336 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1888. 



feet in length, 12 to 25 iuches in width, and one-sixteenth t.o one-eighth 

 of an inch in thickness. They have a groove running vertically in the 

 lower half and transversely across the middle at the narrow part, form- 

 ang a figure like the letter T. They are sometimes painted, but more 

 commonly etched on the outer surface with the design of the crest or 

 itot€m of the owner. If they ever served as shields in battle such use 

 Bias long since disappeared, and now they have only a ceremonial or 

 •emblematic significance. To be of great value these plates must be 

 /large, of virgin copper, worked by hand, of native manufacture, of 

 'uniform thickness, except at the edges, where they should be thicker 

 than elsewhere ; and, finally, when struck should give forth a dull 

 sound and not ring. Totemic etching on the outer surface also adds 

 value to them. Modern "co^jpers" of European manufacture are not 

 very highly prized, as compared with the ancient ones. Lisiansky 

 (1804) says that amongst the Tlingit they were " only possessed by the 

 rich, who give for one of them from twenty to thirty sea-otter skins. 

 They are carried by their servants before their masters on different oc- 

 casions of ceremony, and are beaten upon so as to serve as a musical in- 

 strument. The value of the plate depends, it seems, on its being mad^- 

 of virgin copper, for the common ones do not bear a higher price tb 

 a single skin."* The best, according to Dunn (1834), were w^' 

 around Dixon Entrance nine slaves, and were transmitted as a precis 

 heir-loom.t Now they are valued at from forty to eighty blanket^. 

 They are called by the Kaigani T''ow, and are shown in Plate LXVii. 

 Dr. Boas says of them : 



" They are given as presents by one tribe to another. The Indians value a copper- 

 plate the more the more frequently it has been given as a present. Every single 

 plate has its name and its own house, and is fed regularly. No woman is allowed to 

 enter its house. Almost every tribe has a tradition referring to their origin. Some 

 say that a man who visited the moon received it from the man in the moon. Others 

 say a chief living far into the ocean gave it to a man who came to visit him, etc. 

 Similar legends refer to the haliotis shells which are used for ear and nose ornameutg 

 and bracelets." X -' ^ 



This may be the custom with regard to copper plates amongst the 

 southern coast tribes, but it differs materially from that of the Tlingit, 

 Haida, and Tsimshian. With them they are simply tokens of wealth. 

 These are shown in Plate lxvii as forming no inconsiderable portion 

 of the wealth of Chief Skowl, amounting to hundreds of blankets. 

 Dawson says that amongst the Tsimshian these coppers are exhibited 

 in a circle in upright position at the ceremony of "bringing out" a 

 young girl, who sits within the circle and sings.§ 



Amongst the Kaigani these fow are often displayed over the grave 

 of a deceased person of wealth. One is shown in Plate in, left of 

 upper view. Some miles below the village of Kasa-an, on Prince of 



* Lisiansky, Voyage, p. 150. X Notes on the Ethnology of British Columbia (Am.er, 

 t Dunn, Oregon, p. 288. Philo. Society, Nov. 18, 1887), p. 427, 



$ Dawson, Report, B, p. 131. 



