274 PAPERS EELATING TO ANTHROPOLOGY. 



it is woven together at the ends with libers of cedar bark. It is then 

 spread upon the ground or upon roofs in the sun. When to be used it 

 is moistened with water and split with two small knife-blades, set in a 

 stick in such a manner as to make the strips of the same width, the 

 smaller portion being thrown away. The grass is kept moist with water 

 while being made into baskets. The colored grasses are prepared by 

 using aniline dyes. They were formerly colored by steepiug the roots 

 of plants that yielded a 3'ellow coloring. A red dye was made from 

 the bark of alder, and a paint was made of blue aVdy. 



DOMESTIC KELATIONS. 



In their domestic relations chastity seems to be almost unknown. 

 These x)eople are among the most, if not the most, degraded and dis- 

 eased tribes of this coast. The parents usually manifest great affection 

 for their children, although the animal instinct seems to predominate in 

 this trait. The manner of the Indian boy toward his mother is almost 

 uniformly disrespectful. The condition of the wife is one of degrada- 

 tion. She is expected to bring all the wood used for household pur- 

 jioses, as it is considered a disgrace for a man to be seen doing such 

 work. The woman is expected to dig all the clams and roots and to 

 pick all the berries used by the family, the husband supplying fish and 

 game. 



The foreheads of the children are compressed (with few exceptions) 

 soon after birth by laying a small bag containing feathers or the fine 

 beaten fiber of cedar bark on the forehead. Infants are kept constantly 

 in small wooden trays, so tightly wrapped as to permit no use of the 

 limbs, until they are six months old. 



When a girl is married after the Indian style, the father of the girl 

 receives compensation in the shape of horses, blankets, and money. 

 Even when the marriage ceremony is i^erformed by the agent this part 

 of the old customs is often retained. 



Still "women's rights" are sometimes asserted, as in the case of the 

 woman with scalloped ears, who fought a desperate fight with another 

 squaw to decide which should marry a medicine man, who appeared to 

 have no voice in the matter. Another instance is that of a school girl, 

 who throws large sticks of wood at her husband when he displeases her. 

 He respects, though, her superior education, and when asked why he 

 does not retaliate, replied: "Because I do not like to strike a lady!" 



The aged people were foruierly neglected, and their death hastened 

 by starvation and abuse; but fear of punishment now restrains the 

 Indians from this cruelty. 



The native idea of a Supreme Being finds an embodiment, as with the 

 Makahs, in the Socca-li, Tyee Bird, who is not as awe-inspiring, how- 

 ever, as the Makah Thunder Bird, for, according to a Quinaielt legend, 

 he finds two panthers, brought to him at his request "to play with," 

 more tlian he can manage, and lie entreats "the man," his servant and 



