Official Report of the Exploration of the Queen Charlotte Islands for the government of British Columbia Part 2

Religion.

The Hydas, with the exception of those who have embraced the Christian faith, have no forms of religious worship, and I am informed by Rev. Mr Harrison, missionary at Ma.s.sett, and probably the best authority upon the subject, that there is no word in their language which signifies the praise or adoration of a Supreme Being. They believe in a Great Spirit, a future life, and in the transmigration of souls. Their G.o.d, (Sha-nung-et-lag-e-das), possesses chiefly the attributes of power, and is invoked to help them attain their desires. Their Devil, (Het-gwa-lan-a), corresponds with the devil of common belief, a demon who in various forms brings upon them evil and destruction.

Morals.

The moral degradation of these people is so great that they seem to be nearly dest.i.tute of any sense of wrong-doing, while committing the grossest social sins imaginable. There is every reason to believe that before they came in contact with the whites, that they were much given to licentious practices. Many of their legends and traditions are filled with vulgarities too great for translation. But with the opportunities afforded after the influx of whites into their country for obtaining money by the prost.i.tution of their females, this practice has prevailed until many of the present generation of young Indian women seem to regard this mode of serving their kindred as their legitimate end. Almost incredible as it may appear, fathers and mothers become procurers for their own daughters, brothers for sisters, and, in some instances, husbands for their wives. Soon after my arrival at Skidegate, a Hyda young man called at my cabin to see if I would not take a rather comely Indian girl, about twenty years of age, who accompanied him, to live with me, and neither seemed in the slightest degree embarra.s.sed, either in making the proposition or when it was declined. Immodesty of speech or action in public places, however, is rare, even among those women who change their _man_ so often as it suits their caprice or convenience. Both the married and unmarried have apparently not neglected their opportunities to improve upon the native stock by the introduction of foreign blood. There are Russian, English, Canadian, American, Chinese and Negro Hydas; Hydas with fiery red hair, tow heads, blue eyes, and all complexions from black to pale white. Many of these homeless half-breeds are farmed out with relatives, by their mothers, when single, thus leaving them free to go and come without inc.u.mbrance. Barrenness, disease and early death are the fruits of such promiscuous intercourse, to such an extent that their utter extinction from these causes is inevitable, unless they are speedily removed. Their only hope of long surviving lies in the careful training of the young children by the missionaries. The habits and a.s.sociations of the adults are too strong to be much affected by their labors.

Legends and Traditions.

The mind of the Indian is full of weird strange fancies and imaginations. Groping in darkness, in almost total ignorance of the discoveries of science, with nothing to guide or correct him, it is no wonder that in his blind struggles to solve the great problems which are more or less a mystery to us all--the origin of man and original creations--that he has wrought out the incongruous mixture of ignorance, superst.i.tion and vulgar imagination which mainly compose their legends and traditions. Some of them are doubtless based upon actual occurrences in the remote ages, which they have interwoven with their own fancies; others upon the exploits and experiences of their ancestors; though the greater number are pure fictions, fairy tales and hobgoblin stories, handed down from generation to generation. It would require a large volume to contain them all, and years to translate them with accuracy. I can therefore only give a few examples from those most frequently narrated, which I had from the lips of Edensaw, the oldest and ranking Chief of the Hydah nation, and Goo'd-nai-u-uns, wife of Goo-gul, well known as a gifted relator of their legends and traditions. Ne-kil-stlas is their great creative geni, who, by transforming himself into men, women, children, beasts, birds and fishes, or whatever thing is best suited to accomplish his designs, performs the most miraculous deeds. Ne-kil-stlas is known also as Kill-sing-ne-kee-uns, Goya-ta-get-ya, Goy-kilt, Guoy-ne, kill-gee-skla.s.s, Hoya, and by other names, according to the shape which he a.s.sumes.

The Creation of Man.

When the water which once covered the whole earth subsided, a raven (Ne-kil-stlas) was the only creature surviving. In his loneliness he started around the islands, seeking companionship, and when pa.s.sing Sand Spit Point heard very faint cries, which he soon discovered proceeded from a c.o.c.kle sh.e.l.l lying upon the beach. While examining it with great wonder, the voices grew louder and loader, until finally there issued therefrom several male [Footnote: As related by others only one infant, and a female, was found in the c.o.c.kle sh.e.l.l, whom, marrying Ne-kil-etlas, became the great father of the Indian race.]

infant children, which rapidly increasing in stature joined him in a common search for mates. Upon reaching the lonely island of Ninstints they found females clinging helplessly to the rocks, whom rescuing and taking for their wives, peopled the land.

Origin of Light--The Sun, Moon and Stars.

Ne-kil-stlas, soon discovering that light, fresh water, and many other things which the people most needed were in possession of a powerful chief called Setlin-ki-jash, and jealously guarded by him, resolved to obtain them. Now this chief's daughter had a little babe, which, when they all slept, Ne-kil-stlas killed, and taking the place of the infant was fondly petted and cared for. When he found where the chief kept the moon, he began to cry to see it, and continued so to do for a long time, and until they opened the door into the apartment where the moon was concealed, which seeing, Ne-kil-stlas instantly became a raven and seizing it with his bill flew away to the Naas country. Here the Indians gathered about him and begged to see the moon, of which they had heard. Ne-kil-stlas agreed to let them see it if they would give him all the oolachan fish which he desired, to which consenting, he threw down the moon before them, which they in their wild delight tossed so high in the air that it broke in pieces, and formed one part the sun, another the moon, and the small fragments the stars.

Carvings.

The Hydas are distinguished for their superior skill, above that possessed by any other aboriginal people on the continent, in carving and mechanical arts and contrivances generally. Besides their great columns, from 30 to 75 feet in height, covered with figures from top to bottom, nearly every article used by them is carved to represent either their totem crests, or some animal, bird or fish familiar to their sight. House-posts, canoe-heads, stone axes, mauls and mortars, fish-hooks and floats, seal-killing clubs, boxes of all kinds, cooking and eating utensils, trays, spoons, ladles, medicine charms, masks, rattles, whistles, gambling sticks, towes, and other articles, too numerous to mention, are all carved. Their designs are often grotesque, many evidently purposely so, and their workmanship commonly rude compared with that of our best white carvers; yet their skill in so curiously and accurately shaping some things, considering their few and inferior tools and semi-savage state, is quite remarkable.

Desiring to possess some small article of Hyda manufacture, I gave a young Indian jeweler a two-and-a-half dollar gold piece at 9 o'clock in the morning with instructions to make from it an eagle. Before 1 o'clock the same day he brought me the bird so well made that not many jewelers could improve upon it.

Food Supplies.

The Hydas live chiefly upon fish, though of late years they consume also considerable quant.i.ties of other supplies, especially flour, rice, sugar, coffee, crackers, &c., purchased from the traders. Of fish, halibut and salmon, dried and smoked, are mainly depended on, though many other varieties are eaten in their season--herring, flounder, trout, rock cod, true cod, clams, mussels, &c. Pollock, called by the Hydas skill, are caught off the west coast, princ.i.p.ally for their oil, which is extracted by boiling them in large wooden tanks by means of heated stones. Dried herring sp.a.w.n, salmon roe, sea and birds' eggs, chitons and octopus are favorite articles of diet. Berries and crabapples are gathered in large quant.i.ties and eaten both fresh and dried, frequently mixed with oolachan grease, their choicest condiment, obtained from the Na.s.s Indians. Potatoes, generally of an inferior size, are raised, chiefly by the old women. Many wild roots, bulbs and plants are also eaten: the lily, _epilobium_, _heracleum_, &c. Bear, wild geese, duck, and grouse also contribute to their food supply, although the present generation of Hydas are not very successful hunters, seldom penetrating far inland in search of game.

Hyda Villages.

There are seven inhabited, and fifteen deserted villages upon the islands, which will be briefly noticed in the order reached in circ.u.mnavigating the archipelago from North Island, proceeding eastward. They are situated upon the immediate sh.o.r.e, the houses generally standing in a row facing to the south or east, with from one to three tall carved poles in front. Kah-oh and Ki-oos-ta, both in ruins, the former containing six houses and ten poles, and the latter fifteen houses and eighteen poles, are situated near each other on the south sh.o.r.e of Parry Pa.s.sage, on Moresby Island. On the north side of the Pa.s.sage, on the south end of North Island, opposite Lucy Island, lies Tadense, with its six small houses--still occupied by hunters and fishermen during the summer--and one lonely carved pole. On the rocky, exposed sh.o.r.e, just east of Klas-kwun Point, stands the three houses and one carved pole comprising the village known at Yatze. It is now only the occasional stopping place of parties of Indians en route to and from the west coast. Its builders formerly occupied deserted Kung, very pleasantly situated on the west sh.o.r.e, at the entrance to Naden Harbor. Fifteen houses, all in ruins but two, and twenty poles, are all that remain visible here, except numerous graves of the dead.

There are three villages near the entrance to Ma.s.sett Inlet: Yan--abandoned--with 20 houses and 25 carved poles, on the west side, and Utte-was--now Ma.s.sett--and Ka-Yung, situated about a mile below, on the east. Ma.s.sett is the princ.i.p.al village of the Hyda nation, now containing a population of about three hundred and fifty Indians, 40 occupied houses, 50 carved poles, and the ruins of many ancient lodges. The Hudson Bay Company have had a Trading Post here since 1855, Mr. Alexander McKenzie having been their agent for the last six years. He is the extreme north-western resident white man on the soil of the Dominion of Canada. The Episcopal Church of England established a mission at Ma.s.sett in 1877, now under the excellent charge of Rev. Chas. Harrison and wife. At Ka-Yung we found only the ruins of a few houses and carved poles; also at the mouth of the Hiellen, where there was formerly a considerable village. A still larger one is said to have stood at the base of Rose Spit Point, called by the Indians Ne-c.o.o.n, and another between this point and Cape Ball, on the the east coast of Graham Island, the remains of which may still be seen.

We have now reached Skidegate, an imposing village, finely situated, on the north sh.o.r.e of Skidegate Inlet, eight or ten miles from its eastern entrance. It contains 30 houses and 55 carved poles. A Methodist Mission, Church, and School building occupies a prominent site in the back-ground. The village of Gold Harbour is situated upon Maud Island, three miles further up the inlet. Its people, now numbering 108, removed from Gold Harbour, on the west coast, a few years ago. Here are 13 houses and 18 carved poles. c.u.mahewa, situated on the north sh.o.r.e of the inlet of that name, contains 60 people, 18 houses and 25 carved poles, and Skedance, on the opposite, only 12 Indians, but 25 houses and 30 carved poles. Tanoo, or Laskeek, on Tanoo Island, is next reached. It is second in population to Ma.s.sett, containing 150 natives, 20 houses and 25 carved poles. There is only one more Hyda village to the southward, Ninstints, with 30 inhabitants, 20 houses, 25 carved poles, and 20 burial columns, occupying a rock-bound islet lying off the south-west coast of Moresby Island, near the western entrance to Houston Stewart Channel. There are five other villages on the west coast of the islands, all abandoned, and most of them in ruins. Ta.s.so, on Ta.s.so Harbour, Gold Harbour, between Gold Harbour and Skidegate Channel, picturesque Chathl, on Canoe Pa.s.sage, near its western entrance, Lenna-how, on Graham Island, opposite Nesto Island, Tiahn on Tiahn Cove, between Stowe Harbour and Frederick Island, and Susk, on Graham, opposite the latter. There are, besides these villages named, numerous houses and temporary lodges, from one to seven in a place, situated at the mouths of the princ.i.p.al salmon streams, near potato gardens, and convenient to choice hunting and fishing grounds.

PROGRESS REPORT NUMBER ONE,

SKIDEGATE, Queen Charlotte Islands, May, 1884.

_Hon. Wm. Smithe, Chief Commissioner of Lands and Works of the Province of British Columbia:_--SIR--I arrived at Ma.s.set on the 18th of April, and on the following day, pursuant to agreement, commenced the exploration of the Queen Charlotte Islands. I was highly pleased with the first glimpses of Hyda land, its pleasant sloping sh.o.r.es and long stretches of splendid beaches being in marked contrast to the forbidding, rock-bound coast which had extended for hundreds of miles along our northward course.

Ma.s.sETT INLET

Is a magnificent body of water, about twenty-seven miles in length, from one to one-and-a-half miles in width, for eighteen miles, then widening to over eighteen miles, being sufficiently deep for vessels drawing twelve feet of water. There is fifteen feet of water on the bar at low tide, and safe anchorage immediately inside, except during north-westers, when perfect protection could be secured by running down the inlet.

I desired first to make a reconnoisance of the entire island, penetrate all its rivers, inlets and waterways, that I might thereby be better able to determine which portion should receive the greater share of my attention. For this purpose I proceeded to the mouth of the Ya-koun River, about twenty-six miles south of Ma.s.sett, and from thence examined the sh.o.r.es systematically northward along the east side of Ma.s.sett Inlet to Ma.s.sett, thence eastward following the north sh.o.r.e to Rose Spit, and from thence southward to Skidegate, penetrating the rivers, inlets and inland as indicated by the red lines on the accompanying map. A brief description of the topography of this sh.o.r.e line and of its water courses and bordering country will a.s.sist in locating the lands and other resources hereafter noticed. First in the order reached is a small stream, not down on the chart, flowing into a little bay about four miles north of the mouth of the Ya-koun River. From having found on its bank a cedar twenty-four feet in circ.u.mference, I named it Cedar Creek. It is not to exceed fifteen feet in width and filled with fallen trees its entire length.

CANOE Pa.s.sAGE,

Navigable for canoes at high tide, is about eight miles in length, and from 150 to 200 feet in width. Pa.s.sing through it at half tide with an average sized canoe, we were compelled to wade and drag it over a mile. Flowing into it from the east is a little stream, unnamed, and not shown on the chart, which, from having seen numerous grouse thereon and for convenience, I have called Grouse Creek. It is only about twenty-five feet wide and full of fallen trees. About a mile above the northern entrance to Canoe Pa.s.sage we reached a considerably larger stream, named Nedo Creek. It is about fifty feet wide at its mouth, but obstructed with log jams almost down to the inlet. Next comes a small creek, called by my Indian guide Ka-la-pu-tant-la; then, Watoon Creek, which is about sixty feet in width, but full of dead fallen trees from near its mouth up.

This brings us to the largest indentation on the east sh.o.r.e of Ma.s.sett Inlet, about one mile and three-quarters in depth inland, not named on the chart, but called by the Indians Del-kat-lay Inlet. It is situated about three and a half miles south of Ma.s.sett. The eastern sh.o.r.es of Ma.s.sett Inlet are uniformly low, sandy and forest-covered, though for several miles south from Watoon Creek, they are from fifteen to fifty feet in height, with small burnt openings on their summits. Following eastward along the north sh.o.r.e of the island,

SKOONAN RIVER

Is the first stream crossed. It is misnamed on the chart Chown Brooke. Chown is the name of the point lying just to the westward, which is more prominent than shown on the chart. This river is about forty feet wide, but not navigable, owing to log obstructions. An inlet extends westward from near its mouth about two miles at high tide.

TOW HILL,

A bold, rocky, perpendicular cliff, rising to the height of about 300 feet immediately on the sea sh.o.r.e, eight miles eastward, is the most prominent landmark on the north part of the island. It is visible in fair weather twenty-five miles at sea and guides the navigator approaching the harbors of the north coast. The Hi-ellen River, larger than any yet mentioned, except the Ya-koun, flows into the sea just east of Tow Hill. This is also obstructed from within half mile of its mouth up by log jams.

ROSE SPIT,

The extreme north-eastern land of the island, is more extensive than indicated by the chart. Mr. Maynard, the photographer, who accompanied my Indian guide in a canoe around it, while I was engaged in examining the country inland, says that they were thrown with great force on the spit by a heavy breaker more than three miles off the extreme point of land of the peninsula, which split and would doubtless have sunk the canoe, had we not taken the precaution to strengthen it with ribs before leaving Ma.s.sett. The north sh.o.r.e of the island is generally low, Chown and Yakan Points and Tow Hill being its only elevations exceeding fifteen or twenty feet. Between them are long stretches of very fine beaches, sandy, wide and gradually sloping.

There are no harbors, though canoes and small boats take refuge in stormy weather at the mouths of the rivers already mentioned. A thick growth of spruce and cedar generally reaches down to the sea sh.o.r.e. About seven miles south of Rose Spit Point there is a lagoon three or four miles in length, which we have named Long Lagoon. The Hoy-kund-la River, not mentioned on the charts, about two rods in width, and choked with the usual obstructions, was pa.s.sed, ten miles further south. Three brooks, from ten to fifteen feet in width, were crossed between it and

TLELL RIVER.

This stream, about thirty miles north of Skidegate, is the most important water-course on the island, east of Ma.s.sett Inlet. It is from seventy-five to 150 feet in width, and navigable at high tide for about three miles. South of Tlell River there are several small brooks, but no rivers as far as Skidegate Inlet.

There are no harbors on the east coast of Graham Island, and only canoes and small vessels could find refuge in its small bay indentations in stormy weather. Shoals extend nearly its whole length, upon which many rocky reefs are visible at low tide. Mr. McGregor, of the Skidegate Oil Co., says that their small steamer struck a rock at least three and a half miles off this coast. Mr. Maynard also reports that our canoe hit a rock over a mile from sh.o.r.e, when near the mouth of Tlell River. The general elevation of the eastern is much higher than that of the northern sh.o.r.e of the island, rising to bold sand bluffs from 50 to 250 feet in height for the greater portion of the distance between the Hoy-kund-la and Tlell Rivers.

Having thus briefly outlined the most prominent physical features of the section traversed, I will return to the point of departure on Ma.s.sett Inlet, and notice its

AGRICULTURAL, GRAZING AND TIMBER LANDS.

Of strictly agricultural lands, the quant.i.ty found is quite limited. At the mouth of Cedar Creek there are about twenty acres of overflowed land which could easily be reclaimed by dyking. Along Canoe Pa.s.sage there is a considerably larger tract of tide-land, probably 150 acres, which from two to three feet of levee would protect from overflow. Proceeding northward there is no open country until Deleatlay* is reached, where there are about 900 acres of level land, about one-half of which is subject to overflow at high tides. This produces an abundant growth of meadow gra.s.s. It is situated about two miles southeast of the village of Ma.s.sett. Pa.s.sing over to the north coast there is a strip of grazing land from fifty to ten rods in width, narrowing as it is followed eastward, which extends from the village named, unbroken, for five or six miles along the immediate seash.o.r.e. It produces a coa.r.s.e sea blade bunch gra.s.s and affords considerable grazing. This tract comprises about 1,000 acres, most of which is of too uneven surface to admit of cultivation with the plow.

On the inlet extending from Skoonan River westward, there are about seventy-five acres of tide-lands which could be reclaimed by a short, inexpensive d.y.k.e. Near Yakan Point, to the eastward, there are about twenty acres of level meadow land, with a small patch adjoining, where the Indians have raised potatoes. In the meadow I found cranberry vines, upon which last season's fruit was still hanging. About one mile south-west of Tow Hill and half a mile from the sea sh.o.r.e, with timber intervening, there is a marsh containing about 200 acres, which could probably be drained and converted into good gra.s.s land. Here I also found cranberry vines in a flourishing condition and their fruit. Three or four miles back from the coast at this point, lies a tract of several hundred acres of swamp gra.s.s land, which by drainage, would afford considerable pasturage. A narrow strip of grazing land, from five to fifteen rods in width, extends for about three miles along the seash.o.r.e, eastward from near the mouth of the Hi-ellen River. Five or six miles south-west of Rose Spit peninsula, I found a hay marsh of probably 150 acres.