CHAPTER III.

NAMES AND RESPECTIVE LOCATIONS OF THE VARIOUS
TRIBES IN THE 18tH AND 19th CENTURIES. _

These tribes may be classified as :—
(i.) Those living on the North-west Coast—
The Haida, Tsimshian, Kwakiutl, Nootka, Bella Coola, and
Coast Salish.
(ii.) Tribes in the Interior between the mouth of the Fraser River and
the Rocky Mountains—
(a.) The Interior Salish, which include the Thompson, Lillooet,
Shuswap, and Okanagan.
(b.) The Kootenay.
(iii.) Tribes of Athapaskan origin, occupying the northern plateau of
the Interior—

The Chilcotin, Carrier, Tsetsaut, Tahltan, and Sekani.

(i.) THE TRIBES OF THE NORTH-WEST COAST.

(1.) Pride of place is usually given to the HAIDA of Queen Charlotte
Islands, for these people of the North-west Coast. were always powerful, and
their method of surprise attacks made by relatively large numbers enabled them
to loot and enslave their weaker brethren, dispossessing them of their fishing-
grounds and other valued possessions. ‘They were vigorous, overbearing, and
adventurous; expert navigators of their “dug-out” canoes, not only in the
raiding of their neighbours as far south as the farthest point of Vancouver Island,
but also in the hunting of sea mammals, from which they reaped a rich harvest. of
furs as well as food. Quick to assimilate from their nearest neighbours what
seemed to be desirable, they derived many advantages from the Tlingit of Alaska,
U.S.A., particularly in respect of artistic and trade developments. Their origin
is not yet definitely traced, but their ascendancy was possibly fostered by racial
qualities and by their location, which secured for them considerable immunity
from attack and an abundant supply of relatively easily obtainable food. They
were adaptive and keenly observant, possessed of a fine physique which attracted
the attention of early explorers.. Fray Juan Crespi, writing while a missionary
with Perez’s expedition (1760-1774), describes their ‘“ good-looking faces’ and
their long hair well combed and made into a braid, and their clothing reaching
almost to their heels, their well-woven cloth and the other objects that our men
secured from them of wood as well as of fibre and also of marble.” Many of-
these fine qualities are exhibited by the survivors of this tribe at the present day. __

(2.) The TSIMSHIAN occupied the valleys of the Nass and Skeena Rivers
and the islands as far south as Milbanke Sound. ‘They were the wealthiest of
all the Coast tribes, due to their geographical position, which gave them command
of the richest fisheries on the Coast, combined with access to the mountains, where
hunting added to their resources in more ways than one. Specially skilful in
trade they were the “ middlemen” of a large intertribal district. Described as
intelligent, muscular, and able-bodied, they appear to have been a grave people,
keen bargainers, with little appreciation of wit; self-composed and enduring;
pitiful to the poor and hungry. ‘Their artistic skill attained a higher level than
that of any of their neighbours, remarkable as this was. The fact that their

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