Jewitt's Nar., pp. 61, 75, 77. Hair 'invariably either black or dark brown.' Grant, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxvii., p. 297; Meares' Voy., p. 250; Mayne's B. C., pp. 277-8; Macfie's Vanc. Isl., p. 442; Spark's Life of Ledyard, p. 71.
