BULL. 30] 



COMMEECE 



331 



far w. as the Siksika of the plains and the 

 Takulli of British ('ohunbia (Havard in 

 Smithson. Rep., 318, 1879; Chamberlain 

 in Am. Anthrop., vi,459, 1904; Morice, N. 

 Int. Brit. Col., 1904.) See Caughmuroga. 



The Atlantic slope from Labrador to 

 Georgia was the 8}>ecial home of Algon- 

 quian and Iroquoian tribes. Inland were 

 found deer, bears, foxes, and turkeys. 

 The salt-water bays and inlets not only 

 supplied mollusks, crustaceans, fish, and 

 aquatic birds in vast numbers, but stimu- 

 lated easy transportation and commerce. 

 The great lakes and the St Lawrence, 

 moreover, placed the tribes about them 

 in touch with the copper mines of L. Su- 

 perior. Through this enlarging influence 

 the Iroquois were ennobled and became 

 the leading family of thisarea. A medium 

 of exchange was invented in the shape of 

 wampum, made from clam shells. The 

 mounds of the s. portion of this slope 

 reveal artifacts of copper, obsidian, and 

 shell, wliich must have been trans- 

 ported commercially from afar along the 

 water highways in birch-bark canoes and 

 dugouts. 



The Mississippi area was a vast receiv- 

 ing depot of commerce, having easy touch 

 with other areas al)out it by means of 

 portages between the headwaters of in- 

 numerable streams; with the Chesapeake 

 bay, the great lakes, and the Mackenzie 

 basins through the Ohio and the main 

 stream; with the e. Rockies and Co- 

 lumbia r. through the Missouri and other 

 great branches of the Mississippi in the 

 w. Buffalo skins and horns were de- 

 manded by the Pueblos, while pennnican 

 and beads enlivened trade. The mounds 

 reveal dentalium shells from the Pacific, 

 obsidian from the Rockies, copper from 

 L. Superior, pipes of catlinite, and black 

 steatite from Minnesota and Canada, and 

 objects from the Atlantic. 



The Gulf area includes the ancient home 

 of the Muskhogean, the Caddoan, and a 

 few smaller families. Commerce here was 

 inland. Their coast was almost without 

 islands and came in commercial touch 

 with an outside world only through 

 Mexico. The discoveries of Cushing in 

 s. Florida reveal a colony in the southern 

 Mexican or West Indian culture status. 

 The shorter rivers of this area put its 

 X. border in trade touch with Tennessee 

 and the Carolinas, and its w. with Arkan- 

 sas and Texas. The Mississippi lured its 

 traders almost to the Canadian border. 

 The Rio Grande was the commercial 

 artery connecting the e. areas with the 

 interior basin. The Rio Grande Pueblos 

 still trade their paper-bread with the 

 Kiowa and Comanche of Oklahoma. 

 Coronado speaks of Pawnee and Wich- 

 ita visitors among the Pueblos of the Rio 

 Grande in 1540 (Winship in 14th Rep. 

 B. A. E., 1896). 



The Pacific coast tribes occupied two 

 areas tliat present quite opposite condi- 

 tions in regard to commercial activity. 

 From Mt St Elias s. to California trade 

 was active, transportation being effected 

 in excellent dugout canoes; the waters 

 and the lands offered natural products 

 easy of access that stimulated barter. 

 Copper, horn for spoons, eulachon, and 

 Chilkat blankets were exchanged for 

 abalone and dentalium shells, and baskets 

 were bartered for other baskets and the 

 teeth of a large southern shark, also for 

 the furs of the interior Indians. The 

 Haida regularly visited their Tsimshian 

 neighbors to exchange canoes for eula- 

 chon oil, wood suitable for boxes, and 

 mountain-goat horn, while the Tlingit 

 were intermediaries in diffusing the cop- 

 per that came from the x. On the Co- 

 luml)ia r. camass and moose were articles 

 of commerce. Farther s. , in Oregon and 

 California, whether from the islandless 

 coast or the genius of the peoples, the 

 spirit of commerce was less prominent. 

 Among the n. w. California tribes, the 

 Hupa and others, dentalia served for local 

 money. In central California (Yuki, 

 Porno, Sacramento, and San Joacjuin val- 

 leys, etc.) wampuni of pierced disks al- 

 most exclusively served as a medium of 

 exchange and standard of value. In s. 

 California the inhabitants of the islands 

 carried on a commerce in basketry, 

 feathered wearing apparel, nets, vessels 

 of steatite and serpentine, various imple- 

 ments of stone and bone, wampum, sea- 

 shells and shell ornaments, and cured 

 fish, which they bartered with the tribes 

 of the mainland for basket materials, 

 skins, nuts, prepared meats, and other 

 articles which they did not have on the 

 islands. The Indians of the mountains 

 and the interior valleys of California 

 constantly traveled to and fro for the 

 purpose of barter, and the trails over the 

 range to the coast are yet plainly visible, 

 especially from the lower Tulare valley 

 (A. L. Kroeber and C. P. Wilcomb, inf'n, 

 1905; Stearns in Nat. Mus. Rep., 297, 

 1887 ) . From the early mariners we learn 

 that the island Indians had canoes made 

 of skins, some being very large and hold- 

 ing 20 persons. Vizcaino, the Spanish nav- 

 igator, who made his voyage in 1602-3, 

 mentions large boats of planks at Santa 

 Catalina, Cal., and states that its natives 

 engaged in trade, though not extensive, 

 with those on the mainland (Hittell, 

 Hist. Cal., I, 139, 1885). Hittell does not 

 think that there were any voyages be- 

 tween the Santa Barbara ids. and Puget 

 sd., though canoes may have drifted or 

 have been carried by stress of weather 

 over considerable distances. 



The Interior basin, especially in the 

 Pueblo country, had a lively home and 

 distant commerce, the duration and ex- 



