24 BRITISH COLUMBIA.

They made much use of graphic signs inscribed on rocks as a means of com-
munication between their hunting parties, and also devised a code of signals by
means of a switch or rod, which by significant combinations indicated the direc-
tion taken by a party of hunters, the exhaustion of their food-supply, a death,
success or the reverse in war or hunt, and other information.

(14.) The TSETSAUT were a small inland tribe, segregated for at least
half the year by the mountains which bound the shores of the Portland Canal.
They had many feuds with the Tahltan, but their most formidable enemies were
the Tlingit of Alaska and the Tsimshian, among whom the last remnants of
their tribe survived as slaves. "They have been described as honest, but timid,
indolent, and cowardly.

(15.) The TAHLTAN occupied much of the extreme northern interior of
British Columbia, including the country from the Cascade Mountains to the
Cassiar River, thus controlling the headwaters of many important rivers. The
climate was dry and the snowfall light, so that hunting could continue throughout
the winter, but timber was scarce and involved constant migrations in search of
fuel. Large shoals of salmon ascended the Stikine River, where a portion of the
tribe, eager traders that they were, gathered each fall for interchange of goods
with the Tsimshian, with whom, however, they were often at war. After this
annual meeting they apparently carried on a series of festivals before resuming
their semi-sedentary mode of life. Whether it was the result of an abundant
food-supply or due to other causes these people conspicuously lacked the initiative
characteristic of some of their neighbours. Their close intercourse with the
Tlingit of Alaska was reflected in their social organization and such culture as
they possessed.

(16.) The SEKANIT lived in the basins of the Parsnip and Finlay Rivers
and also in the valley of the Peace River. Formerly they had spread southward,
but were driven back by the Carriers and Shuswap. They, too, enjoyed a
climate which permitted hunting at all seasons; game abounded, but not much
fish. Essentially nomadic in their habits they were a quarrelsome set, dividing in
consequence into several independent bands each under a leader, though perhaps
as a result of their wrangling disposition he possessed little real authority.

ORIGIN OF TRIBAL NAMES.

Little is know of the origin of the names by which the various tribes were
distinguished. Many primitive people, of which the Tsimshian and Kwakiutl
are examples, applied the term. “‘ men”’ to their tribe only, all members of other
tribes were not “men.” To the Haida and Salish their tribal names also
signified “people” or “men,” and the word “ Tsimshian” means “men or
people inside the Skeena River.” ‘The significance ‘‘ mankind” is assigned by
some to the word “Shuswap”; “Lillooet” is said to mean “wild onions.”
The Carriers derive their curious name from the custom which compelled every
widow to “carry ”’ the charred bones of her husband on her back. “ Chilcotin ”
and “Tahltan”” are both of the nature of “ place-names,”’ meaning respectively
“inhabitants of young man’s river” and a “ basin-shaped hollow.” The word
“Tsetsaut ”’ is said to mean “ those of the Interior,” a description applied indis-
criminately by the Tsimshian to all these tribes of Athapaskan origin.

RELATIONS BETWEEN THE TRIBES.

Tribal tales suggest that clan feuds and tribal wars were frequent, resort to
arms following small provocation. “The possessions of others aroused envy, ill-