290 Journal of Travel and Natural History 



while the beaver builds its dams in the streams, and elk (Cervus 

 Canadensis) roam through the mountains, and wild fowl settle in 

 clouds at the sedgy debouchment of the rivers. The natives 

 accordingly supply themselves abundantly, and are rarely troubled 

 with starvation, even in the inclement season of winter, which 

 they pass in jollity and dancing, when the amusements, if not very 

 refined, are at least very hearty. Not much addicted to soap or 

 garments they may be, but yet the Aht Indians are a people punc- 

 tihous in etiquette, and the social chimera of Mrs Grundy weighs 

 heavily on the unfortunate wight who breaks through the obser- 

 vances made and established among them. They rarely quarrel 

 in their own tribe, and know nothing of the " noble art of self- 

 defence." Fish and shell-fish form their principal articles of diet, 

 varied in the summer with berries, the tender shoots of the Rubus 

 Nutkeanus, and the roots of the bracken. We recommend our lady 

 readers to the Aht cookery receipts given in Mr Sproat's volume. 

 At these feasts orators rank high, and the author describes some of 

 their speeches as being far from contemptible, while the voice fills 

 the house or echoes through the forest. Those who wish to hear 

 what real savage earnest oratory is, should visit Klah-oh-quah and 

 hear Seta-kanim " on his legs." Boys practice the recital of por- 

 tions of celebrated speeches, which they retain in memory, and 

 occasionally as the old men sit on the beach, watching the sun set 

 on a summer evening, they point out future orators and envoys 

 among the youngsters who play before them. Singing they like, 

 but do not excel in : but some of their actors are excellent, and 

 would be the making of a minor London theatre. Blankets con- 

 stitute the siunmum bonuni of Aht happiness, and the acquisition 

 of such portable property is diligently sought after. They are 

 wonderfully sharp in a bargain, and territorial influence is far from 

 small, though all land is owned in common. Yet, occasionally, 

 some individual will claim a river or the borders of a lake as his 

 peculiar hunting or fishing ground. There is little division of 

 labour, as among all savages, but yet some individual will have 

 a monopoly of some trade, such as canoe making, and the 

 "middlemen" intervene in the land of Aht, as well as in another 

 country nearer home. The "peculiar institution" prevails to its 

 full extent among these people ; prisoners of war, if not slain, and 

 the heads stuck up on i)oles in front of the victor's lodge, as in old 

 days above Temple Bar or London Bridge (the uncultivated mind 

 is in all ages the same), being reduced to slavery, and cer- 



