14 GEORGE M. DAWSON ON THE 



I find, as the result of special enquiry on the subject, that all the Shuswaps formerly 

 had hereditary hunting grounds, each family having its own peculiar hunting place or 

 places. This custom is still preserved among the Indians of the Nicola region, and 

 formerly obtained among the Kamloops people also, though it is there now practically 

 obsolete. 



Au Indian who invites another to go hunting with him, gives to his friend the first 

 deer, if several are killed. If but one is killed it is divided, but the skin belongs to the 

 friend in any case. If a man is hunting beyond the border of the recognized territory of 

 his people, and one of the men holding claims to the region upon which he has thus tres- 

 passed hears him shoot, the owner of the locality heads for the place, and on arriving 

 there expects to be feasted on the game obtained by the hunter. 



Various more or less obvious devices are resorted to for the purpose of conveying 

 information by signs. A rag of clothing, particularly a small piece or pieces of coloured 

 or other easily recognizable material from a woman's dress, left in a forked twig, indicates 

 that a person or party of persons has passed. If the stick stands upright, it means that 

 the hour was noon, if inclined it may either point to the direction of the sun at the time 

 or show the direction in which the person or party went. If it is desired to show both, a 

 larger stick points to the position of the suu, a smaller to that of the route followed. If 

 those for whose information the signs are left are likely to arrive after an interval of sev- 

 eral days, a handful of fresh grass or a leafy branch may be left, from the condition of 

 which an estimate of the time which has elapsed can be formed. Such signs are usually 

 placed near the site of the camp-fire. Simple devices of this kind are, of coarse, by no 

 means peculiar to the Shuswaps. 



I am unable to confirm Dr. Boas' statements respecting the use of a sign language. • 

 (Op. supra cit. p. 8Y.) Signs are employed as an adjunct to spi?ech, but, so far as I have 

 observed, not more commonly or sys'ematically than is usual with any other Indians. 



The " potlatch " or donation feast, which is everywhere among the tribes of the lit- 

 toral of British Columbia most important, does not seem to have occupied a prominent 

 place among the customs of the Shuswaps. Traces of it are nevertheless found in con- 

 nection with feasts for the dead, marriage feasts, etc. 



• Very considerable changes have occurred among the Shuswaps since the introduction 

 of the horse among them. This, according to notes given on a later page, appears to have 

 happened very early in the present century. The horse has now become the most valued 

 property of the natives, and the possession of many and good horses the most important 

 element of wealth and social prominence. Though the knowledge of horses is thus com- 

 paratively recent, it is often only after consideration and reflection that the present 

 Indians will admit that at a former time they were without horses. 



In addition to the ordinary and always rough dug-out canoe, made from the cotton- 

 wood, and employed occasionally on certain lakes or for the crossing of rivers, the Shus- 

 waps in the eastern part of their territory in British Columbia, made small and shapely 

 canoes from the bark of the western white pine (Pinus monlicola). These may still occa- 

 sionally be seen on Shuswap Lake and in the vicinity of the Columbia. The inner side of 

 the bark, stripped from the tree in one piece, becomes the outer side of the canoe, which is 

 fashioned with two sharp projecting spur-like ends, strengthened by wooden ribs and 

 thwarts internally ; the whole is lashed and sewn with roots, and knot-holes and fis- 



