CRUISE AMONG RAID A AND T LIN GIT VILLAGES. 173 



selves well repaid for our pains. The house was about thirty years 

 old, and its roof was covered with a thick growth of moss. It was 

 about five feet high and nearly six feet square. Removing a portion 

 of one of the walls, we could see the body, which had been carefully 

 wrapped in several cedar-bark mats, and tied into a neat bundle with 

 stout cedar-bark rope. Over the bundle were branches of bog 

 myrtle, and under the head was a box. Removing the wrapping 

 still further, we disclosed the desiccated body of a woman doctor. 

 In one hand she clasped a long knife, its steel blade entirely wasted 

 away, leaving only the handle. In the other hand was a beauti- 

 fully carved wooden pipe inlaid with finely polished abalone shells; 

 but her real title to distinction lay in the immense wooden plug or 

 labret which still remained in her lower lip. Throughout the entire 

 Northwest coast the labret was a mark of honor, and the larger its 

 size the more honor it conferred, for every time a new labret of 

 larger size was inserted it necessitated the giving of a great potlatch, 

 or present-distributing feast. It is related that in the olden times 

 disputes between women were often settled by one of the disputants, 

 scornfully pointing one hand at her enemies and laying a finger on 

 her own labret, declaiming in a manner at once emphatic and con- 

 clusive, " My labret is bigger than yours." 



Our next stopping place was ISIew Tongas, which we reached at 

 six o'clock on the following afternoon. We were soon ashore, but 

 our expectations were not fulfilled, for in this town of New Tongas 

 there was not a single living soul; all were away at work in the 

 salmon canneries. 



The location of the town is most delightful. It stands on a little 

 island facing a long, rocky beach. At the rear of the village is 

 a dense forest of cedars, pines, and spruces. The architecture dis- 

 played in the houses is not of the usual white man's cottage order, 

 but the plans of the old times have been followed, so that the 

 houses bear a superficial resemblance to their former dwellings. In 

 the place of massive beams and three or four foot cedar planks, how- 

 ever, are light frames and thin, narrow weather-boards. Most of 

 the houses have two or more windows, which are often boarded up 

 and are generally without glass. 



In still another respect this modern village has preserved one of 

 the old-time features of house building. We looked in vain for 

 any chimney, but found instead a square opening in the center of 

 the roof, partially covered over, through which the smoke makes its 

 exit. Of the many interesting totem poles two may be noticed par- 

 ticularly. The first stands by the side of the present chief's house, 

 and has been erected within a few years. The designs are well 

 made and of an unusual character. The other totem pole is one of 



