538 HABITS. 



They never walk upright ; a stooping posture and awkward 

 movement is their natural gait. They may be fit mates for 

 such uncouth men, but to civilized people their appearance is 

 disgusting. The smoke of wood fires, confined in small 



o O 



wigwams, hurts their eyes so much that they are red and 

 watery : the effects of their oiling or greasing themselves, and 

 then rubbing ochre, clay, or charcoal over their bodies ; of 

 their often feeding upon the most offensive substances, some- 

 times in a state of putridity ; and of other vile habits, may 

 readily be imagined."* Their incisors are worn flat,-)* like 

 those of the Esquimaux and of many ancient races. 



"The men procure food of the larger kind, such as seal, 

 otter, porpoise, etc. ; they break or cut wood and bark for fuel, 

 as well as for building the wigwams or canoes. They go out 

 at night to get birds ; they train the dogs, and of course 

 undertake all hunting or warlike excursions. The women 

 nurse their children, attend the fire (feeding it with dead 

 wood rather than green, on account of the smoke), make 

 baskets and water-buckets, fishing-lines and necklaces, go out 

 to catch small fish in their canoes, gather shell-fish, dive for 

 sea-eggs, take care of their canoes, upon ordinary occasions 

 paddle their masters about while they sit idle, and do any 

 other drudgery." J 



"When there is time, the natives roast their shell-fish, and 

 half- roast any other food that is of a solid nature ; but when 



in haste, they eat fish, as well as meat, in a raw state 



Both seals and porpoises are speared by them from their canoes. 

 When struck, the fish usually run into the kelp, with the 

 spear floating on the water, being attached by a short line to 

 a movable barb : and then the men follow with their canoe, 

 seize the spear, and tow by it till the fish is dead. To them 

 the taking of a seal or a porpoise is a matter of as much 



* 1. c, p. 139. t Ibid. I- c. p. 185. 



t Fitzroy, Appendix, p. 144. 



