834 KEPORT— 1889. 



originated cannot be destroyed. It may acquire by war or by otber 

 events territory originally belonging to foreign tribes, and leave its home 

 to be taken up by others ; the right of fishing, hunting, and gathering 

 berries in their old home is rigidly maintained. A careful study shows 

 that nowhere the tribe as a body politic owns a district, but that each 

 gens has its proper hunting and fishing grounds, upon which neither 

 members of other tribes nor of other gentes must intrude except by 

 special permission. It would be an interesting and important object of 

 study to inquire into the territorial rights of each gens, for such a study 

 would undoubtedly throw much light upon the ancient history of these 

 peoples. These rigid laws in regard to the holding of land by the gentes 

 are very important in the past history of the Indians of British Columbia, 

 and are of prime importance in their present relations to the white 

 settlers. 



One of the most complicated and interesting institutions of these 

 tribes is the so-called potlatch — the custom of paying debts and of 

 acquiring distinction by means of giving a great feast and making 

 presents to all guests. It is somewhat difficult to understand the 

 meaning of the potlatch. I should compare its most simple form to our 

 custom of invitation or making presents and the obligations arising 

 from the offering, not from the acceptance, of such invitations and 

 presents. Indeed, the system is almost exactly analogous, with the sole 

 exception that the Indian is more anxious to outdo the first giver than 

 the civilised European, who, however, has the same tendency, and that 

 what is custom with us is law to the Indian. Thus by continued pot- 

 latches each man becomes necessarily the debtor of the other. According 

 to Indian ideas any moral or material harm done to a, man can be made 

 good by an adequate potlatch. Thus if a man was ridiculed by another 

 he gives away a number of blankets to his friends, and thus regains his 

 former standing. I remember, for instance, that the grandson of a chief 

 in Hope Island by unskilful management of his little canoe was upset 

 near the beach and had to wade ashore. The grandfather felt ashamed 

 on account of the boy's accident, and gave away blankets to take away 

 the occasion of remarks on this subject In the same way a man who 

 feels injured by another will destroy a certain amount of property ; then 

 his adversary is compelled to do the same, else a stain of dishonour 

 would rest upon him. This custom may be compared to a case when a 

 member of civilised society gives away to no good purpose a considerable 

 amount of money ostentatiously in order to show his superiority over a 

 detested neighbour. I adduce these comparisons to show that the custom 

 is not so difficult to understand, and is founded on psychical causes as 

 active in our civilised society as among the barbarous natives of British 

 Columbia. A remarkable feature of the potlatch is the custom of giving 

 feasts going beyond the host's means. The procedure at such occasions 

 is also exactly regulated. The foundation of this custom is the solidarity 

 of the individual and the gens, or even the tribe, to which he belongs. 

 If an individual gains social distinction his gens participates in it. If he 

 loses in respect the stain rests also on the gens. Therefore the gens 

 contributes to the payments to be made at a festival. If the feast is 

 given to foreign tribes the whole tribe contributes to these payments. 

 The method by which this is done has been well set forth by Dr. 

 G. M. Dawson (' Trans. Roy. Soc. Can.' 1887, page 80). The man who 

 intends to give the potlatch first borrows as many blankets as he needs 



I 



