No. 3.] G. M. DAWSOX — INDIANS OF CANADA. 149 



part of the province, are Indians belonging to the Shuswap or 

 Sclish connection, divided into many tribes, bearing different 

 names, but all allied in lano;uao:e, the differences between the 

 dialects being generally not so great as to prevent intercommuni- 

 cation. In a region physically isolated, in the extreme south- 

 east, are the Kooteney Indians, who appear to differ from all the 

 rest, and are perhaps more closely allied to the Indians of the 

 interior plains, whither they resort, at certain seasons, for the 

 purpose of hunting the buffalo. Along the coast, and on the 

 outlying islands, are scattered a great number of tribes dittering 

 more or less, and in former years frequently hostile one to 

 another. Into the race divisions of these it is not proposed to 

 enter, nor indeed is it possible as yet to speak very certainly on 

 this question. In customs, modes of life and thought, there is 

 complete diversity between the coast Indians and those of the 

 interior, which practically transcends the race divisions, being 

 like to in kind, but even greater in degree, than that existing 

 between the plain Indians and those of the woods, in the interior 

 of the continent. 



In the northern interior of British Columbia, the Indians, in- 

 habiting a country for the most part thickly wooded, still remain, 

 as they have always been, hunters and fishers ; but in many 

 places they now also cultivate small garden patches, producing 

 potatoes, turnips and such other vegetables as require little 

 attention. For their winter supply of food they generally depend 

 chiefly on fish, which is dried and cured during the summer. 

 On all the tributaries of the Fraser, salmon is taken, in some 

 years abundantly. Those tribes nearer the coast, have generally 

 succeeded in maintaining against the coast Indians, the control 

 of some part of the various shorter rivers on which salmon can 

 be caught. Thither they make an annual migration, which they 

 look upon as a sort of holiday-making, revelling during the 

 season in abundance of fresh fish, and on their return carrying 

 back with them supplies for the cold months. They still trade 

 with the coast tribes to some extent, obtaining fish oil and Euro- 

 pean goods for furs ; and this interchange, continuing since time 

 immemorial, has resulted in the formation of well-beaten trails, 

 of which the Bella Coola trail, and the so-called Grease Trail (over 

 which, in the far north, oolican oil is packed up from the sea. 

 board) are best known. In the last century, when direct Euro- 

 pean trade was carried on only along the coast, these interior 



