68 G. M. DAWSON ON THE KWAKIOOL 



he said, was regarded as awlis eik, a "very good" or "specially favourable" oue. When 

 questioned closely as to the ultimate origin of these and other tribes, w-Tt said that tradition 

 always related that they "came down " or " appeared " at a certain number of definite points. 

 I was unable to obtain any more exact definition of his meaning, but it is altogether 

 probable that these place are those occupied by the oldest village sites handed down by 

 tradition, beyond which knowledge does not go. Thus, in the case of the Klas'-kaino, the 

 following five places were enumerated as those at which they had "come down": — 

 Oominis (south entrance point of Quatsino Sound), Kwat-lim-tish, Ti-wCs, Ta-uilh and 

 Tsa-wun-a-hus. 



The termination represented by the forms -kaino, -tsl-no, -pino, a.nd -k'i-tno, of the names 

 of these five tribes, doubtless conveys the idea of "people" varying in form according to 

 combination. The name of the Kwâ'-tsï-no thus probably means "people of the west," 

 from kowat-se " west-side" in combination with the above. The suffix in Kls'-kT-mo in the 

 same way, doubtless signifies " people of Kû-s?," the place of that name being that of their 

 reputed origin, as stated on a following page. 



(8) Kwd-tsl-no (Kwâwt-se-no). — These people inhabit Forward Inlet, Quatsino Soiind, 

 but also resort to the west coast of Vancouver Island to the north of the Sound for halibut- 

 fishing, where they have rough temporary huts at several places. Their principal or 

 winter village, named Ow'-î-yc-kumT, is on the east side of Forward Inlet, opposite 

 Eobson Island, and occupies the low neck of a small peninsula, with a good beach for 

 canoe-landing at each side, and bounded by a low cliff inland. They have also a second 

 little village, of ruder construction, named Tê-nâ-ate (from tm-m meaning " hone-stone," 

 and referring to the abundance of sandstone), on the north shore of the upper part of 

 Forward Inlet (Winter Harbour). This may be classed as a "summer village," but is 

 rather an " autumn village," in which they reside when the dog-tooth salmon is running 

 up the small streams in its vicinity. The Indians were living here when I first visited 

 the inlet in September, ISTS. 



The father of Ow-ît, the present chief, is still alive, though very old, and Ow-ït has 

 taken his place as chief Ow-ït's son, Kâ-a-lët, is married and has children, so that, at the 

 present time, four generations are represented. Ovv-Tt informed me that the principal 

 village, above noted, was founded by his grandfather. It originally stood on the high 

 rocks just above and to the east of the present site, and was fortified like most of the 

 old towns. Afterwards, in more peaceful times, it was moved down to its present site, 

 which was at first all wooded, but was gradually cleared. The Kwâ'-tsï-no people, he 

 said, formerly lived in the vicinity of San Josef Bay and Sea Otter Cove, where they " came 

 down " in eight separate places, all of which he named, and where several old village sites 

 are still to be seen. They drove the Kifiw-pino people away from Forward Inlet and 

 killed many of them at that time. The old Kiaw-pino village was at G-rassy Point of 

 the chart, at the entrance to Winter Harbour. This is said to have occurred very long 

 ago, but may not improbably have been immediately antecedent to the founding of the 

 Kwâ'-tsï-no village, above referred to. 



The Kwâ'-tsï-no people formerly obtained considerable quantities of dentalium shells 

 (utl-ila or a-tl-a, Dentalium preciosum) of which they made good use in trade, at a place 

 between the village site and the east entrance iioint of Forward Inlet. The fishery was 

 carried on in deep water by means of a number of split sticks or twigs in the form of a faggot. 



