QUEEN CHARLOTTE'S ISLANDS, BRITISH COLUMBIA. 3 



The Haidahs bring with them as articles of traffic, furs of various kinds, dogfish, 

 and seal oil, and carvings in wood and stone, as well as ornaments in silver of 

 excellent workmanship, such as bracelets, finger-rings, and ear ornaments. 



A peculiar kind of slate-stone is found on Queen Charlotte's Islands, very soft 

 when first quarried, and easily carved into fanciful figures of various kinds, but 

 growing very hard upon exposure to the air, and after being rubbed with oil, which 

 seems to harden and polish it. 



These stone carvings are eagerly purchased by persons looking for Indian curi- 

 osities, and are generally regarded by casual observers as idols, or objects of 

 worship, or indicative in some manner of their secret or mystic rites. This, how- 

 ever, is an error. None of the tribes of the northwest coast worship idols or any 

 visible symbol of their secret religion, which is confined to the totem, or tomanawas, 

 or guardian spirit of each individual Indian. 



But the custom which prevails among them, and seems to be a distinctive feature 

 of this tribe, is that of tattooing their bodies with various designs, all of which are 

 fanciful representations of animals, birds or fishes, either an attempt to represent in 

 a grotesque form those which are known and commonly seen, or their mythologi- 

 cal and legendary creations. A recent visit of a party of these Indians to Port 

 Townsend has enabled me to study carefully a variety of their carvings and tattoo 

 marks, and to ascertain with accuracy their true meaning and signification. 



I have forwarded to the Smithsonian Institution, to accompany this memoir, 

 several carvings in wood and stone ; and, in order the better to describe them, I 

 have made sketches illustrative of these carvings and also of various tattoo designs, 

 which were copied by me from the persons of the Indians, and also have caused 

 photographs to be taken to still further illustrate this subject. 



The first of these carvings which I shall describe is of wood (Plate 2, fig. 1). 

 It is intended to represent one of the carved posts or pillars which are raised in front 

 of the houses of the chiefs or principal men. These pillars are sometimes from 

 fifty to sixty feet high, elaborately carved at a cost of hundreds of blankets ; some 

 of the best ones even costing several thousand dollars, consequently, only the most 

 wealthy individuals of the tribe are able to purchase the best specimens. 



These pillars are carved out of a single cedar tree, the back hollowed out so as 

 to relieve the weight when raising it in a perpendicular position. They are deeply 

 and firmly set in the earth directly in front of the lodge, and a circular opening 

 near the ground constitutes the door of entrance to the house. The Chimsean 

 Indians, at Fort Simpson, and the Sitka tribes have this style of carved posts, but 

 they set them a short distance from the front of their houses. 



The figures carved on these posts are the family totems or heraldic designs of the 

 family occupying the house, and as these Indians build large wooden lodges capable 

 of containing several families, the carvings may be said to indicate the family 

 names of the diffierent occupants. 



The chief or head man owns the house, and the occupants are his family and 

 relatives, each one of whom will have on some part of the body a representation 

 in tattooing of the particular figure which constitutes his or her family name or 

 connection. 



