NATIVE TRIBES. Zh

“the king of fishes.) Not far behind the salmon in importance was the
oolachan, often called the ‘‘ candle-fish ” on account of its high proportion of oil.

VARIED USES OF CEDAR.

Dependent as were these people on stone and bone tools, it was fortunate
that the wood of the cedar-tree is easily split, bent, or moulded by steam. It
was utilized for canoes, paddles, bailers, and fish-hooks. It formed the planks
from which houses were built, and from it were constructed storage-chests,
cradles, coffins, and every kind of domestic utensil, as well as the primitive looms
upon which clothing was woven from the finely-spun fibres of its bark. Skilfully
shaped this wood made handles and shafts for tools and hunting implements ;
while the young roots and twigs were twisted into ropes and lines for harpoons
and fishing-nets, strengthened with sinews of animals or with kelp. “Ties” of
cedar fibres secured the planks of houses to their framework and played many
other parts in the absence of nails or screws. Shredded into soft padding, cedar
bark was used for bedding and in cradles or for the bands used by the Kwakiutl,
Nootka, and Salish people to deform the heads of their infant daughters. Dyed
red and twisted into thick rings it was worn as head-dresses or as insignia of rank
or “calling.” Reliance was also placed on these trees for the costly totem-poles
and heraldic house and grave posts, as well as for other decorative articles used
in ceremonial functions.

As a last illustration of ingenuity it may be added that even the jelly-like
cambium layer found on the inner surface of cedar bark in the spring was col-
lected, dried, and utilized for food.

CLIMATIC CONDITIONS IN THE INTERIOR AND THEIR
INFLUENCE.

Dwellers on the rivers, lakes, and among mountains in the lower Interior
lived among a much wider variety of surroundings than the Coast people, marked
also by greater range in temperature, rainfall, and elevation. In the “ dry belt ”
the average rainfall is but 6 inches, though over the whole area the snowfall is
liable to be heavy and the temperature very low in the winter months. Hence
the adoption of a semi-subterranean type of dwelling for protection from extreme
cold and a custom of passing the summer in less permanent forms of shelter. How-
ever, round the mouth of the Fraser River and among the Lillooet the plank
houses of the Coast tribes were in partial use.. Variations in elevation ranged
from sea-level to many thousand feet in the more mountainous districts, where
hunting was general, especially among the Kootenay tribe.

This dry climate with its diversified flora and fauna was naturally reflected
in the food, dress, forms of shelter, and activities of the various people. Bone

tools largely superseded the stone tools of the Coast tribes; river and lake fish |

were available as well as the salmon which ascended the Fraser and Columbia

Rivers to spawn. Deer and many other animals afforded variety in food-supply

and furnished hides and furs for clothing, bedding, armour, etc. Birch bark,
sage-brush, balsam poplar, Indian hemp, bulrushes, and grasses replaced for many
purposes the spruce and cedar employed on the Coast.

CONDITIONS CONTRIBUTORY TO THE MIGRATIONS OF
TRIBES ON THE NORTHERN PLATEAU.

Dwellers on the northern plateau of the Province lived at an average eleva-
tion of 1,500 to 2,000 feet in a dry but relatively woodless country, their lives
being dominated more or less by the necessity of securing an adequate supply of
fuel for the bitter cold of the winter months. Migratory by instinct and custom,