632 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



The effect of this speech was very great. It seemed that all of a 

 sudden the former distrust had vanished. Every one was eager to as- 

 sure me that the Indians' hearts were glad when they heard my words, 

 and that they hoped lo see me long in their village. Soon after this 

 the feast was at an end ; the men carried the rest of their meals home 

 to their wives and children, who returned the empty dishes the same 

 night ; and now every house was still and quiet, the inhabitants hav- 

 ing gone to sleep. 



The next morning they took up their regular occupations. Fire- 

 wood was carried into the houses and the fires were lighted. Men and 

 women got water from the near brook, and were busy washing their 

 blankets and petticoats ; the old men sat lazily on the wood platforms 

 which are erected on the sea-side of the street, and looked at the fisher- 

 men who were out at sea in their canoes, talked over the events of the 

 day, or passed the time in gambling. The platform is the favorite 

 place of the Indian. There he sits for hours and hours, wrapped up 

 in his blanket, and leaning on the heavy board which forms its balus- 

 trade. Clumsy steps cut out of large trees lead from the street and the 

 platforms down to the beach, where fish are drying, where heavy logs 

 of drift-wood are piled up for fire-wood, and where large cedars, which 

 have been cut down with great difficulty and towed to the village, are 

 burned out and dug out to become in the hands of the skillful native 

 a swift and strong boat. Children are playing on the beach. They 

 paddle about in small canoes and practice all kinds of sport. 



About noon the hunters had returned, and the natives prepared for 

 the feast which was to take place in the evening. They were deter- 

 mined to celebrate it by a great dance. In the flattering way which 

 is characteristic of these tribes, one of the chiefs said to me : " When a 

 great chief comes here, we do not always honor him by a dance, but as 

 you are good and a mighty chief, and as you come from a far-away 

 country, we wish to make your heart glad. Go into j^our house and 

 await us ! " The house in which I lived was prepared in the same 

 way as described before, and I hired a young man to cook the meal for 

 the sixty men whom I was expecting. When the meal was ready, the 

 dancers had finished their preparations. The wife of my host took 

 her place near the fire, and kept fish-oil ready for pouring it into the 

 fire, which then blazes up and lightens the whole house. Now the 

 dancers had assembled at the opposite end of the village. With sticks 

 and fists they beat the time on the walls of the houses, and slowly 

 approached, singing the dancing-song. Now the door of the house 

 was torn open and the dancers appeared, one of the chiefs — a man 

 of over sixty years — first. He was clothed in an old uniform and 

 carried the British flag. The next day I learned that he had received 

 both from the Superintendent of the Indians of British Columbia, with 

 an appointment as sheriff, and the particular instruction to watch that 

 no dances were held ! How well he performed this duty was seen on 



