8 REPORT—1890.

The widespread bands of the great Salish people show many varieties

-of character, as might be expected in the septs of what is evidently a

mixed race. The majority, however, are industrious, and readily adapt
themselves to the new conditions of their present life. As fairly typical,
the account which is given in the latest report (for 1889) of the
Tl-kamcheen or Lytton band may be selected. This is the principal
band of the ‘Ntlakyapamuq tribe,’ whose location will be found on the
map near the junction of the Fraser and Thompson Rivers. The
resourcefulness and versatile industry by which the members of this
band manage to thrive under very adverse circumstances are well
described by the local agent, Mr. J. W. Mackay: ‘ Although these
Indians,’ he observes, ‘ have had a large acreage allotted to them, but a
very small portion of it can be cultivated, owing to the entire lack of
water. These Indians are great traders and carriers. They draw the
agricultural products which they require from the neighbouring reserves

at Spapiam, N.humeen, Strynne, and N.kuaikin.. They help the Indians .

of these reserves to sow and harvest their crops, and take payment for
their services in kind. They mine for gold, carry goods for traders from
Lytton to Lillooet, and work for the Canadian Pacific Railway Company.
They own a large number of horses, which they pasture on the lands
allotted to them. They have a few head of horned cattle, and they
cultivate the few available plots of land belonging to their reserves.
They are in good circumstances. ‘They pay considerable attention to the
offices of religion.’

The Cowichin tribe (on the map ‘Kawitein’), on the south-east corner
of Vancouver Island—another sept of this stock—are described as
making fair progress, but as more unsettled in their habits. The recent
statutory interlerence with some of their customs had produced a re-
markable effect. Under the peculiar stimulus of their own system they
had accumulated in 1888 ‘personal property’ to the large amount of
407,000 dollars. In the following year that value had suddenly sunk to
80,000 dollars. This startling change is briefly explained by the Indian
Superintendent for the Province: ‘The decrease in the value of personal
property as compared with last year,’ he states, ‘is ascribed by Mr. Agent
Lomas to the fact.that most of the natives have not collected property
for potlatching purposes.’ Thus it appears that a law of compulsory
repudiation, enacted with the most benevolent motives, had in a single
year reduced the personal wealth of one small tribe from over 400,000
dollars toa fifth of that amount. This must be deemed a lesson in politi-
cal economy as striking as (coming from such a quarter) it is unexpected.

One of the smallest and, at the same time, most interesting of the
tribes of this province are the Kootenays (Kutonaqa on the map).
They number only about five hundred souls, and inhabit a spacious valley
in the extreme east of the province, enclosed between the Rocky Moun-
tains and the Selkirk Range. Their language is distinct from all other
known idioms. In their customs they do not differ widely from the other
interior tribes. Their chief distinction is in their moral character. In
regard to this distinction all authorities agree. The Catholic missionaries,
when they first came among them, were charmed with them. The Rey.

P. J. De Smet, in his little volume of ‘Indian Sketches,’ writes thus.

enthusiastically concerning them: ‘The bean-ideal of the Indian cha-
racter, uncontaminated by contact with the whites, is found among them.
What is most pleasing to the stranger is to see their simplicity, united

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