THE INDIANS OF CAPE FLATTERY. 33 



ing from Neeah Bay to Waatch, and a small prairie at Tsuess. And not only are 

 these lands too wet for the cultivation of anything but roots, but the climate i$ so 

 exceedingly humid that cereals will not ripen. The only sure, repaying crop is 

 potatoes. But Indians cannot live on potatoes alone, any more than the white 

 men ; they require animal food, and prefer the products of the ocean to the farina 

 of the land. It will take many years, and cost the Government large sums of 

 money to induce these savages to abandon their old habits of life and acquire 

 new ones. In fact, these Coast Indians are an. anomaly in their general style of 

 living, as compared with the tribes of the plains, and as such, I think they should 

 be encouraged in their fisheries, and taught to prepare fish for sale, to make 

 barrels to hold their stock and oil, and helped, by means of the white men s expe 

 rience, to take more whales and fish than they do now. 



There is one article, and but one that I know of, which I think might be culti 

 vated with profit, and that is the osier willow. If anything will grow in this wet 

 climate, it appears to me it must be this, and, as these people are very expert in 

 making baskets, they could easily be taught to manufacture an article from osiers 

 suitable for our markets, or to prepare the osiers alone for sale to basket-makers. 

 Agricultural labor is very odious to them all ; still, a few will work, but they must 

 be paid for everything they do. They are so accustomed to trade with white 

 people and to receive gifts, that they will neither perform labor, however trivial, 

 nor part with the least article of property, without exacting payment. They 

 carried this practice so far as to demand compensation for allowing their children 

 to attend the reservation school. They know the use and value of money, and are 

 generally willing to do anything required of them if they can look for tangible 

 results that will be of advantage to themselves. But they are profoundly indiffe 

 rent to the benefits of education, and cannot be made to believe that clearing land, 

 making roads, or draining swamps is of any use. When the season for planting 

 arrives they are willing to put a few potatoes into the ground, because their expe 

 rience has taught them that they can reasonably expect a harvest. But potatoes 

 are esteemed by them rather as a luxury than as ordinary food, and, when they 

 know how easily they can draw their subsistence from the ocean, and how much 

 labor is required to till the earth, they prefer to continue in their old course, and 

 let the white man s agriculture alone. 



There are other articles of traffic, such as miniature canoes, baskets, mats, 

 berries, &c. ;. but the principal source of wealth is oil and dried fish ; the rest is 

 only sold as the chance presents, on the arrival of strangers in the bay, or when 

 they make their excursions up the Strait to the white settlements. 



TOOLS. The Makahs display considerable ingenuity in the manufacture of the 

 knives, tools, and weapons they use, and are quite expert in forging a piece of iron 

 with no greater heat than that of their ordinary fire, with a large stone for an anvil 

 and a smaller one for a hammer. Their knives, which are employed either as 

 weapons of defence or for cutting blubber or sticks, are made of rasps and files, 

 which they procure at the saw-mills after they have been used in sharpening the 

 mill-saws; or, not uncommonly, they purchase new ones of the traders in Victoria. 

 They are first rudely fashioned with the stone hammer into the required shape, 



5 June, 1809. 



