Ethnology of the Pacific Coast 

 standing and rank was and is, even now, determined 

 by his wealth. Property is reckoned in terms of 

 blankets, a fifty-cent cotton article obtained in the 

 old days from the Hudson's Bay Company being the 

 unit of value. "Wealthy Indians possess enormous 

 numbers of these blankets. 



The north Coast people still celebrate elaborate 

 feasts, or potlatches, at which they distribute 

 blankets broadcast among the guests. Potlatching 

 has been bitterly opposed by missionaries and offici- 

 als in charge of Indian affairs, who object to the 

 practice as a sinful waste. As a matter of fact the 

 Indian financier at feasts is not really giving away 

 anything. He parcels out blankets not among his 

 friends but rather among his enemies. Every such 

 "gift" has to be repaid after a given term with an 

 exorbitant rate of interest, sometimes as high as 

 two hundred and fifty per cent. Such a gift was 

 really a dare, since it carried with it very serious 

 responsibility. The victim was not considered at 

 liberty to refuse it. The whole institution was a 

 game in which the loser sacrificed his property, his 

 rank, his liberty, and even the standing of his 

 posterity. 



An individual of noble rank possesses a great 

 many crests and symbols, which are carved on his 

 utensils, painted oh his canoes, and represented on 

 enormous totem poles which are placed in front of 

 his dwelling or set up over his grave. These totem 

 poles are among the most picturesque objects of 

 primitive American life. A person who wins great 

 wealth assumes or purchases similar crests, which 

 he in turn hands down to his descendants. All the 

 objects obtained among these North Pacific Indians 

 are elaborately ornamented with crest designs, often 

 of grotesque and striking appearance. The art on 

 the whole is of a most unusual but highly special- 

 ized sort. The meaning of the designs and the 

 methods of working them out form a most interest- 

 ing study. 



This art receives perhaps its highest expression 

 in the weaving of certain blankets or robes com- 

 posed of cedar-bark string an^ the wool of the 

 mountain goat. These fabrics are usually called Chil- 

 kat blankets, from the name of one of the tribes in 

 southern Alaska. The weaving of these blankets 

 was formerly common along the whole Coast. They 

 are among the most beautiful objects of native 

 American art. Single blankets often have a value 

 at the present time of several thousand dollars. 

 Within recent years only the Indians in the neigh- 

 borhood of Chilkat keep up the practice. 



195 



