THE INDIANS OF CAPE FLATTERY. 25 



squirrels, and rabbits, are seldom if ever eaten by them, and are kiUed only for the 

 sake of the skin. Of birds, however, they are very fond, particularly the sea fowl, 

 which are most plentiful at times, and are taken in great numbers on foggy nights, 

 by means of spears. A fire of pitch-wood is built on a platform at one end of the 

 canoe, and by the glare of its light, which seems to blind or attract the birds, 

 the Indian is enabled to get into the midst of a flock, and spear them at his leisure. 

 On the return of a canoe from one of these nocturnal excursions, particularly in 

 the fall, it is not unusual to find in it a collection of pelicans, loons, cormorants, 

 ducks of various kinds, grebes, and divers of various sorts. These, after being 

 picked, and very superficially cleaned, are thrown promiscuously into a kettle, 

 boiled and served up as a feast. 



The roots used for food are potatoes, which are raised in limited quantities; 

 Kammas (Scilla Fraseri ), which is procured from the tribes south (Kwilleyute and 

 Kwinaiults), and some from the Vancouver Island Indians; tubers of the equisetum; 

 fern roots, and those of some species of meadow grass and water plants ; the roots 

 of several kinds of sea-weed, particularly eel grass, are also used. These and the 

 equisetum root are eaten raw ; the others are aU cooked. In the spring the young 

 sprouts of the salmon berry {Rubus spectahilis) and thumb berry ( Rubus odoratus) are 

 consumed in great quantities. They are very tender, have a slightly acid and astrin- 

 gent taste, and appear to serve as alteratives to the system, which has become loaded 

 with humors from the winter's diet of dried fish and oil. The sprouts are sometimes 

 cooked by being tied in bundles and steamed over hot stones. After the season of 

 sprouts is over the berries commence. The salmon berry comes first and is ripe in 

 June ; it is followed by the other summer berries till autumn, when the sallal and 

 cranberry appear and continue till November. It is customary, when an Indian 

 has a surplus of food of any kind, to invite a number of friends and neighbors to 

 share it, and as they seem very fond of these social gatherings, scarcely a day passes 

 but some one will give a feast, sometimes to a few, or it may be to a great number 

 of persons. It is this fondness for feasts which makes them so improvident, for 

 when they have anything they never seem satisfied until it is all eaten up. If one 

 man is more fortunate than his neighbors in procuring a supply, instead of pre- 

 serving it for his own wants and those of his family, he must give a feast, and 

 while his supplies last the others are content to live on his hospitality ; when that 

 is exhausted they will seek food for themselves. 



The articles used for culinary purposes are, for the most part, pots, kettles, and 

 pans, principally procured from the whites, at the trading post of the Hudson's Bay 

 Company at Victoria. The ancient method of steaming or boiling is occasionally 

 resorted to, particularly in cooking quantities of meat, fish, or roots, for a feast. 

 Large bowls shaped like troughs, cut from alder logs, are partially filled with red 

 hot stones, on which a few fern leaves or sea-weed are laid ; then the food, Avhether 

 fish or potatoes, or kammas, is placed on this, a bucket of water is thrown into the 

 trough, and the whole quickly covered with mats and blankets and left to steam tiU 

 the contents are cooked. When larger quantities of food are to be prepared, the 

 same process is employed, with the exception that, instead of using wooden troughs, 

 a shallow pit is made in the ground. Potatoes and fish take only half an hour's 



4 June, 1869. 



