ELLS - GRAHAM ISLAND 13 B

at Skidegate at the south end. At both places the Indians are
comfortably situated, having good houses and boats, a co-operative
store and a factory for the manufacture of dog-fish oil under
their own control and management (the last two industries being located
at Skidegate), while there is another factory, usually known as the oil-
works, located at Skidegate post-office, two miles west of the Indian village,
where employment can also be had, if desired. In point of comfort and
physical well-being, the Indians of this island appear to be very fortunate.
They are also quite musical and there is a good brass band, entirely man-
aged by themselves, in each village. During the summer months—from the
middle of June to the middle or end of August—the island is practically
deserted by the Indians, the whole population migrating to the mainland
of British Columbia, where they are employed in the numerous salmon can-
neries that abound along the coast from the Portland canal south to the
Fraser river. In ordinary seasons, the earnings for this time are sufficient
for the family’s comfort and support for the rest of the year, so that, with
the exception of providing what few fish are required for home consumption,
there appears to be but small incentive for hard physical work.

During the winter months certain members of the tribe engage in
hunting, principally the bear, which appeared to be quite numerous,
especially in the country around the Yakoun river and lake, and in
the southern half of the island. Of other large animals there appears
to be a scarcity, though the Rev. Charles Harrison of Masset asserts
that caribou have been found in the country adjacent to Virago sound.
As very few white persons have ever attempted to penetrate the dense
forest of the interior the presence of this animal might easily escape
notice. During our boat journey along the north shore, west of Vir-
ago sound, several forms, like deer, were observed feeding along the beach.
It was supposed at the time that these might be wild cattle, but as the
herd of these is, so far as known, confined to the area east of Masset inlet,
and as no trace of them has been reported from this part of the island, it
is quite possible that the animals seen may have been deer. Our boat was,
at the time, too far from the land to definitely determine this point.

The forest growth is remarkable in several ways. Apart from its dense
character, the trees are often very large, reaching, in some cases, a circum-
ference of thirty feet, with a height of 250 to 300 feet. According to Bull.
No. 21 (U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, Washington) North American fauna, 1901,
Osgood, the principal species of trees which occur in the island are the Sitka
spruce (Picea sitchensis), the Western hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla), the al-
pine hemlock (Tsuga mertensiana) , the Giant cedar (Thuja plicata), the yellow
cedar (Chamaecyparis nootkatensis), the northwest coast pine (Pius con-