QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS. 113 B 



less enables the otherwise imperfect food to go further in supplying 



the wants of the system. 



The Haidas are not great hunters. They kill a considerable number Haidas not 



° goodnanters 



of black bears at two seasons of the year, when they are round prowl- 

 ing along the sea shore, but do not follow them far into their mountain 

 fastnesses. In early spring, when the grass along the edges of the 

 woods begins to grow green, with the skunk-cabbage (Lysichiton 

 KamtscJiatense) and other succulent vegetables, bruin coming out toBeurs. 

 browse upon the tender shoots may fall a victim to the lurking 

 Indian. Again in autumn, when tempted to the shores and estuaries 

 by the dead and dying salmon, he is apt to get into trouble, and at 

 this season his skin, being in good condition, is of some value. 



There is pretty good evidence to show that the wapati occurs on the wapati. 

 northern part of Graham Island, but it is very seldom killed. The 

 small deer (C. Columbianus) is not found on the islands, nor is the wolf, 

 grizzly bear, mountain sheep or mountain goat. Geese and ducks in Water fowl, 

 vast numbers frequent the country about Masset and Virago Sound in 

 the autumn, and for a time form an important item in the diet of the 

 natives. They now shoot them with the flint-lock trade muskets with 

 which they are generally armed. I have seen a bow, with blunt wooden 

 arrows, also in the canoe, to be used in despatching wounded but still 

 living birds, and thus to save ammunition. Sea-fowl of many kinds 

 are articles of food on occasion, though the gull, the loon and some 

 others are exempt on account of their exceptionally rank flavor. The Eggs, 

 eggs of sea-birds, and especially those of the large white gull, are col- 

 lected in great quantity in the early summer. Every lonely and wave- 

 washed rock on which these birds deposit their eggs is known to the 

 natives, who have even these apportioned among the families as here- 

 ditary property. The singular rocks extending southward from Cape 

 St. James are frequented by myriads of sea-fowl, and some of them are 

 so abrupt and cliff-surrounded that, lashed by the never-ceasing swell 

 of the Pacific they remain inaccessible even to the Haidas. 



The potato, called skoiv-sklt in Haida, introduced by some of the potato, 

 early voyagers, now forms an important part of the food supply. A 

 Skidegate Indian told me that it was first grown at Skidegate, but I do 

 not know how far this statement maj T be reliable. The greater part of 

 even the flat low lands of these islands is so thickly wooded, and with 

 trees of such great size, that the task of clearing the ground is quite 

 beyond the energy of the Indian. There are places, however, near the 

 shore, where by cutting down and grubbing out small bushes limited 

 garden patches may be made. These are very often spots which have 

 been occupied by Indian houses, and where great quantities of shells 

 and other refuse have accumulated, forming a rich soil. Such spots 



