88 G. M. DAWSON ON THE KWAKIOOL 



aud whiskey if they can obtain it (and in this there is unfortunately very little diiiiculty). 

 They liv^e, however, in the vicinity of Victoria aud other large towns in a state of shame- 

 less debauchery, and thus very often return in a diseased state to their homes. 



The condition of these people is in no sense bettered by endeavouring to teach them 

 moral maxims or religious dogma. They do not appreciate the truth of the former, nor 

 can they in their low mental state rightly understand the latter. To endeavour to do so 

 is merely to imitate the procedure of the Indian shaman over the dying. If, on the con- 

 trary, you speak to them of means of improving their material condition, or deplore with 

 them the rapid diminution of their tribe, the more thoughtful and mature listen with the 

 greatest respect and attention. The problem is, fundamentally, an industrial one, and is 

 to be attacked, if successfully, from that side. They are naturally industrious enough, 

 aud capable, though not so persistently laborious as the whites, and less easy to control 

 than the Chinese. They obtain a certain amount of precarious employment in connection 

 with the canneries and other nascent industries of the northern coast, but have not gen- 

 erally the offer of any permanent remunerative work. 



It is thus primarily essential to establish industries among them which will remove 

 the temptation now felt to drift to the larger settlements and towns. Improvement in 

 mental and moral tone will then naturally follow. The Kwakiool, with other Indians 

 of the coast, already cultivate in a desultory manner small crops of potatoes, on such 

 minute patches of open land (generally the sites of old villages) as are to be found along the 

 shore. Their bent is, however, not that of an agricultural people, and the densely wooded 

 character of their country calls for labour, herculean in proportion to the unsystematic 

 efforts of these people, before it can be cleared and reclaimed for agriculture on any large 

 scale. They are, on the contrary, excellent boatmen aud fishermen in their own way, aud 

 it is towards developing, encouraging and directing their tendency in this direction that 

 efforts should be made. They would readily learn to build boats, make nets, and to take 

 and cure fish in such a manner that the product would be marketable, aud in so doing 

 might attain independence and what would be to them wealth. They might not, it is 

 true, be able to compete on equal terms with the whites iu such matters, but this need 

 not prevent them from developing into very valuable members of the community of the 

 west, the scattered constituents of which are already gathering from all quarters of the 

 world and being welded into a new whole. To effect these objects, the most essential 

 step is the establishment of industrial schools, of which there are already good examples 

 in several parts of the country, where the younger people will be separated from their 

 old associates aud instructed iu various callings appropriate to their condition and 

 surroundings. 



