QUEEN CHARLOTTE'S ISLANDS, BRITISH COLUMBIA. 7 



Japanese work, and in order to satisfy myself upon that point, I showed the 

 carvings to a party of very intelligent Japanese who visited Port Townsend several 

 months since. They examined them carefully and critically, and pronounced them 

 entirely unlike anything they had ever seen in their own country. In fact, they 

 seemed as much interested with the specimens as our own people. I have seen 

 similar carvings by the natives of the Feejee Islands, but on the northwest coast 

 they are confined almost exclusively to the Haidahs on Queen Charlotte's Island, 

 and to the Chimseans on the mainland. The carvings I particularly allude to are 

 those representing several figures one above the other, as shown by the sketches 

 and photographs of the carved posts or pillars placed before the entrances to their 

 houses. 



The limited time the Haidahs were at Port Townsend did not enable me to ascer- 

 tain the origin of this system of carving, or of their custom of tattooing their 

 bodies ; what little information I did obtain was given with evident reluctance ; 

 but, as we became more acquainted and they began to understand what my object 

 was in obtaining information, they became more communicative, and promised me 

 that this present summer (1874) they would again be here and would bring more 

 carvings and would give me all the information I wished. 



Plate No. 2, fig. 8, shows a tattoo design of a halibut, and a painting on a 

 buckskin cape representing the thunder bird of the Sitka Indians, worn by a medi- 

 cine man during his incantations. 



The belief in the thunder bird is common with all the tribes of the northwest 

 coast, and is pictured by each tribe according to their fancy. I have traced this 

 allegory from the Chenooks, at the mouth of the Columbia, through all the coast 

 tribes to Sitka. The general idea is the same throughout ; it is a belief in a super- 

 natural being of gigantic stature, Avho resides in the mountains and has a human 

 form. "When he wishes for food he covers himself with wings and feathers as one 

 'would put on a cloak. Thus accoutred, he sails forth in search of prey. His 

 body is of such enormous size that it darkens the heavens, and the rustling of his 

 wings produces thunder. 



The lightning is produced by a fish, like the Hypocampus, which he gets from 

 the ocean and hides among his feathers. When he sees a whale he darts one of 

 these animals down with great velocity, and the lightning is produced, by the 

 creature's tongue, which is supposed to be like that of the serpent. This is the 

 general idea of the mythological legend, slightly altered in the narrative by diff'erent 

 tribes and difi"erently depicted by various painters. 



The Haidahs seem to have the gr^test variety of designs, and they seem to be 

 the principal tribe who tattoo themselves to any extent. Where they acquired 

 the practice or from whom it was learned, it will be diificult to determine. This 

 is an interesting ethnological question, and worthy of further investigation. 



Among other customs of the Haidahs which I observed is the practice of 

 gambling, which is common among all the North American Indians. 



In my paper on the Indians of Cape Flattery, published by the Smithsonian 

 Institution (No. 220), I have given an account of the gambling implements of the 

 Makahs, which consist of circular disks of wood, highly polished and marked on 



