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The letter of "A Subscriber" in reference to "Clarice " published in our last number, has been received. We have not yet had an opportunity of looking into the matter, but will do so before issue of next number. NEW BOOKS NOW READY. THE CANADIAN MONTHLY AND NATIONAL REVIEW. VOL. 6.] AUGUST, 1874. A "POTLATCH" AMONG OUR WEST COAST INDIANS. BY J. D. EDGAR. [No. 2. S OME readers of a Canadian magazine | possess a more gainly frame and countemay have become acquainted with the Red man as he appears upon his reserves of land throughout Ontario; but from that they can form no correct idea of his habits, polity, pastimes, and eccentric conduct generally, upon the Pacific coast of the Dominion. After being accustomed to see the Iroquois and kindred tribes, one cannot avoid contrasting their very form and appearance with the characteristics of the West Coast natives. The latter have broad, flatheads, set upon rather undersized bodies, which in their turn are supported by apologies for legs. The art of distortion has given shape to the head by means of continued pressure; while the art of navigation has for generations lessened the necessity for using the legs wherever the paddle could be made to do their work. The native American denizens of the wood, the plain, or the mountain, seem to nance than their fellow savages whose home is among the countless islands of the North Pacific Coast. Deer and buffalo furnish a more substantial article of diet than clams and salmon; and the efforts employed in the capture and assimilation of the one class of provisions may be more conducive to a good physical development than the simpler methods of securing the other. In April of this year there was a most favourable opportunity for observing the characteristics of the "Flat-Heads of the Pacific Coast," while engaged in carrying out an ancient and laudable custom. The rank of Ty-ee, or Chief, is still an object of lofty ambition among these people, although the temporal power attached to the office seems to be fast waning under the light of civil government and British laws. There may be some sort of hereditary claim to the rank, such as will give a son the first right to show himself a Across the snug little harbour, at a point where it narrows to about 200 yards in width, opposite the busiest of the wharves, there is an Indian Reserve of considerable extent. The ordinary residents number only about three hundred, and have been reduced from several thousands by the proximity of civilization, which means to them-whiskey, demoralization, and death. A few weeks ago I was looking through a large lodge in this reserve, when an intelligent young Indian complained to me in his broken English, that "long time ago plenty Indians in this house worthy successor of the paternal Ty-ee, but there are many other requisites to secure the acknowledgment of the dignity. The "claimant " must do more than prove that his mother had acknowledged him as the true heir. He must be a man of intelligence and eloquence. Formerly, he must also have been a proved and scalp-laden warrior. These accomplishments, however, would be all in vain, if the candidate neglected the greatest of all flat-head virtues, viz., the profuse giving away of gifts. Can there be in this rude custom or instinct of the poor savage-pagan and unbeliever-whiskey kill 'em-whiskey kill all my though he be-something that may be held to emulate the highest and brightest of Christian virtues, and fill his simple soul with a sense of attempting to do at least his duty towards his neighbour? It may be nothing more than an ignorant following of old traditions, yet it remains as a fact that to-day, among the despised Western aborigines, not only the rank of chief, but all other subordinate social positions, can alone be achieved and maintained by lavish public "benevolences." At irregular intervals, and in uncertain places, great gatherings are held, sometimes of many tribes, for a "potlatch," or gift distribution. These strange customs have had their origin in some dead past which no ray of historical light can ever penetrate; yet they are not without their lesson for those who, like Longfellow, when he sings his Indian legend, "Have faith in God and Nature, There are longings, yearnings, strivings The grandest affair of the kind that has been held upon Vancouver Island for many years, came off in April last, at Victoria. faders, all my modders, all my brodders, all my cousins." He also explained that liquor was sold every day by white men, and was very indignant about it, yet his zeal for temperance was somewhat questioned by me afterwards when he stood up, and turned out to be so very drunk himself that he could barely stagger along. The houses or lodges of the Coast Indians have been well described by Chief Justice Begbie, as “roomy and substantial, being a sort of one story card castle, (only firmly fastened,) of axehewn timber." They can accommodate a number of families, who sleep, cook, and live most harmoniously in the one large room. The different fires are lighted upon the floor of earth, and the smoke has to take its own chance of escaping from the domestic hearths through chinks or knotholes. It serves effectually to dry and smoke the fish and venison hanging from the rooftree, and does something to conceal the effluvia of varied repasts, and the indescribable "ancient and fish-like smell" that pervades the interior and vicinity of the lodges. The roofs are supported by strong posts, sometimes carved and painted most grotesquely. In the lodge of the Chief of the Songhees, at Victoria, there are a few curious carvings. This chief is known among whites as "Jim," and among his followers as Skomiax," or fir tree. Tall wooden figures, ten feet in height, are found there, tions, and it can not be considered difficult to trace out the idea which led the framers of the tongue to indicate the habits of the dusky maids of the forest by calling a mirror "She-look-um." To return to the carved figures in the lodge of Skomiax, which suggested this digression-we were lifting up the curtains with our walking-sticks when a gentleman with me asked an Indian, in Chinook, why they covered up the figures. He answered with a laugh, "Hy-as ty-ee (great chief) putten-on-airs!" My friend admitted the entire novelty of the expression, but we felt its force. with huge heads of superhuman aspect-the hair painted blue, the flesh red, and eyes white. In the arms of one monster, and crawling up his body, are huge black lizards or crocodiles. This animal does not certainly represent the crest, or totem, of Skomiax, but is probably a traditional symbol of stupendous import, which "Jim" delights to parade on rare and momentous occasions. The figures are set off by a coat of very fresh paint, and so much valued is this conglomeration of carving and sign-painting art by its proprietor, that the first time I saw it he had veiled the faces with pieces of calico. An incident occurred connected with these very calico curtains, that affords a curious illustration of the expansive and assimilating power of language. There is among the West Coast Indians a dialect of commerce that fills the place of interpreters between the white and red men, and even between the native tribes themselves. This is known as "Chinook," and is a jargon that would surprise philologists in its extraordinary power of expression, with an extremely limited vocabulary, and scarcely any grammatical inflections. It is neither Indian, French, nor English, but a curious combination of all-with an addition of eccentric words, that are probably the result of mere whim. I wish Max Müller had a good dictionary of it sent to him, and then heard the varied uses to which simple words are applied by changes of relative position and accentuation. He might be puzzled in reconciling this curious tongue with the latest theories of the origin of language. Few Indians understand English, and fewer whites understand the native languages, but almost every native can speak Chinook, and so can There are intervals during the time of all the whites who meet or trade with him. the festivities that are not employed in giftThe letter "r" is unknown in the language, making, and something of interest is always and when they adopt a French or English going on. The natives are inveterate gamword containing that letter, it is changed to blers, and although I have seen the Indians "1." As for instance, "lalam" is (( oar," playing cards in Nebraska and Utah, near evidently French, and "lope" is our "rope." the railway stations, yet the west-coast tribes Some of the words convey profound sugges-stick to their traditional game of "Lahal The Indians gathered to this Potlatch to the number of over two thousand, and came from the East Coast of the Island, and a few even from Puget Sound, in American Territory. The latter are called in Chinook, "Boston" Indians, as distinguished from British or "King George" Indians. They all belong to the tribes who speak the Songhee tongue, or are their ancient allies. They arrived in canoes, which, to the number of several hundred, were drawn up on shore. Some of their canoes are forty feet long, hollowed each out of a single tree, and with about five feet beam. The larger ones are fearlessly taken out many miles in the Pacific Ocean, carry a sail very well, and can live in almost any sea. They are of an entirely different model from the birch-bark canoe of the East, running up quite high fore and aft, and with beautiful lines. They are built in a faultless way, and always without either drawings or measurement-simply by the eye. It seems as if the canoe were a result of the same kind of instinct that teaches the bird to build her nest. |