THE INDIANS OF THE NORTHWEST COAST. 337 



Wales Island, one is nailed to a tree on a point of land to mark the lo- 

 cality where a canoe was upset and the occupants drowned. Lisian- 

 sky, as quoted, shows that they were occasionally used by the Tlingit 

 as a sort of gong or musical instrument, being carried before the chiefs 

 by the slaves and beaten upon. 



The change in the articles of value accumulated and stowed away as 

 wealth is illustrated by an incident in the summer of 1886, where some 

 white men robbed a cache of the Klawak chief Tin-gaate of all its con- 

 tents to the value of over $2,000. The booty included five hundred 

 blankets, fifty wash-bowls, thirty-six mirrors, six valuable dancing 

 robes, and many other articles. It may be mentioned in this connec- 

 tion that the wash-bowls are used as receptacles for food, and are 

 taking the place of the native wooden bowls. 



TRADE : EXCHANaE OF COMMODITIES. 



Port Simpson, from its central location, at the head of Dixon En- 

 trance, has come to be the great emporium of trade for the surrounding 

 region. Dunn says that, in 1834, the Haida, Nass, Kaigani, Tongass, 

 T^ort Stewart and Stikines generally rendezvoused there in the month 



" September to trade.* Simpson estimates that, in 1841, about four- 

 n thousand from the various tribes of Stikines on the north to tlie 

 )assa on the south, resorted there, although many of them merely 

 ^.aid passing visits en route to the Kass Eiver to fish for eulachon.t 



In earlier days, previous to the advent of the whites, the trading- 

 was carried on less systematically and with more formality on account 

 of the feuds between the different tribes. The Indians of this whole 

 region are expert traders. Every article purchased undergoes the 

 closest scrutiny. Every defect is discovered and the value scaled 

 down accordingly. If once a certain price is obtained for a commodity 

 of theirs it is adhered to thereafter as the set price, and the knowledge 

 of such value travels fast. Time and distance are unimportant factors 

 in a bargain. If 200 miles farther on the price paid for a commodity 

 is considerably greater, the distance is reckoned as nothing in going 

 there to get the difference. On the other hand, in purchasing goods 

 from the traders, they show rare good sense in their selection of the 

 better qualities, mere cheapness being in itself no recommendation. 

 From the earliest times they have preferred articles of use to trinkets. 

 Dixon (1787) says that they refused beads with contempt. What Van- 

 couver said of the Tlingit or the Kaigani of Prince of Wales Island, in 

 1794, applies with equal force to-day : 



In all the commercial transactious the women took a very principal part, and 

 proved themselves by no means unequal to the task. Nor did it appear that either 

 in these or in any other respect they were inferior to the men ; on the contrary, it 

 should rather seem that they are looked up to as the superior sex, for they appeared 

 in general to keep the men in awe and under subjection. t 



* Dunn, Oregon, p. 281. t Simpson, Journey Eound the World, Vol. i, p. 206. 



t Vancouver, Voyage, Vol. ii, p. 409. 



H. Mis. 142, i)t. 2 22 



