CUSTOMS AND ARTS OF THE KWAKIOOL. 351 



give away more than a thousand blankets, and will strive as soon 

 as possible to be in a position to do so. 



The nominal excuses for giving a potlatch are numerous, the 

 most common being, however, the wish to assume a new and more 

 honorable name. The name proposed to be taken passes by com- 

 mon consent, if the potlatch shall have been successful and on a 

 sufficient scale. 



Should an Indian wish to humiliate another for any reason, he 

 may destroy a great number of blankets or much other valued 

 property. This, according to custom, leaves his adversary in debt 

 to the amount of the property made away with. It then behooves 

 the debtor to bring out and destroy a like or if possible a greater 

 amount of property. If he is not able to do this, he lies under the 

 reproach of having been worsted by his foe. 



The difficulties attendant on any effort toward the improve- 

 ment of the condition and mode of life of the coast tribes of Brit- 

 ish Columbia are very grave ; and the actual results of missionary 

 labors, such as those carried on by Mr. Hall among the Kwakiool, 

 and other self-sacrificing persons elsewhere, are in most cases, to 

 all appearance, small. 



It is difficult to induce individuals to abandon their old cus- 

 toms and bad habits, and nearly impossible to prevent them from 

 relapsing, from time to time, owing to the fact that they still live 

 promiscuously among and herd together with the mass of the 

 tribe. Since the arrival of the whites, the Kwakiool, equally with 

 other tribes, have become, in a word, " demoralized." They have 

 lost, to a great extent, their pride and interest in the things which 

 formerly occupied them, losing at the same time their spirit and 

 self-respect, and replacing it by nothing. It is comparatively easy 

 at all times to obtain a sufficiency of food, and food is at some 

 seasons — as during the salmon-run — to be had in the greatest 

 abundance with very little effort. Beyond this, there is nothing 

 more to occupy their time fully and to keep them out of mischief. 

 They are restless and unhappy. In some seasons, good wages are 

 to be obtained by picking hops in the vicinity of Puget Sound, 

 and it has thus become customary for many of the tribes to go 

 south in the autumn, nominally for this purpose, but in reality 

 with no great prospect of obtaining work. They may then be 

 seen leaving their villages in bodies in their large and well-built 

 traveling-canoes, whole families together with their household 

 effects and children, and three, four, or five paddlers to each ca- 

 noe, setting out cheerfully enough on their voyage of two hun- 

 dred miles or more. They may obtain a little money while away, 

 which they invest in goods and whisky, if they can obtain it (and 

 in this there is unfortunately very little difficulty). They live, 

 however, in the vicinity of Victoria and other large towns in a 



