140 REPORT ON THE QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS. 



trees, spruce, hemlock, and cedar, and an undergrowth of shrubbery, 

 rose bushes, wild currant, raspberry, and hazel, with much open grass- 

 land, on which wild strawberries are found in great quantities, of un- 

 usual size and superior flavor. Strawberries and wild roses seem to be 

 a specialty at Masset, and are noted by every person who visits Gra- 

 ham Island in June. 



Masset is the site of the Indian town of Uttewas, a village containing 

 65 houses old and new, some of them deserted and in ruins ; nearly every 

 house has a carved column erected in front covered with heraldic or 

 totemic designs of the family residing within. These columns are \nc- 

 ture writings and illustrate the folk-lore of the tribe, and most of them 

 are allegorical or mythical fables which I succeeded in deciphering, and 

 my account of them, with illustrations, will be prepared by me for iny 

 complete monograph on Queen Charlotte Islands. 



Fish. — The princij)al fish used by the Masset Indians for food is the 

 halibut, which abounds in the waters of the inlet and along the whole 

 of the north shore of Graham Island. Several varieties of salmon rim 

 up Masset Inlet, one of which, a small variety called by the Haiddlis 

 " Swagan''^ {0. Tceta^ Walb.), is as fat and fine flavored as the Quenaiult 

 salmon of the same variety, and is taken in considerable quantities by 

 the natives, as is also a fine quality of salmon trout which are taken in 

 weirs and traps in the small creeks which empty into the inlet. The 

 dog salmon (0. Msutch. Walb.) is taken in the fall in considerable num- 

 bers for winter use. Dogfish abound, and a large quantity of their oil 

 is collected by the Hudson Bay Company every season from the In- 

 dians. 



Codfish {Gadus morrhua) seem to breed in the waters of Masset Inlet, 

 where I procured several specimens from 1^ to 2 inches long, which 

 I preserved in alcohol. Mr. McKenzie, the Hudson Bay Company's 

 trader, purchased a few hundred pounds of true cod from the Indians 

 which he salted in kench. I ate some of them and they were quite equal 

 to pickled eastern cod, but the Haidahs do not seem to care for them, 

 and when occasionally they catch the cod while fishing for halibut, they 

 are always ready to sell them to white men. From what the Indians 

 told me, and from my own observation, I think the true cod abound all 

 along the northern and western coast of the whole group. These, with 

 the Ophiodon elongatus, Kultus cod, or inferior cod, several species of 

 SehastieMhys, and the black cod {Anoplopoma Jimhria), lamprey, eels, 

 herring, smelt, &c., form an extensive and plentiful variety of food-fish. 



Of the plants observed by me, were Ahronia arc7iaria, L. ; Lupinus 

 Nootkatensis, Donn; Ranunculus Nelsoni,Grsiy', Ruhus nrsinus (Cham.), 

 Schl. ; Nutkanna mocino, R. ; Spergularia, Pursh., Rosa NittJcana, Presl; 

 Epilohium angustifolium, L.; Erigeron saJsnginosus, Gr. ; Campanula 

 ScJieuchzerij Gray; GauUheria Shallon, Pursh.; Miviulus luteus, Willd; 

 Castilleia pallida, Kunth; Aquilegiafonnosa, Fisch.; Gentiana Amarella, 

 L.J Pinus contorta, Douglas; Abies Engelmanni, Parry; A, amabilis, 



