598 



SLAVERY 



[b. a. e. 



ture and habits, was of comparatively 

 recent introduction, and was practised 

 only in a much modified form. 



Beginning with the Tlingit, slavery as 

 an institution existed among all the N. W. 

 coast Indians as far as Cal if ornia. It prac- 

 tically ceased with s. Oregon, although the 

 Hupa, of Athapascan stock, and the Nozi 

 (Yanan), both of n. California, practised 

 it to some extent, according to Powers. 

 Among the former, a bastard became 

 the slave for life of one of the male rela- 

 tives of the mother and was compelled 

 to perform menial service; nor could he 

 or she marry a free person. Such slaves 

 seem to have been entitled to purchase 

 freedom, provided they could accumu- 

 late sufficient wealth. Both the Klamath 

 and the Modoc seem to have had slavery 

 in some form. The Klamath word for 

 slave is lugsh, from Inktha, 'to carry a 

 load,' indicating that the slaves were the 

 carriers of the tribe (Gatschet). The 

 institution had found its way up Colum- 

 bia r. also, at least as far as Wallawallar., 

 where it was known to the Cayuse of 

 Waiilatpuan, and to the Nez Perces of 

 Shahaptian stock. From the W. coast it 

 appears to have passed far into the inte- 

 rior, where it was practised, probably in 

 a much modified form, by the Indians of 

 the Mackenzie r. region. It is said that 

 the Etchareottine were called Awolanak, 

 'slaves', by their Cree neighbors, an 

 epithet which in its French and Indian 

 forms came to be the name (Slave or 

 Slavey) imder which they arebestknown. 



The N.W. region, embracing the islands 

 and coast occupied by the Tlingit and 

 Haida, and theChimmesyan, Chinookan, 

 Wakashan, and Salishan tribes, formed 

 the stronghold of the institution. As we 

 pass to the eastward the practice of 

 slavery becomes modified, and finally its 

 place is taken by a very different custom. 

 Among the tribes mentioned, slavery 

 seems to have existed long enough to have 

 secured a prominent place in mythology 

 and to have materially modified the habits 

 and institutions of the people. It was no 

 doubt the origin of ideas of caste and rank 

 widespread among tribes of the N. W. 

 coast, but comparatively unknown else- 

 where among our Indians. It varied con- 

 siderably among different tribes, the most 

 essential characteristics, however, being 

 similar, as was the general mode of life 

 of the peoples practising it. The above- 

 named were fishing tribes and expert 

 canoemen, depending for food far more on 

 the products of sea fisheries than on game. 

 All lived in settled villages. With all, 

 the essential condition of rank and posi- 

 tion was wealth, not renown gained in 

 war. The slaves consisted of prisoners 

 taken from neighboring tribes, chiefly 

 women and children; and, among most 



tribes, of their descendants. Over most 

 of the area in question there appears 

 to have been a regular traffic in slaves, 

 the source of a considerable part of the 

 private wealth. Jewett states in his Nar- 

 rative (1815) that a Nootka chief had in 

 his house "nearly fifty male and female 

 slaves, no other chief having more than 

 twelve." Simpson estimated that slaves 

 formed one-third of the population of 

 the Tlingit. The price of an adult slave 

 was about $500 in blankets; of a child, 50 

 blankets, alwut$150. 



Servitude in the N. W. appears to have 

 been of a rather mild type. Slaves, as 

 a rule, were well fed and well treated, 

 as was natural with valuable property. 

 The condition of the bondman indeed 

 seems generally to have been little in- 

 ferior to that of his master, whom he 

 assisted in paddling, fishing, and hunt- 

 ing, even in making war on neighboring 

 tribes. Expeditions were often under- 

 taken for the primary purpose of slave 

 catching. The slaves made or helped 

 make canoes, cut wood, carried water, 

 aided in building houses, etc. Enslaved 

 women and children were household 

 drudges, performing the laborious and 

 menial tasks which elsewhere fell to 

 the lot of free women. The distinc- 

 tion between the slave and the free man 

 was especially sharply drawn in all 

 ceremonial practices, from which slaves 

 were rigidly excluded, and generally also 

 with regard to marriage, for the slave 

 usually could not mate with a free man 

 or woman, though the Makah men. Swan 

 asserts, frequently married female slaves. 

 The male offspring of such marriages 

 seem to have occupied an equivocal posi- 

 tion between free men and slaves. Slaves 

 seem to have had no well-defined rights; 

 they could not own property and were 

 subject to the caprices of their owners, 

 who had power of life and death over 

 them. Among the Tlingit it was cus- 

 tomary to kill slaves and to bury their 

 bodies beneath the corner-posts of the 

 chiefs' houses at the time when they were 

 erected; but this does not appear to have 

 been done by the Haida. At other times 

 they were given away or freed to show 

 that their owner was so wealthy he could 

 easily afford to part with them. Swan 

 states that when a chief died among the 

 Makah his favorite slaves were killed and 

 buried with him. 



Punishment for shortcomings was some- 

 times severe, the owner of a slave being 

 responsible to no one. Occasional ly slaves 

 were killed outright in moments of pas- 

 sion. 



Investigation of slavery among the 

 tribes of the Great Plains and the Atlantic 

 slope is difficult. Scattered through early 

 histories are references to the subject, but 



