THE HI-QUA. 23 
borately with fragments of nacre from the 
| haliotis shell, and tufts of dry wool taken from 
| the mountain-goat (Capra americana). 
The short, broken, and inferior shells are strung 
together in the same manner, but in various 
lengths, and represent shillings or pence, as the 
string is either long or short, or the shells 
defective. All inferior strings, irrespective of 
either length or quality, are called kop-kops. 
The hi-qua represents the sovereign, the highest 
standard of currency, and, as a rule, would pur- 
chase one male or two female slaves. The value 
of the slave, estimating it by the sum paid in 
blankets for a slave at the present day, would be 
about 50/. sterling. Forty kop-kops equal a hi- 
qua in value, but various small bargains are 
made, and small debts paid, with kop-kops, only 
just as we pay away shillings, or lesser coin. 
Since the Hudson’s Bay Company have estab- 
lished trading-stationsalong the coast, at the north 
end of Vancouver Island, and on the main rivers 
inland, both east and west of the Rocky Mountains, 
blankets and beaver-skins have become money, 
so to speak, and the medium of exchange. If you 
bargain with an Indian in the interior to do any 
service, youagree to give him so many skins, either 
per diem, or as a fixed price for the work that is 
