106 B GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA. 



older people use scarcely anything but a blanket as a protection from 

 the elements. The blanket with these people has replaced the " robes 

 of sea-otter skins" which so much pleased the eyes of the early traders. 

 criptfonoftheir In Dixon ' s narrative* (p- 201) the sea-otter "cloaks" are said to 

 original dress, "generally contain three good sea-otter skins, one of which is cut in 

 two pieces ; afterwards they are neatly sewed together so as to form a 

 square, and are loosely tied about the shoulders with small leather 

 strings fastened on each side." The women's dress is more particularly 

 described on another page in the following terms : — " She was neatly 

 dressed after their fashion. Her under garment, which was made of 

 fine tanned leather, sat close to her body, and reached from her neck 

 to the calf of her leg ; her cloak or upper garment was rather coarser, 

 and sat loose like a petticoat, and tied with leather strings." 



These extracts both refer particularly to the Haidas, but in the 

 general account of the natives of this part of the north-west coast, the 

 dress of the people is more minutely described in the following para- 

 graph : — "In their dress there is little variety; the men generally 

 wearing coats (such as I have already described) made of such skins 

 as fancy suggests or their success in hunting furnishes them with, and 

 sometimes the loose cloak thrown over the shoulders and tied with 

 small leather strings. Besides this, some of the more civilized sort, 

 particularly those in Cook's .River, wear a small piece of fur tied round 

 the waist when the heat of the day causes them to throw their coat 

 aside or they are disposed to sell it. The dress of the women differs 

 in some respects from that of the men. Their under garment is made 

 of fine tanned leather, and covers the body from the neck to the ankle, 

 being tied in different parts to make it fit close ; over this is tied a 

 piece of tanned leather like an apron, and which reaches no higher 

 than the waist. The upper garment is made in much the same manner 

 as the men's coats, and generally of tanned leather, the women not 

 caring to'wear furs, as they were always unwilling to be stripped of 

 their garments, which, should they happen to be worth purchasing, 

 their husbands always insisted on their being sold. Indeed, the deport- 

 ment of the women in general was decent, modest and becoming." 

 Armour. ^ n former days a sort of armour was worn, consisting of split sticks 



arranged in parallel order and combined with the stronger parts of the 

 hide of the sea-lion. None of these suits can now, however, be found. 

 A cloak or blanket very much prized by the Haidas and called na\in 

 is obtained in trade from the Tshimsians. It is shaped somewhat like 

 a shawl, with a blunt point behind, and surrounded by a deep and 



* A Voyage Round the World, but more particularly to the North-west Coast of America. 

 Performed in 1785, 1786, 1787 and 1788, in the King George and Queen Charlotte, Captains Port- 

 lock and Dixon. London, 1789. 



