236 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1888. 



The priueipal fur-bearmg animals are the browu aud black bear, wolf, 

 the cross, red, and silver fox ; beaver, miiik, marteu, and hind otter, while 

 in the mountains of the mainland are wild goats and sheej). Cod, her- 

 ring, trout, and eulachon abound in certain localities, but the staple 

 supply is furnished by the halibut and salmon. To complete the pict- 

 ure there must be mentioned the innumerable flocks of wild ducks and 

 geese in season, the lonely herons and cranes, the omnipresent gulls 

 eagles, hawks, crows, and ravens, the skimming surf birds, and, in the 

 woods, not generally seen from canoes, grouse and a variety of smaller 

 members of the feathered tribe. 



In Dixon Entrance, Clarence, Sumner, and Chatham Straits, and par- 

 ticularly in Frederick Sound and Stephen's Passage, Alaska, is the 

 breeding ground for whales, which may be seen spouting in schools of 

 six or seven. Wherever the whale is, there also is found the whale- 

 killer (Orca ater). These run also singly or in schools, aud are the mer- 

 ciless enemy of the whale. The dorsal fin, projecting so prominently 

 above the surface of the water, gives them a characteristic readily 

 seized upon by the native artist, who never omits this apjjendage from 

 his conventional drawing or carving of this animal. 



The presence of the bear, eagle, raven, wolf, orca, whale, and other 

 representatives of the animal kingdom in this region, and the know- 

 ledge of their jDeculiarities by the Indians, explain the prominent part 

 they play in the mythology of the coast, as stated in Chapter vii. 



PHYSICAL CHAKACTERISTICS. 



The Indians about Dixon Entrance are unquestionably superior in 

 physique to the coast Indians to the southward. As among themselves 

 the physical superiority rests with the Haida, This maybe due to real 

 ethnical differences, but is probably accounted for in the fact that natural 

 conditions in the Queen Charlotte Islands and around such an exposed 

 arm of the sea as Dixon Entrance have produced a finer and more robust 

 people than those in less exposed regions. While there is considerable 

 uniformity in the general physical characters of all the stocks on the 

 northwest coast, a practised eye can detect the differences between them. 



Langsdorft' (1805) says of the Tlingit : 



They do not appear to have the least afiQuity with the Mongol tribes; they have in 

 general large, fierj^ eyes ; a small, flat, broad nose; and large cheek-bones ; indeed, in 

 all respects, large and strongly marked features.* 



In general amongst the Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian, the hair is 

 thick, stiff, coarse, straight, and black. It is worn short by the men, 

 excepting the shamans or doctors, and long by the women. Instances 

 cited t of auburn tresses aud golden curls are ascribable to intermixt- 

 ure with European and American traders. The eyebrows are small 

 and the eyes generally black or brown, though gray eyes are to be seen. 



*Langsdorff, Voyages, Part ii, p. 112. t Poole, Queen Charlotte Islands, p. SIT), 



