SOCIAL LIFE AMONG INDIAN TRIBES 25 



days there is a distribution of skins, horses, clothing, 

 blankets, canoes, and every other form of wealth. 

 About twenty-five years ago a great chief of Van 

 couver Island gave a &quot; potlatch &quot; to 2500 persons 

 from different tribes. The guests were feasted 

 for over a month, and the savings of five years 

 were distributed ; so no wonder the chief who is 

 wealthy and a great warrior readily becomes the 

 judge and lawgiver in Indian society. 



Slaves, usually people taken in war, were at one 

 time common, and very miserable was their lot, 

 for they were regarded as being no better than 

 dogs, and any man might put his slaves to death 

 for a trifling offence. Mr. Hill-Tout, who knows 

 the Indians well, says : &quot; Slavery has, of course, 

 been abolished since they came under our rule, 

 but the descendants of those formerly slaves are 

 still looked down upon and despised by the other 

 Indians.&quot; 



The North-Western tribes had no belief in a 

 Supreme Being, or in God Who made the universe, 

 though they did think of a soul, spirit, or ghost 

 which could survive after the body was killed. 

 Not only people, but animals, and even weapons 

 and articles of clothing, were thought to have a 

 ghost which went to some other world when the 

 creature was killed or the article broken. The 

 Thompson Indians were very much afraid of the 

 spirits of deer, and they always took care to bury 

 with respect all such parts of the carcase as were 

 not required. One way of keeping friendly with the 

 bear spirits was to hang the skull of the animal 

 on a tree, and all who took part in the ceremony 

 4 



