The Works of Hubert Howe Bancroft Part 30

[288] 'Their cloaks, which are circular capes with a hole in the centre, edged with sea-otter skin, are constructed from the inner bark of the cypress. It turns the rain, is very soft and pliable,' etc. _Belcher's Voy._, vol. i., p. 112. The usual dress of the Newchema.s.s 'is a _kootsuck_ made of wolf skin, with a number of the tails attached to it ... hanging from the top to the bottom; though they sometimes wear a similar mantle of bark cloth, of a much coa.r.s.er texture than that of Nootka.' _Jewitt's Nar._, pp. 77-8, 21-3, 56-8, 62-6. 'Their common dress is a flaxen garment, or mantle, ornamented on the upper edge by a narrow strip of fur, and at the lower edge, by fringes or ta.s.sels. It pa.s.ses under the left arm, and is tied over the right shoulder, by a string before, and one behind, near its middle.... Over this, which reaches below the knees, is worn a small cloak of the same substance, likewise fringed at the lower part.... Their head is covered with a cap, of the figure of a truncated cone, or like a flower-pot, made of fine matting, having the top frequently ornamented with a round or pointed k.n.o.b, or bunch of leathern ta.s.sels.' _Cook's Voy. to Pac._, vol. ii., pp.

304-8, 270-1, 280. 'The men's dress is a blanket; the women's a strip of cloth, or shift, and blanket. The old costume of the natives was the same as at present, but the material was different.' _Sproat's Scenes_, pp. 25, 315. 'Their clothing generally consists of skins,' but they have two other garments of bark or dog's hair. 'Their garments of all kinds are worn mantlewise, and the borders of them are fringed' with wampum.

_Spark's Life of Ledyard_, pp. 71-2; _Colyer_, in _Ind. Aff. Rept._, 1869, p. 533; _Sutil y Mexicana_, _Viage_, pp. 30-1, 38, 56-7, 126-8; _Meares' Voy._, pp. 251-4; _Grant_, in _Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour._, vol.

xxvii., p. 297; _Lord's Nat._, vol. i., pp. 143-4; _Mofras_, _Explor._, tom. ii., pp. 344-5; _Whymper's Alaska_, p. 37; _Greenhow's Hist. Ogn._, p. 116; _Macfie's Van. Isl._, pp. 431, 443; _Barrett-Lennard's Trav._, p.

46. See portraits in _Cook's Atlas_, _Belcher's Voy._, _Sutil y Mexicana, Atlas_, and _Whymper's Alaska._

[289] On the east side of Vancouver was a village of thirty-four houses, arranged in regular streets. The house of the leader 'was distinguished by three rafters of stout timber raised above the roof, according to the architecture of Nootka, though much inferior to those I had there seen, in point of size.' Bed-rooms were separated, and more decency observed than at Nootka Sound. _Vancouver's Voy._, vol. i., pp. 346-7, with a view of this village; also pp. 324-5, description of the village on Desolation Sound; p. 338, on Valdes Island; p. 326, view of village on Bute Ca.n.a.l; and vol. iii., pp. 310-11, a peculiarity not noticed by Cook--'immense pieces of timber which are raised, and horizontally placed on wooden pillars, about eighteen inches above the roof of the largest houses in that village; one of which pieces of timber was of a size sufficient to have made a lower mast for a third rate man of war.'

See _Cook's Voy. to Pac._, vol. ii., pp. 281, 313-19, and _Atlas_, plate 40. A sort of a duplicate inside building, with shorter posts, furnishes on its roof a stage, where all kinds of property and supplies are stored. _Sproat's Scenes_, pp. 37-43. 'The planks or boards which they make use of for building their houses, and for other uses, they procure of different lengths, as occasion requires, by splitting them out, with hard wooden wedges from pine logs, and afterwards dubbing them down with their chizzels.' _Jewitt's Nar._, pp. 52-4. Grant states that the Nootka houses are palisade inclosures formed of stakes or young fir-trees, some twelve or thirteen feet high, driven into the ground close together, roofed in with slabs of fir or cedar. _Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour._, vol.

xxvii., p. 299. The t.e.e.t.s have palisaded enclosures. _Anderson_, in _Hist. Mag._, vol. vii., p. 74. 'The chief resides at the upper end, the proximity of his relatives to him being according to their degree of kindred.' _Macfie's Vanc. Isl._, pp. 443-4; _Dunn's Oregon_, p. 243; _Belcher's Voy._, vol. i., p. 112; _Lord's Nat._, vol. i., pp. 158, 164-5, 167, 320-21; _Seemann's Voy. of Herald_, vol. i., pp. 105-6. The carved pillars are not regarded by the natives as idols in any sense.

_Sutil y Mexicana_, _Viage_, pp. 128-9, 102; _Barrett-Lennard's Trav._, pp. 47, 73-4. Some houses eighty by two hundred feet. _Colyer_, in _Ind.

Aff. Rept._, 1869, p. 533; _Mayne's B. C._, p. 296; _Gordon's Hist. and Geog. Mem._, pp. 120-1.

[290] 'Their heads and their garments swarm with vermin, which, ... we used to see them pick off with great composure, and eat.' _Cook's Voy.

to Pac._, vol. ii., p. 305. See also pp. 279-80, 318-24. 'Their mode of living is very simple--their food consisting almost wholly of fish, or fish sp.a.w.n fresh or dried, the blubber of the whale, seal, or sea-cow, muscles, clams, and berries of various kinds; all of which are eaten with a profusion of train oil.' _Jewitt's Nar._, pp. 58-60, 68-9, 86-8, 94-7, 103. _Sproat's Scenes_, pp. 52-7, 61, 87, 144-9, 216-70. 'The common business of fishing for ordinary sustenance is carried on by slaves, or the lower cla.s.s of people;--While the more n.o.ble occupation of killing the whale and hunting the sea-otter, is followed by none but the chiefs and warriors.' _Meares' Voy._, p. 258. 'They make use of the dried fucus giganteus, anointed with oil, for lines, in taking salmon and sea-otters.' _Belcher's Voy._, vol. i., pp. 112-13. _Sutil y Mexicana_, _Viage_, pp. 17, 26, 45-6, 59-60, 76, 129-30, 134-5; _Grant_, in _Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour._, vol. xxvii., pp. 299-300; _Mayne's B. C._, pp. 252-7; _Macfie's Vanc. Isl._, pp. 165-442; _Simpson's Overland Journ._, vol. i., p. 239; _Pemberton's Vanc. Isl._, pp. 28-32; _Dunn's Oregon_, p. 243; _Mofras_, _Explor._, tom. ii., p. 338. The Sau-kau-lutuck tribe 'are said to live on the edge of a lake, and subsist princ.i.p.ally on deer and bear, and such fish as they can take in the lake.' _Lord's Nat._, vol. i., pp. 158-9; _Barrett-Lennard's Trav._, pp. 48, 74-5, 76-7, 85-6, 90-1, 144-50, 197-8; vol. ii., p. 111; _Cornwallis' New El Dorado_, p. 100; _Forbes' Vanc. Isl._, pp. 54-5; _Rattray's Vanc. Isl._, pp. 77-8, 82-3; _Hud. Bay Co., Rept. Spec. Com._, 1857, p. 114.

[291] _Sutil y Mexicana_, _Viage_, pp. 57, 63, 78; _Jewitt's Nar._, pp.

78-81; _Vancouver's Voy._, vol. i., p. 307; _Macfie's Vanc. Isl._, p.

443; _c.o.x's Adven._, vol. i., p. 100. 'The native bow, like the canoe and paddle, is beautifully formed. It is generally made of yew or crab-apple wood, and is three and a half feet long, with about two inches at each end turned sharply backwards from the string. The string is a piece of dried seal-gut, deer-sinew, or twisted bark. The arrows are about thirty inches long, and are made of pine or cedar, tipped with six inches of serrated bone, or with two unbarbed bone or iron p.r.o.ngs. I have never seen an Aht arrow with a barbed head.' _Sproat's Scenes_, p.

82. 'Having now to a great extent discarded the use of the traditional tomahawk and spear. Many of these weapons are, however, still preserved as heirlooms among them.' _Barrett-Lennard's Trav._, p. 42. 'No bows and arrows.' 'Generally fight hand to hand, and not with missiles.'

_Fitzwilliam's Evidence_, in _Hud. Bay Co. Rept._, 1857, p. 115.

[292] The Ahts 'do not take the scalp of the enemy, but cut off his head, by three dexterous movements of the knife ... and the warrior who has taken most heads is most praised and feared.' _Sproat's Scenes_, pp.

186-202. 'Scalp every one they kill.' _Macfie's Vanc. Isl._, p. 470, 443, 467. One of the Nootka princes a.s.sured the Spaniards that the bravest captains ate human flesh before engaging in battle. _Sutil y Mexicana_, _Viage_, p. 130. The Nittinahts consider the heads of enemies slain in battle as _spolia opima_. _Whymper's Alaska_, pp. 54, 78; _Jewitt's Nar._, pp. 120-1; _Lord's Nat._, vol. i., pp. 155-6, 158, 166, 171, vol. ii., p. 251-3. Women keep watch during the night, and tell the exploits of their nation to keep awake. _Meares' Voy._, p. 267.

_Vancouver's Voy._, vol. i., p. 396; _Grant_, in _Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour._, vol. xxvii., p. 296; _Mayne's B. C._, p. 270; _Barrett-Lennard's Trav._, pp. 41-2, 129-36.

[293] 'They have no seats.... The rowers generally sit on their hams, but sometimes they make use of a kind of small stool.' _Meares' Voy._, pp. 263-4. The larger canoes are used for sleeping and eating, being dry and more comfortable than the houses. _Cook's Voy. to Pac._, vol. ii., pp. 319, 327, and _Atlas_, pl. 41. 'The most skillful canoe-makers among the tribes are the Nitinahts and the Klah-oh-quahts. They make canoes for sale to other tribes.' 'The baling-dish of the canoes, is always of one shape--the shape of the gable-roof of a cottage.' _Sproat's Scenes_, pp. 85, 87-8; _Mayne's B. C._, p. 283, and cut on t.i.tle-page. Canoes not in use are hauled up on the beach in front of their villages. _Grant_, in _Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour._, vol. xxvii., p. 301. 'They keep time to the stroke of the paddle with their songs.' _Jewitt's Nar._, pp. 69-71, 75; _Sutil y Mexicana_, _Viage_, pp. 39, 133; _Lord's Nat._, vol. i., p.

144; _Vancouver's Voy._, vol. i., p. 338. Their canoes 'are believed to supply the pattern after which clipper ships are built.' _Macfie's Vanc.

Isl._, pp. 484, 430. _Barrett-Lennard's Trav._, p. 50. _Colyer_, in _Ind. Aff. Rept._, 1869, p. 533.

[294] _Cook's Voy. to Pac._, vol. ii., pp. 271, 308, 316, 326, 329-30.

_Sproat's Scenes_, pp. 86-9, 317; _Sutil y Mexicana_, _Viage_, p. 129; _Lord's Nat._, vol. ii., pp. 257-8, which describes a painted and ornamented plate of native copper some one and a half by two and a half feet, kept with great care in a wooden case, also elaborately ornamented. It was the property of the tribe at Fort Rupert, and was highly prized, and only brought out on great occasions, though its use was not discovered. _Macfie's Vanc. Isl._, p. 165.

[295] Woolen cloths of all degrees of fineness, made by hand and worked in figures, by a method not known. _Cook's Voy. to Pac._, vol. ii., p.

325. _Sutil y Mexicana_, _Viage_, pp. 46, 136; _Lord's Nat._, vol. ii., p. 254; _Sproat's Scenes_, pp. 88-9; _Jewitt's Nar._, p. 55; _Macfie's Vanc. Isl._, pp. 442, 451, 483-5; _Mofras_, _Explor._, tom. ii., p. 344; _Pemberton's Vanc. Isl._, p. 131; _Cornwallis' New El Dorado_, pp.

99-100. 'The implement used for weaving, (by the t.e.e.t.s) differed in no apparent respect from the rude loom of the days of the Pharaohs.'

_Anderson_, in _Hist. Mag._, vol. vii., p. 78.

[296] _Sproat's Scenes_, pp. 79-81, 89, 96, 111-13; _Kane's Wand._, pp.

220-1; _Macfie's Vanc. Isl._, pp. 429, 437; _Cook's Voy. to Pac._, vol.

ii., p. 284; _Sutil y Mexicana_, _Viage_, p. 147; _Lord's Nat._, vol.

i., pp. 165-6; _Mayne's B. C._, 263-5.

[297] _Jewitt's Nar._, pp. 78-80; _Sproat's Scenes_, pp. 19, 55, 78-9, 92. Before the adoption of blankets as a currency, they used small sh.e.l.ls from the coast bays for coin, and they are still used by some of the more remote tribes. _Grant_, in _Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour._, vol.

xxvii., p. 307. 'Their acuteness in barter is remarkable.' _Forbes'

Vanc. Isl._, p. 25.

[298] The Ahts 'divide the year into thirteen months, or rather moons, and begin with the one that pretty well answers to our November. At the same time, as their names are applied to each actual new moon as it appears, they are not, by half a month and more (sometimes), identical with our calendar months.' _Sproat's Scenes_, pp. 121-4. 'Las personas mas cultas dividen el ano en catorce meses, y cada uno de estos en veinte dias, agregando luego algunos dias intercalares al fin de cada mes. El de Julio, que ellos llaman _Satz-tzi-mitl_, y es el primero de su ano, a mas de sus veinte dias ordinarios tiene tantos intercalares quantos dura la abundancia de lenguados, atunes, etc.' _Sutil y Mexicana_, _Viage_, pp. 153-4, 148; _Grant_, in _Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour._, vol. xxvii., pp. 295, 304; _Lord's Nat._, vol. ii., pp. 242-4.

[299] 'They shew themselves ingenious sculptors. They not only preserve, with great exactness, the general character of their own faces, but finish the more minute parts, with a degree of accuracy in proportion, and neatness in execution.' _Cook's Voy. to Pac._, vol. ii., pp. 326-7, and _Atlas_, pl. 40; _Lord's Nat._, vol. i., pp. 164-5, vol. ii., pp.

257-8, and cut, p. 103; _Macfie's Vanc. Isl._, pp. 444-7, 484; _Mayne's B. C._, cut on p. 271.

[300] 'In an Aht tribe of two hundred men, perhaps fifty possess various degrees of acquired or inherited rank; there may be about as many slaves; the remainder are independent members.' Some of the Klah-oh-quahts 'pay annually to their chief certain contributions, consisting of blankets, skins, etc.' 'A chief's "blue blood" avails not in a dispute with one of his own people; he must fight his battle like a common man.' _Sproat's Scenes_, pp. 113-17, 18-20, 226. Cheslakees, a chief on Johnson's Strait, was inferior but not subordinate in authority to Maquinna, the famous king at Nootka Sound, but the chief at Loughborough's Channel claimed to be under Maquinna. _Vancouver's Voy._, vol. i., pp. 346, 331. 'La dignidad de Tays es hereditaria de padres a hijos, y pasa regularmente a estos luego que estan en edad de gobernar, si los padres por ancianidad u otras causas no pueden seguir mandando.'

'El gobierno de estos naturales puede llama.r.s.e Patriarcal; pues el Xefe de la nacion hace a un mismo tiempo los oficios de padre de familia, de Rey y de Sumo Sacerdote.' 'Los n.o.bles gozan de tanta consideracion en Nutka, que ni aun de palabra se atreven los Tayses a reprehenderlos.'

'Todos consideraban a este (Maquinna) como Soberano de las costas, desde la de Buena Esperanza hasta la punta de Arrecifes, con todos los Ca.n.a.les interiores.' To steal, or to know carnally a girl nine years old, is punished with death. _Sutil y Mexicana_, _Viage_, pp. 140, 136, 147, 19, 25. 'There are such men as Chiefs, who are distinguished by the name or t.i.tle of _Acweek_, and to whom the others are, in some measure, subordinate. But, I should guess, the authority of each of these great men extends no farther than the family to which he belongs.' _Cook's Voy. to Pac._, vol. ii., pp. 333-4. 'La forme de leur gouvernement est toute patriarcale, et la dignite de chef, hereditaire.' _Mofras_, _Explor._, tom. ii., p. 346. Several very populous villages to the northward, included in the territory of Maquilla, the head chief, were entrusted to the government of the princ.i.p.al of his female relations.

The whole government formed a political bond of union similar to the feudal system which formerly obtained in Europe. _Meares' Voy._, pp.

228-9. 'The king or head Tyee, is their leader in war, in the management of which he is perfectly absolute. He is also president of their councils, which are almost always regulated by his opinion. But he has no kind of power over the property of his subjects.' _Jewitt's Nar._, pp. 138-9, 47, 69, 73. _Kane's Wand._, pp. 220-1. 'There is no code of laws, nor do the chiefs possess the power or means of maintaining a regular government; but their personal influence is nevertheless very great with their followers.' _Douglas_, in _Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour._, vol. xxiv., p. 246.

[301] 'Usually kindly treated, eat of the same food, and live as well as their masters.' 'None but the king and chiefs have slaves.' 'Maquinna had nearly fifty, male and female, in his house.' _Jewitt's Nar._, pp.

73-4. Meares states that slaves are occasionally sacrificed and feasted upon. _Voy._, p. 255. The Newettee tribe nearly exterminated by kidnappers. _Dunn's Oregon_, p. 242. 'An owner might bring half a dozen slaves out of his house and kill them publicly in a row without any notice being taken of the atrocity. But the slave, as a rule, is not harshly treated.' 'Some of the smaller tribes at the north of the Island are practically regarded as slave-breeding tribes, and are attacked periodically by stronger tribes.' The American sh.o.r.e of the strait is also a fruitful source of slaves. _Sproat's Scenes_, pp. 89-92. 'They say that one Flathead slave is worth more than two Roundheads.' _Rept.

Ind. Aff._, 1857, p. 327; _Mayne's B. C._, p. 284; _Grant_, in _Lond.

Geog. Soc., Jour._, vol. xxvii., p. 296; _Lord's Nat._, vol. i., pp.

154-5, 166; _Kane's Wand._, p. 220; _Sutil y Mexicana_, _Viage_, p. 131; _Macfie's Vanc. Isl._, pp. 431, 442, 470-1.

[302] 'The women go to bed first, and are up first in the morning to prepare breakfast,' p. 52. 'The condition of the Aht women is not one of unseemly inferiority,' p. 93. 'Their female relations act as midwives.

There is no separate place for lying-in. The child, on being born, is rolled up in a mat among feathers.' 'They suckle one child till another comes,' p. 94. 'A girl who was known to have lost her virtue, lost with it one of her chances of a favourable marriage, and a chief ... would have put his daughter to death for such a lapse,' p. 95. In case of a separation, if the parties belong to different tribes, the children go with the mother, p. 96. 'No traces of the existence of polyandry among the Ahts,' p. 99. The personal modesty of the Aht women when young is much greater than that of the men, p. 315. _Sproat's Scenes_, pp. 28-30, 50-2, 93-102, 160, 264, 315. One of the chiefs said that three was the number of wives permitted: 'como numero necesario para no comunicar con la que estuviese en cinta.' 'Muchos de ellos mueren sin casa.r.s.e.' 'El Tays no puede hacer uso de sus mugeres sin ver enteramente iluminado el disco de la luna.' _Sutil y Mexicana_, _Viage_, pp. 141-6. Women treated with no particular respect in any situation. _Cook's Voy. to Pac._, vol.

ii., p. 318. Persons of the same crest are not allowed to marry. 'The child again always takes the crest of the mother.' 'As a rule also, descent is traced from the mother, not from the father.' 'Intrigue with the wives of men of other tribes is one of the commonest causes of quarrel among the Indians.' _Mayne's B. C._, pp. 257-8, 276; _Macfie's Vanc. Isl._, pp. 444-7. The women are 'very reserved and chaste.'

_Meares' Voy._, pp. 251, 258, 265, 268; _Kane's Wand._, pp. 239-40. The Indian woman, to sooth her child, makes use of a springy stick fixed obliquely in the ground to which the cradle is attached by a string, forming a convenient baby-jumper. _Lord's Nat._, vol. ii., p. 259; _Pemberton's Vanc. Isl._, p. 131; _Mofras_, _Explor._, tom. ii., pp.

346-7. 'Where there are no slaves in the tribe or family they perform all the drudgery of bringing firewood, water, &c.' _Grant_, in _Lond.

Geog. Soc., Jour._, vol. xxvii., pp. 298-9, 304. No intercourse between the newly married pair for a period of ten days, p. 129. 'Perhaps in no part of the world is virtue more prized,' p. 74. _Jewitt's Nar._, pp.

59-60, 74, 127-9; _Cornwallis' New El Dorado_, p. 101.

[303] 'When relieved from the presence of strangers, they have much easy and social conversation among themselves.' 'The conversation is frequently coa.r.s.e and indecent.' _Sproat's Scenes_, pp. 50-1. 'Cantando y baylando al rededor de las hogueras, abandonandose a todos los excesos de la liviandad.' _Sutil y Mexicana_, _Viage_, p. 133.

[304] _Sproat's Scenes_, pp. 55-6; _Sutil y Mexicana_, _Viage_, p. 144.

[305] _Grant_, in _Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour._, vol. xxvii., p. 299; _Mayne's B. C._, pp. 275-6; _Pemberton's Vanc. Isl._, p. 134; _Macfie's Vanc. Isl._, p. 444; _Barrett-Lennard's Trav._, p. 53.

[306] _Sproat's Scenes_, p. 269. But Lord says 'nothing can be done without it.' _Nat._, vol. i., p. 168.

[307] The Indian never invites any of the same crest as himself.

_Macfie's Vanc. Isl._, 445. 'They are very particular about whom they invite to their feasts, and, on great occasions, men and women feast separately, the women always taking the precedence.' _Duncan_, in _Mayne's B. C._, pp. 263-6; _Sproat's Scenes_, pp. 59-63.

[308] _Lord's Nat._, vol. i., pp. 259-60.

[309] 'I have never seen an Indian woman dance at a feast, and believe it is seldom if ever done.' _Mayne's B. C._, pp. 267-9. The women generally 'form a separate circle, and chaunt and jump by themselves.'

_Grant_, in _Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour._, vol. xxvii., p. 306. 'As a rule, the men and women do not dance together; when the men are dancing the women sing and beat time,' but there is a dance performed by both s.e.xes.

_Sproat's Scenes_, pp. 66-7. 'On other occasions a male chief will invite a party of female guests to share his hospitality.' _Macfie's Vanc. Isl._, p. 431. 'Las mugeres baylan desayradisimamente; rara vez se prestan a esta diversion.' _Sutil y Mexicana_, _Viage_, p. 152.

[310] 'La decencia obliga a pasar en silencio los bayles obscenos de los Mischimis (common people), especialmente el del impotente a causa de la edad, y el del pobre que no ha podido casa.r.s.e.' _Sutil y Mexicana_, _Viage_, pp. 151-2, 18; _Macfie's Vanc. Isl._, pp. 432-7; _Sproat's Scenes_, pp. 65-71; _Mayne's B. C._, pp. 266-7; _Jewitt's Nar._, p. 389; _Grant_, in _Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour._, vol. xxvii., p. 306; _Cornwallis'

New El Dorado_, pp. 99-103.

[311] _Jewitt's Nar._, pp. 39, 60, 72-3; _Vancouver's Voy._, vol. iii., pp. 307-10; _Cook's Voy. to Pac._, vol. ii., pp. 310-11.

[312] Their music is mostly grave and serious, and in exact concert, when sung by great numbers. 'Variations numerous and expressive, and the cadence or melody powerfully soothing.' _Cook's Voy. to Pac._, vol. ii., pp. 310-11, 283. Dislike European music. _Sutil y Mexicana_, _Viage_, pp. 151-2. 'Their tunes are generally soft and plaintive, and though not possessing great variety, are not deficient in harmony.' Jewitt thinks the words of the songs may be borrowed from other tribes. _Jewitt's Nar._, p. 72, and specimen of war song, p. 166. Airs consist of five or six bars, varying slightly, time being beaten in the middle of the bar.

'Melody they have none, there is nothing soft, pleasing, or touching in their airs; they are not, however, without some degree of rude harmony.'

_Grant_, in _Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour._, vol. xviii., p. 306. 'A certain beauty of natural expression in many of the native strains, if it were possible to relieve them from the monotony which is their fault.' There are old men, wandering minstrels, who sing war songs and beg. 'It is remarkable how aptly the natives catch and imitate songs heard from settlers or travelers.' _Sproat's Scenes_, pp. 63-5.

[313] _Macfie's Vanc. Isl._, pp. 430-1; _Jewitt's Nar._, p. 39.

[314] 'I have seen the sorcerers at work a hundred times, but they use so many charms, which appear to me ridiculous,--they sing, howl, and gesticulate in so extravagant a manner, and surround their office with such dread and mystery,--that I am quite unable to describe their performances,' pp. 169-70. 'An unlucky dream will stop a sale, a treaty, a fishing, hunting, or war expedition,' p. 175. _Sproat's Scenes_, pp.