WARFARE 345

If the war had not been of long duration in which extremely
bitter feelings had been aroused, captives were often ran-
somed by their relatives, who came unmolested for the purpose
when the heat of battle had subsided. Failing this, prisoners re-
mained as slaves, the children especially growing up virtually
as members of their owner’s family as far as food and clothing
were concerned, though never sharing in the prowess of his
ancestral family. Torture or killing of prisoners seems to have
been a rare practice. One extremely old Kimsquit woman
related that in her childhood she had seen a captive stretched
out on the hot rocks at the side of the ocean, fastened there,
his testes crushed with stones, and allowed to die. No other
similar traditions could be obtained and it seems probable that
this must have been an unusual case. It is true that hostilities
have long ceased, but the Bella Coola have clear recollections
of other long-abandoned customs, and it is unlikely that torture
was ever a common occurrence. It is, of course, one about
which reticence is to be expected, but information would have
been obtainable if the custom had been common or if it had
been one which played an important part in the lives of the
Bella Coola.

Scalps were hung on a cord and dried like salmon, then
suspended as valuable trophies in the taker’s house. When
setting out on a war expedition, he would often cover his head
with one, holding it in position by weaving its hair into his own.
At a man’s death, they were either inherited by his heirs or,
more often, burnt with his other possessions. It is said that
the Fort Rupert people used to tie scalps in bundles to
their masks. When the Bella Coola went to war to retaliate
for a murder, instead of scalping a victim, they sometimes
brought back his whole head and impaled it on a stake over
the grave of the person avenged.

At this late period it is virtually impossible to form any
opinion as to the amount of bloodshed in wars waged by the
Bella Coola. Several of the older people spoke in gloating
terms of the slaughter accomplished by their ancestors, but all