i66 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



but tlieir ranks are not filled up. In their stead are little stuffy, 

 propped-up cottages with iron stoves and glass windows, and by the 

 side of this modern village is the marble burying ground with 

 marble columns brought from Victoria. Masset is the Clyde of the 

 coast, and in the fall and winter the little street along the water's 

 edge is lined with great cedar logs, which are being chipped, steamed, 

 pressed, and fashioned into canoes, some over fifty feet long. 

 Strong and well built, the Haidas make journeys in them of hun- 

 dreds of miles — they are the vikings of the New World. Another 

 important industry of the town consists of weaving cedar bark 

 into mats and baskets. Tliese mats are strong and well made, and 

 serve innumerable purposes, the chief uses being for the floor and 

 for the outside covers of bundles and packages. But their prin- 

 cipal utensil for carrying is the white basket made of closely woven 

 splints of maple. 



The real interest in Masset, as well as that of other Indian villages 

 of this region, lies in the past; and to the past we turn. Beginning 

 with the ancient customs, we look in vain for the great labret or lip 

 ornament of old, which formerly played such an important -part in 

 the fashion in deformity. We did see one woman with a tiny plug 

 in her lip, but from this one can form no estimate of the extent to 

 which this custom was formerly carried. Of the tattooing little 

 remains, for the custom has long since been given up. But the 

 majority of the middle-aged men and women have their arms and 

 legs tattooed; and by dint of much persuasion and a piece of silver 

 Ave induced a decrepit old man to leave his house long enough to 

 enable us to carry away the photograph of his totem, which was 

 tattooed on his breast. 



The physical characteristics of the Haidas are peculiar and are to 

 be explained by the circumstances under which they live. With 

 but little exposure to the sun their complexion is very much lighter 

 than that of the coast tribes, and indeed often for fairness com- 

 pares very favorably with that of the Europeans. They have a full, 

 broad face, large eyes, a nose rather delicately molded, and promi- 

 nent cheek bones. The hair is jet black, thick, and heavy. The 

 men usually keep the hair plucked from the face, but where the 

 beard is allowed to grow it is generally thin and scant, and is almost 

 confined to the mustache. With both sexes the hair grows low over 

 the forehead. Twice while in Masset we encountered faces which 

 in their features seemed unusual and out of place. On inquiry we 

 learned that they were both slaves who had been taken in war from 

 the coast Indians long ago. 



Owing to their almost constant seafaring life, the Haidas have 

 long and powerfully developed arms, while their legs are propor- 



