WARFARE 361

marks of the tragedy and then returned home, hoping that suspicion
would not fall on them.

As time went on, the people in Rivers Inlet began to worry at lack ot
news from the hunters. A passing traveller reported having seen smoke
on Virgin Rocks, and this reassured them temporarily, but when several
months had passed a search-party was sent out. One of the crew was a
Carrier who had married a Rivers Inlet woman and had long resided there,
but had not forgotten his knowledge of all that pertained to woodcraft.
On arrival at the island, they found the canoe of the missing party drawn
up on the beach above high tide, although there was no trace of their
friends. The Carrier went ahead to investigate, warning his comrades
to remain at a distance. He found the marks of buck-shot, smoothed
over as if to obliterate them, but not sufficiently effaced to hide them
from his sharp eyes. This attempt at concealment indicated foul play,
and the Carrier called his companions and pointed out the signs to them.
None of the sea-lion hunters had carried ammunition of this kind, but it
was known that some Kitkatla had been in the vicinity about the time
of the disappearance and were armed therewith. Asa matter of fact, the
marks were actually those of the shot with which 9a’ak/is had been killed.
The Carrier next found potato peelings, trodden into the earth by boots;
none of the hunters had taken foot-wear with them, but it was known that
such had been worn by the Kitkatla. Having made these discoveries, the
search-party returned home. Foul play was suspected; everything indi-
cated that it had not been a struggle between members of the same party,
but there was too little evidence to convict the Kitkatla.

A few weeks later a Bella Bella chief happened to be in Rivers Inlet
and told the people that he had met a Kitkatla canoe returning north-
wards with two coffins. He had asked who were dead, but though they
told him, he judged that the party had been engaged in some illegal opera-
tion from their reticence concerning the cause of death. Still later, a
young Bella Coola travelled to Vancouver on the steamboat with a
Kitkatla who told him of the slaughter, ignorant of his confidant’s tribe.
Finally, the Kitkatla half-breed, who had opposed the killing, began to
drop hints of what had happened. In former times this would have led
to war, but the evidence was not conclusive enough for a court of justice.
The Kitkatla informed their Indian Agent that they feared an attack
from the Rivers Inlet and Bella Coola, and asked him to lead a peace
delegation to the former’s village. He did so,!° much to the surprise of
the missionary established there. The conference led to nothing; the
Kitkatla denied all knowledge of the fate of the missing hunters, but the
suspicions of the Rivers Inlet and Bella Coola were increased rather than

“No attempt was made to verify this statement from official documents.