On the east side of Vancouver was a village of thirty-four houses, arranged in regular streets. The house of the leader 'was distinguished by three rafters of stout timber raised above the roof, according to the architecture of Nootka, though much inferior to those I had there seen, in point of size.' Bed-rooms were separated, and more decency observed than at Nootka Sound. Vancouver's Voy., vol. i., pp. 346-7, with a view of this village; also pp. 324-5, description of the village on Desolation Sound; p. 338, on Valdes Island; p. 326, view of village on Bute Canal; and vol. iii., pp. 310-11, a peculiarity not noticed by Cook – 'immense pieces of timber which are raised, and horizontally placed on wooden pillars, about eighteen inches above the roof of the largest houses in that village; one of which pieces of timber was of a size sufficient to have made a lower mast for a third rate man of war.' See Cook's Voy. to Pac., vol. ii., pp. 281, 313-19, and Atlas, plate 40. A sort of a duplicate inside building, with shorter posts, furnishes on its roof a stage, where all kinds of property and supplies are stored. Sproat's Scenes, pp. 37-43. 'The planks or boards which they make use of for building their houses, and for other uses, they procure of different lengths, as occasion requires, by splitting them out, with hard wooden wedges from pine logs, and afterwards dubbing them down with their chizzels.' Jewitt's Nar., pp. 52-4. Grant states that the Nootka houses are palisade inclosures formed of stakes or young fir-trees, some twelve or thirteen feet high, driven into the ground close together, roofed in with slabs of fir or cedar. Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxvii., p. 299. The Teets have palisaded enclosures. Anderson, in Hist. Mag., vol. vii., p. 74. 'The chief resides at the upper end, the proximity of his relatives to him being according to their degree of kindred.' Macfie's Vanc. Isl., pp. 443-4; Dunn's Oregon, p. 243; Belcher's Voy., vol. i., p. 112; Lord's Nat., vol. i., pp. 158, 164-5, 167, 320-21; Seemann's Voy. of Herald, vol. i., pp. 105-6. The carved pillars are not regarded by the natives as idols in any sense. Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, pp. 128-9, 102; Barrett-Lennard's Trav., pp. 47, 73-4. Some houses eighty by two hundred feet. Colyer, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1869, p. 533; Mayne's B. C., p. 296; Gordon's Hist. and Geog. Mem., pp. 120-1.
290
'Their heads and their garments swarm with vermin, which, … we used to see them pick off with great composure, and eat.' Cook's Voy. to Pac., vol. ii., p. 305. See also pp. 279-80, 318-24. 'Their mode of living is very simple – their food consisting almost wholly of fish, or fish spawn fresh or dried, the blubber of the whale, seal, or sea-cow, muscles, clams, and berries of various kinds; all of which are eaten with a profusion of train oil.' Jewitt's Nar., pp. 58-60, 68-9, 86-8, 94-7, 103. Sproat's Scenes, pp. 52-7, 61, 87, 144-9, 216-70. 'The common business of fishing for ordinary sustenance is carried on by slaves, or the lower class of people; – While the more noble occupation of killing the whale and hunting the sea-otter, is followed by none but the chiefs and warriors.' Meares' Voy., p. 258. 'They make use of the dried fucus giganteus, anointed with oil, for lines, in taking salmon and sea-otters.' Belcher's Voy., vol. i., pp. 112-13. Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, pp. 17, 26, 45-6, 59-60, 76, 129-30, 134-5; Grant, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxvii., pp. 299-300; Mayne's B. C., pp. 252-7; Macfie's Vanc. Isl., pp. 165-442; Simpson's Overland Journ., vol. i., p. 239; Pemberton's Vanc. Isl., pp. 28-32; Dunn's Oregon, p. 243; Mofras, Explor., tom. ii., p. 338. The Sau-kau-lutuck tribe 'are said to live on the edge of a lake, and subsist principally on deer and bear, and such fish as they can take in the lake.' Lord's Nat., vol. i., pp. 158-9; Barrett-Lennard's Trav., pp. 48, 74-5, 76-7, 85-6, 90-1, 144-50, 197-8; vol. ii., p. 111; Cornwallis' New El Dorado, p. 100; Forbes' Vanc. Isl., pp. 54-5; Rattray's Vanc. Isl., pp. 77-8, 82-3; Hud. Bay Co., Rept. Spec. Com., 1857, p. 114.
291
Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, pp. 57, 63, 78; Jewitt's Nar., pp. 78-81; Vancouver's Voy., vol. i., p. 307; Macfie's Vanc. Isl., p. 443; Cox's Adven., vol. i., p. 100. 'The native bow, like the canoe and paddle, is beautifully formed. It is generally made of yew or crab-apple wood, and is three and a half feet long, with about two inches at each end turned sharply backwards from the string. The string is a piece of dried seal-gut, deer-sinew, or twisted bark. The arrows are about thirty inches long, and are made of pine or cedar, tipped with six inches of serrated bone, or with two unbarbed bone or iron prongs. I have never seen an Aht arrow with a barbed head.' Sproat's Scenes, p. 82. 'Having now to a great extent discarded the use of the traditional tomahawk and spear. Many of these weapons are, however, still preserved as heirlooms among them.' Barrett-Lennard's Trav., p. 42. 'No bows and arrows.' 'Generally fight hand to hand, and not with missiles.' Fitzwilliam's Evidence, in Hud. Bay Co. Rept., 1857, p. 115.
292
The Ahts 'do not take the scalp of the enemy, but cut off his head, by three dexterous movements of the knife … and the warrior who has taken most heads is most praised and feared.' Sproat's Scenes, pp. 186-202. 'Scalp every one they kill.' Macfie's Vanc. Isl., p. 470, 443, 467. One of the Nootka princes assured the Spaniards that the bravest captains ate human flesh before engaging in battle. Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, p. 130. The Nittinahts consider the heads of enemies slain in battle as spolia opima. Whymper's Alaska, pp. 54, 78; Jewitt's Nar., pp. 120-1; Lord's Nat., vol. i., pp. 155-6, 158, 166, 171, vol. ii., p. 251-3. Women keep watch during the night, and tell the exploits of their nation to keep awake. Meares' Voy., p. 267. Vancouver's Voy., vol. i., p. 396; Grant, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxvii., p. 296; Mayne's B. C., p. 270; Barrett-Lennard's Trav., pp. 41-2, 129-36.
293
'They have no seats… The rowers generally sit on their hams, but sometimes they make use of a kind of small stool.' Meares' Voy., pp. 263-4. The larger canoes are used for sleeping and eating, being dry and more comfortable than the houses. Cook's Voy. to Pac., vol. ii., pp. 319, 327, and Atlas, pl. 41. 'The most skillful canoe-makers among the tribes are the Nitinahts and the Klah-oh-quahts. They make canoes for sale to other tribes.' 'The baling-dish of the canoes, is always of one shape – the shape of the gable-roof of a cottage.' Sproat's Scenes, pp. 85, 87-8; Mayne's B. C., p. 283, and cut on title-page. Canoes not in use are hauled up on the beach in front of their villages. Grant, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxvii., p. 301. 'They keep time to the stroke of the paddle with their songs.' Jewitt's Nar., pp. 69-71, 75; Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, pp. 39, 133; Lord's Nat., vol. i., p. 144; Vancouver's Voy., vol. i., p. 338. Their canoes 'are believed to supply the pattern after which clipper ships are built.' Macfie's Vanc. Isl., pp. 484, 430. Barrett-Lennard's Trav., p. 50. Colyer, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1869, p. 533.
294
Cook's Voy. to Pac., vol. ii., pp. 271, 308, 316, 326, 329-30. Sproat's Scenes, pp. 86-9, 317; Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, p. 129; Lord's Nat., vol. ii., pp. 257-8, which describes a painted and ornamented plate of native copper some one and a half by two and a half feet, kept with great care in a wooden case, also elaborately ornamented. It was the property of the tribe at Fort Rupert, and was highly prized, and only brought out on great occasions, though its use was not discovered. Macfie's Vanc. Isl., p. 165.
