TRANSACTIONS 01' THE SECTIONS. 75 



On the Indians of Vancouver Island. By J. K. Lord. 

 The author gave a description of the customs of the Indians, their weapons, 

 domestic animals, together wdth other most most interesting pecidiarities. He 

 began by showing that the numbers of these Indians were steadilj^ decreasing ; he 

 described their personal appearance as being strangely modified'by the habit the 

 coast tribes have of sitting continuously in their canoes and in theirlodges. Espe- 

 cial reference was made to the curious fact that the teeth of most of the inland 

 Indians are ground down to the gum by the sand which is drifted on to the salmon 

 when exposed for drying in the sun ; for it is upon this dried fish the savages sub- 

 sist entirely during the winter months. The author exhibited an under "jaw, in 

 which the teeth were thus worn away. He pointed out the curious fashion the 

 people have of altering the form of the skull dming infancy, either making it flat 

 or conical, by means of pressure. Engi-avings of these skulls, &c. are given in the 

 author's 'Naturalist in Vancouver Island.' The strange ideas relative to the 

 disposal of the dead and the rites of burial were also mentioned. The author then 

 gave many pai-ticulars relative to the native dogs, and the probability of a doo- 

 having been imported from Japan which had a long, silky coat ; the natives used to 

 shear these animals as we shear sheep, using the coat for the manufacture of rugs ; 

 but since the introduction of blankets by the Hudson's Bay Company, the doo- has 

 disappeared from want of protection, and become extinct.' He showed that the 

 art of weaving was known to these tribes at a very early period of their histoiy. 

 The religion of these people is very remarkable, and'they entertain beliefs in sacred 

 days and periods and sacrifices to the sun ; they believe "in witchcraft and in deities 

 representing good and qxtI. Animals, plants which are eatable, fish and birds, were 

 believed to have been at one time human. The remarkable custom of obtaining 

 the "medicine," to guard them through life, called "tomanawax," was described. 

 They measure the sequence of the seasons by the ripening of berries and opening 

 of flowers, the arrival of the crane and wild goose, spawning of fish, &c. Copious 

 vocabularies of the different languages, and the jargon called Chinook, as spoken 

 by the different tribes west of the Rocky Mountains, were submitted to the Section. 

 The names and words seemed to be harsh, and decidedly unmusical. He then 

 explained a valuable collection of stone weapons dug by himself from the ancient 

 river-gravels of the ripper Columbia river ; these were intermixed with stone beads, 

 shells of the Ventaliodd, the parasitic barnacles foimd on the skin of the whale, 

 buttons made from sea-shells, human skidls and bones. These relics were buriei 

 at a great depth, and no trade exists at present betwixt the Indians there resident 

 at the present time with those dwelling on the sea-coast ; the distance from the 

 sea is nearly a thousand miles. The author drew new and important conclusions 

 from these facts. Lastly, the lodges and canoes were described, and these, it 

 appears, vary among the different ti-ibes, each tribe to a great extent having a fomi 

 of canoe pecidiar to itself. A wonderful " ■medicine," called a " copper," was exhi- 

 bited, from Fort Rupert, painted on its sm-face vdth. brilliant coloiu-s, depictino- 

 quaint heraldic devices ; also a large slate dish, most exquisitely and elaboratelv 

 sculptured by the Haida Indians living on Queen Charlotte Island. Many other 

 rare objects were exhibited and described. The author brought home a laro-e 

 collection of natm-al objects, to which frequent reference was made. These Me 

 now deposited in the British Museum. 



Besults of the Cinchona cultivation in India. 

 By Clements R. Maekham, F.B.G.S. 



On a New Molluscoid Animcd allied to Pelonaia (Forbes and Goodsir). 



By Dr. C. M'Intosh. 



The specimen was foimd on the beach at St. Andrews, after a severe storm, in 

 1861, measuring 1| inch in length, in shape like an elongated Florence flask with 

 the bottom a little produced and the neck much elongated. Its test is constructed 

 like sand-paper, the particles forming essential constituents of the mass ; and at the 

 wide end there is a series of hairs formed by prolongations of the basis structure, 



