THE INDIANS OF THE NOETflWEST COAST. 265 



colors, and edged and ofchorwise decorated with little tufts or frogs of woolen yarns 

 dyed of various colors. His head-dress was made of wood, much resembling in its 

 shape a crown, adorned with bright copper and brass plates, from whence hung a 

 number of tails or streamers, composed of wool and fur wrought together, dyed of 

 various colors, and each terminating by a whole ermine skin.* 



Another variety of this blanket is described by Lisiansky (1805), as 

 seen by hira near Sitka: 



These blankets are embroidered with square figures, and fringed with black and 

 yellow tassels. Some of them are so curiously worked on one side with fur of the sea- 

 otter, that they appear as if lined with it, and are very handsome.! 



This is not unlike a blanket described by Vancouver, as worn by the 

 Kwakiutl, Johnstone Strait, British Columbia (latitude 52° 20' K.), as 

 follows : 



The clothing of the natives here was either skins of the sea-otter Or garments made 

 from the pine bark. Some of these latter have the fur of the sea-otter very neatly 

 wrought into them, and have a border to the sides and bottom decorated with various 

 colors. In this only they use woolen yarn, very fine, well spun, and dyed for that 

 purpose, particularly with a very lively and beautiful yellow.t 



The art oftveaving. — These fine bark garments are found also amongst 

 the Tsimshiau, who either made them or traded for them with the Kwa- 

 kuitl, giving in exchange sea-otter skins.§ In general, while the art of 

 cedar bark weaving was understood throughout the coast, and while 

 the southern Indians had some knowledge of weaving in wool, it may 

 be said that the northern Indians were more expert in weaving wool and 

 making baskets of grass, and the southern Indians in weaving bark 

 fibre. To-day, at the two extremes, we find the northern Tlingit tribes, 

 and the Makah Indians of Cape Flattery, the expert basket makers, 

 but the character of their work is so difi^erent that it can be readily dis- 

 tinguished. The southern tribes are also the expert cedar bark weavers, 

 and the northern Tlingit the best weavers of wool. Wherever these or 

 other arts may have been developed, it is amongst the Haida of the 

 Queen Charlotte Islands that we find the best specimens of workman- 

 ship. Originally the wealthiest stock on the coast, they have from 

 earliest times been remarkable for their readiness to adopt the customs 

 and ideas of others, and to develop and adapt them to their own pecu- 

 liar needs. The Tsimshiau seem to have acted as the middlemen, for 

 most of the trade and intercourse of the Haida with the other tribes has 

 been through them. In this way it will be found that the Tsimshiau 

 have influenced the Haida not a little in the development of their pecu- 

 liar customs and ideas. 



Modern dress.— The change in ordinary dress, as the Indians became 

 stripped of sea-otter and seal skins, consisted largely in the substitution 



* Vancouver, Voyage, Vol.'iii, p. 249-50. t Vancouver, Voyage, Vol. ii, p 281. 



t Lisiansky, Voyage, p. 238. § IMd., p. 325. 



