CHAPTER XII. 



THE NATIVES, THEIR CUSTOMS AND TRADITIONS. 



WHENCE the native tribes originally came that 

 people British Columbia and Vancouver Island 

 I know not. We may suppose them to have 

 come from the east, north, south, or west, write 

 volumes in support of our pet theories, and argue 

 for an indefinite time, after all to find ourselves 

 just as we started. There they are; and that is 

 about all we really know. 



Their numbers, steadily decreasing, may be 

 estimated at present as 30,000. The best divi- 

 sion is into coast and inland tribes. The coast 

 Indians are to a great extent dependant on the 

 canoe, as the sole means of transport, the habit of 

 sitting in which, continually, dwarfs and deforms 

 the legs ; add to this the custom of altering the 

 form of the skull in infancy, and we account for 

 the degenerate appearance of the coast savage 

 when compared to the active horseman and 

 hunter of the interior. 



