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CHAPTER XII. 
THE NATIVES, THEIR CUSTOMS AND TRADITIONS. 
WueEncE the native tribes originally came that 
people British Columbia and Vancouver Island 
I know not. We may suppose them to have 
come from the east, north, south, or west, write 
volumes in support of our pet theories, and argue 
for an indefinite time, after all to find ourselves 
just as we started. There they are; and that is 
about all we really know. 
Their numbers, steadily decreasing, may be 
estimated at present as 30,000. The best divi- 
sion is into coast and inland tribes. The coast 
Indians are to a great extent dependant on the 
canoe, as the sole means of transport, the habit of 
sitting in which, continually, dwarfs and deforms 
the legs; add to this the custom of altering the 
form of the skull in infancy, and we account for 
the degenerate appearance of the coast savage 
when compared to the active horseman and 
hunter of the interior. 
