The Native Races [of the Pacific states], Volume 1, Wild Tribes

The Degothi-Kutchin, or Loucheux, Quarrellers, inhabit the west bank of the Mackenzie between the Hare Indians and Eskimos. The Loucheux are on the Mackenzie between the Arctic circle and the sea. Simpson's Nar., p. 103.

The Vanta-Kutchin occupy 'the banks of the Porcupine, and the country to the north of it.' 'Vanta-kutshi (people of the lakes), I only find that they belong to the Porcupine River.' Latham's Nat. Races, p. 294. They 'inhabit the territory north of the head-waters of the Porcupine, somewhat below Lapierre's House.' Dall's Alaska, p. 430.

The Natche-Kutchin, or Gens de Large, dwell to the 'north of the Porcupine River.' 'These extend on the north bank to the mouth of the Porcupine.' Dall's Alaska, pp. 109, 430.

'Neyetse-Kutshi, (people of the open country), I only find that they belong to the Porcupine river.' Latham's Nat. Races, p. 294. Whymper's map calls them Rat Indians.

'The Na-tsik-Kut-chin inhabit the high ridge of land between the Yukon and the Arctic Sea.' Hardisty, in Dall's Alaska, p. 197.

The Kukuth-Kutchin 'occupy the country south of the head-waters of the Porcupine.' Dall's Alaska, p. 430.

The Tutchone Kutchin, Gens de Foux, or crow people, dwell upon both sides of the Yukon about Fort Selkirk, above the Han Kutchin. Id., pp. 109, 429.

'Tathzey-Kutshi, or people of the ramparts, the Gens du Fou of the French Canadians, are spread from the upper parts of the Peel and Porcupine Rivers, within the British territory, to the river of the Mountain-men, in the Russian. The upper Yukon is therefore their occupancy. They fall into four bands: a, the Tratsè-kutshi, or people of the fork of the river; b, the Kutsha-kutshi; c, the Zèkà-thaka (Ziunka-kutshi), people on this side, (or middle people); and, d, the Tanna-kutshi, or people of the bluffs.' Latham's Nat. Races, p. 293.

The Han-Kutchin, An-Kutchin Gens de Bois, or wood people, inhabit the Yukon above Porcupine River. Whymper's Alaska, p. 254. They are found on the Yukon next below the Crows, and above Fort Yukon. Dall's Alaska, p. 109. 'Han-Kutchi residing at the sources of the Yukon.' Richardson's Jour., vol. i., p. 396.

'The Artez-Kutshi, or the tough (hard) people. The sixty-second parallel cuts through their country; so that they lie between the head-waters of the Yukon and the Pacific.' Latham's Nat. Races, p. 293. See also Richardson's Jour., vol. i., p. 397.

The Kutcha-Kutchins, or Kot-à-Kutchin, 'are found in the country near the junction of the Porcupine and the Yukon.' Dall's Alaska, p. 431.

The Tenan-Kutchin, or Tananahs, Gens de Buttes, or people of the mountains, occupy an unexplored domain south-west of Fort Yukon. Their country is drained by the Tananah River. Dall's Alaska, p. 108. They are placed on Whymper's map about twenty miles south of the Yukon, in longitude 151° west from Greenwich. On Whymper's map are placed: the Birch Indians, or Gens de Bouleau on the south bank of the Yukon at its junction with Porcupine River; the Gens de Milieu, on the north bank of the Yukon, in longitude 150°; the Nuclukayettes on both banks in longitude 152°; and the Newicarguts, on the south bank between longitude 153° and 155°.

The Kenais occupy the peninsula of Kenai and the surrounding country. Ind. Aff. Rept., 1869, p. 562. 'An den Ufern und den Umgebungen von Cook's Inlet und um die Seen Iliamna und Kisshick.' Baer, Stat. u. Ethn., p. 103.

The Unakatana Yunakakhotanas, live 'on the Yukon between Koyukuk and Nuklukahyet.' Dall's Alaska, p. 53.

'Junakachotana, ein Stamm, welcher auf dem Flusse Jun-a-ka wohnt.' Sagoskin, in Denkschr. der russ. geo. Gesell., p. 324. 'Die Junnakachotana, am Flusse Jukchana oder Junna (so wird der obere Lauf des Kwichpakh genannt) zwischen den Nebenflüssen Nulato und Junnaka, so wie am untern Laufe des letztgenannten Flusses.' Holmberg, Ethn. Skiz., p. 6.

'Die Junnachotana bewohnen den obern Lauf des Jukchana oder Junna von der Mündung des Junnaka.' Holmberg, Ethn. Skiz., p. 6.

'Die Jugelnuten haben ihre Ansiedelungen am Kwichpakh, am Tschageljuk und an der Mündung des Innoka. Die Inkalichljuaten, am obern Laufe des Innoka. Die Thljegonchotana am Flusse Thljegon, der nach der Vereinigung mit dem Tatschegno den Innoka bildet.' Holmberg, Ethn. Skiz., pp. 6, 7. 'They extend virtually from the confluence of the Co-Yukuk River to Nuchukayette at the junction of the Tanana with the Yukon.' 'They also inhabit the banks of the Co-yukuk and other interior rivers.' Whymper's Alaska, p. 204.

The Ingaliks inhabit the Yukon from Nulato south to below the Anvic River. See Whymper's Map. 'The tribe extends from the edge of the wooded district near the sea to and across the Yukon below Nulato, on the Yukon and its affluents to the head of the delta, and across the portage to the Kuskoquim River and its branches.' Dall's Alaska, p. 28. 'Die Inkiliken, am untern Laufe des Junna südlich von Nulato.' Holmberg, Ethn. Skiz., p. 6. 'An dem ganzen Ittege wohnt der Stamm der Inkiliken, welcher zu dem Volk der Ttynai gehört.' Sagoskin, in Denkschr. der russ. geo. Gesell., p. 341. 'An den Flüssen Kwichpack, Kuskokwim und anderen ihnen zuströmenden Flüssen.' Baer, Stat. u. Ethn., p. 120. 'The Ingaliks living on the north side of the Yukon between it and the Kaiyuh Mountains (known as Takaitsky to the Russians), bear the name of Kaiyuhkatana or "lowland people," and the other branches of Ingaliks have similar names, while preserving their general tribal name.' Dall's Alaska, p. 53. On Whymper's map they are called T'kitskes and are situated east of the Yukon in latitude 64° north.

The Koltschanes occupy the territory inland between the sources of the Kuskoquim and Copper Rivers. 'They extend as far inland as the watershed between the Copper-river and the Yukon.' Latham's Nat. Races, p. 292. 'Die Galzanen oder Koltschanen (d. h. Fremdlinge, in der Sprache der Athnaer) bewohnen das Innere des Landes zwischen den Quellflüssen des Kuskokwim bis zu den nördlichen Zuflüssen des Athna oder Kupferstromes.' Holmberg, Ethn. Skiz., p. 7. 'Diejenigen Stämme, welche die nördlichen und östlichen, dem Atna zuströmenden Flüsse und Flüsschen bewohnen, eben so die noch weiter, jenseits der Gebirge lebenden, werden von den Atnaern Koltschanen, d. h. Fremdlinge, genannt.' Baer, Stat. u. Ethn., p. 101. 'North of the river Atna.' Ludewig, Ab. Lang., p. 96.

The Nehannes occupy the territory midway between Mount St. Elias and the Mackenzie River, from Fort Selkirk and the Stakine River. 'According to Mr. Isbister, range the country between the Russian settlements on the Stikine River and the Rocky Mountains.' Latham's Nat. Races, p. 295. The Nohhannies live 'upon the upper branches of the Rivière aux Liards.' Franklin's Nar., vol. ii., p. 87. They 'inhabit the angle between that branch and the great bend of the trunk of the river, and are neighbours of the Beaver Indians.' Richardson's Jour., vol. ii., p. 6. The region which includes the Lewis, or Tahco, and Pelly Rivers, with the valley of the Chilkaht River, is occupied by tribes known to the Hudson Bay voyageurs as Nehannees. Those on the Pelly and Macmillan rivers call themselves Affats-tena. Some of them near Liard's River call themselves Daho-tena or Acheto-tena, and others are called Sicannees by the voyageurs. Those near Francis Lake are known as Mauvais Monde, or Slavé Indians. About Fort Selkirk they have been called Gens des Foux.

The Kenai proper, or Kenai-tena, or Thnaina, inhabit the peninsula of Kenai, the shores of Cook Inlet, and thence westerly across the Chigmit Mountains, nearly to the Kuskoquim River. They 'inhabit the country near Cook's Inlet, and both shores of the Inlet as far south as Chugachik Bay.' Dall's Alaska, p. 430. 'Die eigentlichen Thnaina bewohnen die Halbinsel Kenai und ziehen sich von da westlich über das Tschigmit-Gebirge zum Mantaschtano oder Tchalchukh, einem südlichen Nebenflusse des Kuskokwim.' Holmberg, Ethn. Skiz., p. 7. 'Dieses – an den Ufern und den Umgebungen von Cook's Inlet und um die Seen Iliamna und Kisshick lebende Volk gehört zu dem selben Stamme wie die Galzanen oder Koltschanen, Atnaer, und Koloschen.' Baer, Stat. u. Ethn., p. 103. 'Les Kenayzi habitent la côte occidentale de l'entrée de Cook ou du golfe Kenayskaja.' Humboldt, Pol., tom. i., p. 348. 'The Indians of Cook's Inlet and adjacent waters are called "Kanisky." They are settled along the shore of the inlet and on the east shore of the peninsula.' 'East of Cook's Inlet, in Prince William's Sound, there are but few Indians, they are called "Nuchusk."' Ind. Aff. Rept., 1869, p. 575.

The Atnas occupy the Atna or Copper River from near its mouth to near its source. 'At the mouth of the Copper River.' Latham's Comp. Phil., vol. viii., p. 392. 'Die Athnaer, am Athna oder Kupferflusse.' Holmberg, Ethn. Skiz., p. 7. 'On the upper part of the Atna or Copper River are a little-known tribe of the above name [viz., Ah-tena]. They have been called Atnaer and Kolshina by the Russians, and Yellow Knife or Nehaunee by the English.' Dall's Alaska, p. 429. 'Diese kleine, jetzt ungefähr aus 60 Familien bestehende, Völkerschaft wohnt an den Ufern des Flusses Atna und nennt sich Atnaer.' Baer, Stat. u. Ethn., p. 97.

CHAPTER III.

COLUMBIANS

Habitat of the Columbian Group – Physical Geography – Sources of Food-Supply – Influence of Food and Climate – Four extreme Classes – Haidahs – Their Home – Physical Peculiarities – Clothing – Shelter – Sustenance – Implements – Manufactures – Arts – Property – Laws – Slavery – Women – Customs – Medicine – Death – The Nootkas – The Sound Nations – The Chinooks – The Shushwaps – The Salish – The Sahaptins – Tribal Boundaries

The term Columbians, or, as Scouler228 and others have called them, Nootka-Columbians, is, in the absence of a native word, sufficiently characteristic to distinguish the aboriginal nations of north-western America between the forty-third and fifty-fifth parallels, from those of the other great divisions of this work. The Columbia River, which suggests the name of this group, and Nootka Sound on the western shore of Vancouver Island, were originally the chief centres of European settlement on the North-west Coast; and at an early period these names were compounded to designate the natives of the Anglo-American possessions on the Pacific, which lay between the discoveries of the Russians on the north and those of the Spaniards on the south. As a simple name is always preferable to a complex one, and as no more pertinent name suggests itself than that of the great river which, with its tributaries, drains a large portion of this territory, I drop 'Nootka' and retain only the word 'Columbian.'229 These nations have also been broadly denominated Flatheads, from a custom practiced more or less by many of their tribes, of compressing the cranium during infancy;230 although the only Indians in the whole area, tribally known as Flatheads, are those of the Salish family, who do not flatten the head at all.

COLUMBIAN FAMILIES.

In describing the Columbian nations it is necessary, as in the other divisions, to subdivide the group; arbitrarily this may have been done in some instances, but as naturally as possible in all. Thus the people of Queen Charlotte Islands, and the adjacent coast for about a hundred miles inland, extending from 55° to 52° of north latitude, are called Haidahs from the predominant tribe of the islands. The occupants of Vancouver Island and the opposite main, with its labyrinth of inlets from 52° to 49°, I term Nootkas. The Sound Indians inhabit the region drained by streams flowing into Puget Sound, and the adjacent shores of the strait and ocean; the Chinooks occupy the banks of the Columbia from the Dalles to the sea, extending along the coast northward to Gray Harbor, and southward nearly to the Californian line. The interior of British Columbia, between the Cascade and Rocky Mountains, and south of the territory occupied by the Hyperborean Carriers, is peopled by the Shushwaps, the Kootenais, and the Okanagans. Between 49° and 47°, extending west from the Cascade to the Rocky Mountains, chiefly on the Columbia and Clarke Fork, is the Salish or Flathead family. The nations dwelling south of 47° and east of the Cascade range, on the Columbia, the lower Snake, and their tributary streams, may be called Sahaptins, from the name of the Nez Percé tribes.231 The great Shoshone family, extending south-east from the upper waters of the Columbia, and spreading out over nearly the whole of the Great Basin, although partially included in the Columbian limits, will be omitted in this, and included in the Californian Group, which follows. These divisions, as before stated, are geographic rather than ethnographic.232 Many attempts have been made by practical ethnologists, to draw partition lines between these peoples according to race, all of which have proved signal failures, the best approximation to a scientific division being that of philologists, the results of whose researches are given in the third volume of this series; but neither the latter division, nor that into coast and inland tribes – in many respects the most natural and clearly defined of all233– is adapted to my present purpose. In treating of the Columbians, I shall first take up the coast families, going from north to south, and afterward follow the same order with those east of the mountains.

HOME OF THE COLUMBIANS.

No little partiality was displayed by the Great Spirit of the Columbians in the apportionment of their dwelling-place. The Cascade Mountains, running from north to south throughout their whole territory, make of it two distinct climatic divisions, both highly but unequally favored by nature. On the coast side – a strip which may be called one hundred and fifty miles wide and one thousand miles long – excessive cold is unknown, and the earth, warmed by Asiatic currents and watered by numerous mountain streams, is thickly wooded; noble forests are well stocked with game; a fertile soil yields a great variety of succulent roots and edible berries, which latter means of subsistence were lightly appreciated by the indolent inhabitants, by reason of the still more abundant and accessible food-supply afforded by the fish of ocean, channel, and stream. The sources of material for clothing were also bountiful far beyond the needs of the people.

Passing the Cascade barrier, the climate and the face of the country change. Here we have a succession of plains or table-lands, rarely degenerating into deserts, with a good supply of grass and roots; though generally without timber, except along the streams, until the heavily wooded western spurs of the Rocky Mountains are reached. The air having lost much of its moisture, affords but a scanty supply of rain, the warming and equalizing influence of the ocean stream is no longer felt, and the extremes of heat and cold are undergone according to latitude and season. Yet are the dwellers in this land blessed above many other aboriginal peoples, in that game is plenty, and roots and insects are at hand in case the season's hunt prove unsuccessful.

Ethnologically, no well-defined line can be drawn to divide the people occupying these two widely different regions. Diverse as they certainly are in form, character, and customs, their environment, the climate, and their methods of seeking food may well be supposed to have made them so. Not only do the pursuit of game in the interior and the taking of fish on the coast, develop clearly marked general peculiarities of character and life in the two divisions, but the same causes produce grades more or less distinct in each division. West of the Cascade range, the highest position is held by the tribes who in their canoes pursue the whale upon the ocean, and in the effort to capture Leviathan become themselves great and daring as compared with the lowest order who live upon shell-fish and whatever nutritious substances may be cast by the tide upon the beach. Likewise in the interior, the extremes are found in the deer, bear, elk, and buffalo hunters, especially when horses are employed, and in the root and insect eaters of the plains. Between these four extreme classes may be traced many intermediate grades of physical and intellectual development, due to necessity and the abilities exercised in the pursuit of game.

The Columbians hitherto have been brought in much closer contact with the whites than the Hyperboreans, and the results of the association are known to all. The cruel treacheries and massacres by which nations have been thinned, and flickering remnants of once powerful tribes gathered on government reservations or reduced to a handful of beggars, dependent for a livelihood on charity, theft, or the wages of prostitution, form an unwritten chapter in the history of this region. That this process of duplicity was unnecessary as well as infamous, I shall not attempt to show, as the discussion of Indian policy forms no part of my present purpose. Whatever the cause, whether from an inhuman civilized policy, or the decrees of fate, it is evident that the Columbians, in common with all the aborigines of America, are doomed to extermination. Civilization and savagism will not coalesce, any more than light and darkness; and although it may be necessary that these things come, yet are those by whom they are unrighteously accomplished none the less culpable.

Once more let it be understood that the time of which this volume speaks, was when the respective peoples were first known to Europeans. It was when, throughout this region of the Columbia, nature's wild magnificence was yet fresh; primeval forests unprofaned; lakes, and rivers, and rolling plains unswept; it was when countless villages dotted the luxuriant valleys; when from the warrior's camp-fire the curling smoke never ceased to ascend, nor the sounds of song and dance to be heard; when bands of gaily dressed savages roamed over every hill-side; when humanity unrestrained vied with bird and beast in the exercise of liberty absolute. This is no history; alas! they have none; it is but a sun-picture, and to be taken correctly must be taken quickly. Nor need we pause to look back through the dark vista of unwritten history, and speculate, who and what they are, nor for how many thousands of years they have been coming and going, counting the winters, the moons, and the sleeps; chasing the wild game, basking in the sunshine, pursuing and being pursued, killing and being killed. All knowledge regarding them lies buried in an eternity of the past, as all knowledge of their successors remains folded in an eternity of the future. We came upon them unawares, unbidden, and while we gazed they melted away. The infectious air of civilization penetrated to the remotest corner of their solitudes. Their ignorant and credulous nature, unable to cope with the intellect of a superior race, absorbed only its vices, yielding up its own simplicity and nobleness for the white man's diseases and death.

HAIDAH NATIONS.

In the Haidah family I include the nations occupying the coast and islands from the southern extremity of Prince of Wales Archipelago to the Bentinck Arms in about 52°. Their territory is bounded on the north and east by the Thlinkeet and Carrier nations of the Hyperboreans, and on the south by the Nootka family of the Columbians. Its chief nations, whose boundaries however can rarely be fixed with precision, are the Massets, the Skiddegats, and the Cumshawas, of Queen Charlotte Islands; the Kaiganies, of Prince of Wales Archipelago; the Chimsyans, about Fort Simpson, and on Chatham Sound; the Nass and the Skeenas, on the rivers of the same names; the Sebassas, on Pitt Archipelago and the shores of Gardner Channel; and the Millbank Sound Indians, including the Hailtzas and the Bellacoolas, the most southern of this family. These nations, the orthography of whose names is far from uniform among different writers, are still farther subdivided into numerous indefinite tribes, as specified at the end of this chapter.

The Haidah territory, stretching on the mainland three hundred miles in length, and in width somewhat over one hundred miles from the sea to the lofty Chilkoten Plain, is traversed throughout its length by the northern extension of the Cascade Range. In places its spurs and broken foot-hills touch the shore, and the very heart of the range is penetrated by innumerable inlets and channels, into which pour short rapid streams from interior hill and plain. The country, though hilly, is fertile and covered by an abundant growth of large, straight pines, cedars, and other forest trees. The forest abounds with game, the waters with fish. The climate is less severe than in the middle United States; and notwithstanding the high latitude of their home, the Haidahs have received no small share of nature's gifts. Little has been explored, however, beyond the actual coast, and information concerning this nation, coming from a few sources only, is less complete than in the case of the more southern Nootkas.

PHYSICAL PECULIARITIES OF THE HAIDAHS.

Favorable natural conditions have produced in the Haidahs a tall, comely, and well-formed race, not inferior to any in North-western America;234 the northern nations of the family being generally superior to the southern,235 and having physical if not linguistic affinities with their Thlinkeet neighbors, rather than with the Nootkas. Their faces are broad, with high cheek bones;236 the eyes small, generally black, though brown and gray with a reddish tinge have been observed among them.237 The few who have seen their faces free from paint pronounce their complexion light,238 and instances of Albino characteristics are sometimes found.239 The hair is not uniformly coarse and black, but often soft in texture, and of varying shades of brown, worn by some of the tribes cut close to the head.240 The beard is usually plucked out with great care, but moustaches are raised sometimes as strong as those of Europeans;241 indeed there seems to be little authority for the old belief that the North-western American Indians were destitute of hair except on the head.242 Dr Scouler, comparing Chimsyan skulls with those of the Chinooks, who are among the best known of the north-western nations, finds that in a natural state both have broad, high cheek-bones, with a receding forehead, but the Chimsyan skull, between the parietal and temporal bones, is broader than that of the Chinook, its vertex being remarkably flat.243 Swollen and deformed legs are common from constantly doubling them under the body while sitting in the canoe. The teeth are frequently worn down to the gums by eating sanded salmon.244

HAIDAH DRESS AND ORNAMENT.

The Haidahs have no methods of distortion peculiar to themselves, by which they seek to improve their fine physique; but the custom of flattening the head in infancy obtains in some of the southern nations of this family, as the Hailtzas and Bellacoolas,245 and the Thlinkeet lip-piece, already sufficiently described, is in use throughout a larger part of the whole territory. It was observed by Simpson as far south as Millbank Sound, where it was highly useful as well as ornamental, affording a firm hold for the fair fingers of the sex in their drunken fights. These ornaments, made of either wood, bone, or metal, are worn particularly large in Queen Charlotte Islands, where they seem to be not a mark of rank, but to be worn in common by all the women.246 Besides the regular lip-piece, ornaments, various in shape and material, of shell, bone, wood, or metal, are worn stuck in the lips, nose, and ears, apparently according to the caprice or taste of the wearer, the skin being sometimes, though more rarely, tattooed to correspond.247 Both for ornament and as a protection against the weather, the skin is covered with a thick coat of paint, a black polish being a full dress uniform. Figures of birds and beasts, and a coat of grease are added in preparation for a feast, with fine down of duck or goose – a stylish coat of tar and feathers – sprinkled over the body as an extra attraction.248 When the severity of the weather makes additional protection desirable, a blanket, formerly woven by themselves from dog's hair, and stained in varied colors, but now mostly procured from Europeans, is thrown loosely over the shoulders. Chiefs, especially in times of feasting, wear richer robes of skins.249 The styles of dress and ornament adopted around the forts from contact with the whites need not be described. Among the more unusual articles that have been noticed by travelers are, "a large hat, resembling the top of a small parasol, made of the twisted fibres of the roots of trees, with an aperture in the inside, at the broader end" for the head, worn by a Sebassa chief; and at Millbank Sound, "masks set with seals' whiskers and feathers, which expand like a fan," with secret springs to open the mouth and eyes.250 Mackenzie and Vancouver, who were among the earliest visitors to this region, found fringed robes of bark-fibre, ornamented with fur and colored threads. A circular mat, with an opening in the centre for the head, was worn as a protection from the rain; and war garments consisted of several thicknesses of the strongest hides procurable, sometimes strengthened by strips of wood on the inside.251