THE INDIANS OF THE NORTHWEST COAST. 335 



" one point," the poorest, to " four points," the best. These " points " 

 are woven into the texture on the edge, and it has happened that the 

 " two-and-a-half point" has come to be the unit, valued now at about 

 $1.50. Just as in former times, as the sea-otter skins were stored away 

 representing so much wealth, so to day the blankets are folded and 

 packed away in their boxes. They are generally received at face value 

 by all traders when unused and in good condition. The value of every- 

 thing is referred to the unit blanket. A four point blanket is worth so 

 many blankets (twoandone-half point), and the cost of everytning is 

 reckoned in the same way. 



Property in land. — Throughout this region the coast line, streams, 

 estuaries, and adjacent lakes are divided amongst thedilferent families, 

 the right of possession descending from one generation to another as 

 personal property. The larger salmon streams are sometimes jointly 

 owned by several families, or owned by one family and leased for a 

 consideration to one or several others. Stranded marine animals, or 

 other debris washed by the tide, belong to the family owning that por- 

 tion of the shore line, the boundaries of possessions being definitely 

 marked and respected accordingly. Nor is this boundary confined to 

 the strip of coast, but extends well out to sea, carrying with it the 

 right to shoot seals and gather birds' eggs on outlying rocks, hunt sea- 

 otter, and to fish on well-known halibut or cod banks. 



Major Powell says: '^ Land tenure does not begin in grants from the 

 monarch or the feudal lord, but a system of tenure in common by 

 gentes or tribes is developed into a system of tenure in severalty/' * 

 This is admirably illustrated in this region, for the ownership of a tract 

 of land by a family has come, through being vested in an individual or 

 the head of that family, to mean practically individual ownership. 

 Dawson gives an instance on Queen Charlotte Islands where a rich 

 tract of country called Tl-ell, which had come into the possession of a 

 former Chief of Skidegate as the property of his wife, " was afterwards 

 given by him to the Skedans of that day as a peace-oflering for the 

 wounding or killing of one of his (Skedans) women. The tract thus 

 now belongs to Skedans, and is valued as a berry ground. " t 



Disputes over ownership of land, boundaries, etc., have been the 

 cause of many feuds. At Thom Bay, adjoining Tolstoi Bay, Prince of 

 Wales Island, Alaska, a valuable tract of hunting and fishing ground 

 is in dispute between the Stikines and Kaigani, both tribes in true 

 American style having up "l^o trespassing" signs on the trees. 



Coppers. — Throughout the Northwest coast copper plates or "cop- 

 pers " of a conventional pattern are valued as emblems or tokens of 

 wealth, and have been handed down for generations. They originally 

 came from the Chilkat country, where virgin copper is found in consid- 

 erable quantities, and are made in the form of a shield from 2^ to 3^ 



* Annual Report, Bureau of Ethnology, 1879-'80, p. 83. 

 t Pawsoo, Report, B, p. 165. 



