A STUDY OF PRIMITIVE MONEY. 331 



proved forms of gold and silver money of the present time, when ap- 

 plied, as the latter has been and not infrequently, to similar unworthy 

 purposes in modern civilized communities. In other respects the 

 Indians of the East and the West were alike, simply savages, before the 

 advent of the white man as well as after — to use a homely expression, 

 " chips off the same block." Lawson,* commenting upon the power 

 of peage in the matters just presented, says: 



"This is the money with which you may buy skins, furs, slaves, or any- 

 thing the Indians have; it being the mammon (as our money is to us) 

 that entices and persuades them to do anything and part with every- 

 thing they possess except their children for slaves. As for their wives, 

 they are often sold^and their daughters violated for it. With this they 

 buy off murders; and whatsoever a man can do that is ill, this wam- 

 pum will quit him of and make him, in their opinion, good and virtuous, 

 though never so black before." 



Gibbs states that among the Indians of the coast section of Oregon 

 and Washington, "slavery is thoroughly interwoven with their social 

 polity. East of the Cascades, though it exists it is not so common, the 

 equestrian habit of the tribes living there probably rendering it less 

 profitable, etc. * * * The system most likely originated in wars, 

 all prisoners becoming slaves as a matter of course. * * * If one 

 Indian has wronged another and failed to make compensation, or if a 

 debtor is insolvent, he may be taken as a slave. And this slavery is 

 final degradation. If a man purchase his father or mother they become 

 his slave and are treated as such." 



From other sources corroboratory of Gibbs, we find that "with the 

 Classetst slaves are held by all the tribes, and are treated very much 

 like their dogs, being looked upon as property and not within the cate- 

 gory of humanity. For a master to kill half a dozen slaves is no 

 wrong or cruelty ; it only tends to illustrate the owner's noble disposi- 

 tion in freely sacrificing his property. Slaves are obtained by kidnap- 

 ping, and are sold in large numbers to northern tribes. * * * The 

 Classets, a rich and powerful tribe, encourage the slave-hunting incur- 

 sions of the Nootkas against their weaker neighbors." 



Slavery, common to all the coast families, is also practiced by the 

 Chinooks, but there is less difference here perhaps than elsewhere be- 

 tween the condition of the slaves and the free. 



In this connection, of the tribes farther to the north we read that " the 

 Thlinket slaves are either captured in war, bought from other tribes 

 who may themselves have captured them, or the children of female 

 slaves. The wars between the tribes, being now of rare occurrence, the 

 supply of slaves is kept up by barter with the more southern tribes, and 

 hence many of the slaves are the Flatheads of Oregon. The slaves of 



* History of Carolina. 



t Bancroft: Native Races, etc., vol. i, pp. 217-218, and elsewhere. 



