ROR EE REE NG Es; USES

of iron was unknown on the coast before
the coming of Europeans. Jade had no
religious significance, nor was it regarded
with superstition; but aside from its mate-
rial worth, a certain sentiment seemed to
attach to it wherever found.

EARLY REFERENCES

Possibly the first reference to the occur-
rence of jade on the Northwest coast is
by La Perouse,’ in the extract of the narra-
tive of the Spanish pilot Maurelle describ-
ing the natives and their implements as
seen in the port of La Cruz, in Bucarelli

sound, on the west coast of Prince of Wales
island, in 1779. Herein is a reference to
““small hatchets of silex, or greenstone, so
hard as to cleave the closest wood without
turning its edge.”

USES

The coast tribes from Vancouver island
northward to Bering bay—the Kwakiutl,
Tsimshian, Haida, and Tlingit—were pre-
eminent among the aboriginal woodworkers
of the continent, as attested by their sub-

AND MONOGRAPHS