334 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM^ 1888, 



ing it into plugs or cakes. Lime, made from burnt clam-shells, was 

 mixed with it to give a good " bite." The practice of smoking came in 

 with the whites, aud our tobacco has completely replaced the native 

 article, which is now only cultivated, if at all, in the most remote regions, 

 and the writer was unable to obtain any specimens of it. 



Gardens. — Around all the villages garden patches may now be seen. 

 The principal vegetable cultivated is the potato, although turnips and 

 a few others are found occasionally. The Haida in particular cultivate 

 potatoes in large quantities to trade on the mainland. 



LOCOMOTION: CANOE TRAVEL. 



From the diversified nature of the country and the numerous inland 

 water-ways, travel is of necessity by canoe. It is unnecessary to treat 

 of the subject here after what has been said under the titles of tents, 

 tents, p. 304, and canoes, p. 294. 



WEALTH: CURRENCY, PROPERTY, SLAVES, LAND. 



Primitive wealth — Before the advent of the whites, wealth consisted 

 in the possession of sea-otter skins, hunting and fishing grounds, slaves, 

 and household and personal property, such as dance paraphernalia, 

 household furniture, hunting and fishing implements, canoes, houses, 

 and articles of trade. Practically, however, the unit of value was the 

 sea-otter skin, as it was also the basis of wealth. As the Haida were 

 the most expert hunters of this animal in this region, they became in 

 time the most wealthy and influential people on the coast. The prin- 

 cipal changes in the forms of wealth have been in the substitution of 

 blankets for skins and furs and the abolition of slavery. Otherwise 

 the enumeration of articles of wealth is as given above. 



Currency — Amongst the interior Indians of North America the 

 beaver skin was the medium of exchange. In the trade between the 

 coast Indians and those of the interior, the dentalium shell was valued 

 by the latter, who gave in exchange the abalone shell so highly prized 

 by the former. Amongst the coast Indians themselves, as stated, the 

 sea-otter skin was the basis of exchange, although the shell currency 

 seems to have had a relative value. This latter lost its function when 

 the whites began to import such quantities of shell later on. These 

 have, however, remained as a favorite ornament, occupying somewhat 

 the place of jewels amongst civilized people. With the almost total dis- 

 appearance of the sea-otter through the greed of Indian and white man 

 alike, a new currency sprang up. It happened that, through the com- 

 petition in trade between the French, English, Americans, and Rus- 

 sians, success crowned the English through the superiority of the 

 material which they oflt'ered in trade, and with the establishment of the 

 Hudson Bay Company their blankets, through uniformity and excel- 

 lence in grading, became the recognized currency. These vary from 



