326 



AxMERICAN FORESTRY 



Photo by E. A. Sterling. 



A SiWASH Dug Out. 



Some of the British Columbia Indians are very skillful in the making of these "dug out" canoes, far excelling the 

 white men. The canoes are light and graceful as may be seen. This one is manned by two Indian boys and 

 can travel fast. 



the lesser lights are laid to rest in a 

 rude box tied fast to a limb high in the 

 top of a nearby tree. In an isolated 

 winter village of about 350 inhabitants 

 on a little island near Fife Sound the 

 trees back of the village are thickly- 

 laden with the rude burial cairns. Fish 

 of various kinds largely constitute the 

 Indians' diet, and at the same village 

 the strip of beach is strewn with shells 

 of clams which have been brought in 

 until it looks like a natural shell beach. 

 As government wards, the Siwash 

 are a race on which either pity or ad- 

 miration would be wasted. They are 

 well suited to their environment, and 

 the British Columbia coast is something 

 of a Paradise for the Indian temper- 

 ament. They can hunt and fish in any 

 season of the year, work in the can- 

 neries or logging camps if they feel like 

 it and do not have to plan for any 

 radical change in seasons. Their attire 

 reflects the prosperity, age and tastes 

 of the wearer, ranging down through 

 various stages of overalls, calicos and 

 blankets, to the old squaw with a dirty 

 single garment, blanket, and bare feet. 

 The young Indians are often seen 



proudly and uncomfortably attired in 

 the latest styles of ready-made clothes, 

 with the accompaniment of shiny yellow 

 shoes, white collars and other adjuncts 

 of civilized man. 



Some of the Indians are at times 

 really very prosperous, their cash assets 

 being derived from high pay as guides, 

 or the more nominal wages of the sal- 

 mon canneries ; while a particularly 

 energetic individual will sometimes ap- 

 pear in town with Sl,000 to S3,000 in 

 cash as the result of having sold a boom 

 of hand logged timber. As a rule, how- 

 ever, they are poor more hours than 

 they are rich. Naturally they do not 

 know how to make the best use of their 

 money when they get it, but they spend 

 it according to the best light they have, 

 which usually means that it goes for 

 "jim-cracks" or a lot of first class ma- 

 terial which they really do not need. 



A well-known forest engineer in Van- 

 couver relates his experience in spend- 

 ing an evening at one of the Indian 

 homes at Thunder Bay. Apparently the 

 family had recently passed through a 

 temporary period of prosperity, for the 

 visitor was interested to see stacked up 



