QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS. 115 B 



plant is really tobacco or not. It is probable, however, thai LI i- some 

 less potent weed, or its cultivation would not have been bo soon given 

 .up and high prices paid for imported tobacco. The Haidas used to 

 grow it not only for themselves, but as an article of trade with other 

 neighbouring tribes. To prepare the plant for use it was dried over How prepared. 

 the fire on a little framework, finely bruised in a stone mortar, and 

 then pressed into cakes. It was not smoked in a pipe, but being mixed 

 with a little lime prepared by burning clam-shells, was chewed or held 

 in the cheek. The stone mortars — elsewhere more fully described — 

 are still to be found stowed away in corners of the houses. The}' 

 appear to have been used in the preparation of the ' tobacco' only, and 

 though often large enough for the purpose, were certainly not 

 employed to reduce any cereal to the state of meal, as none such were 

 known to the Haidas. It is, therefore, unsafe to conclude froui the Kinnikinick. 

 mere discovery of stone mortars, among other relics, that certain 

 extinct tribes cultivated corn and used it as food. The leaves of the 

 bear-berry or kinnikinick (Arctostaphylos uva-ursi) are mixed with 

 tobacco when smoking, to eke out the precious narcotic. These leaves 

 are used for the same purpose by the Indians everywhere over the 

 northern part of the American continent. I have seen on Vancouver 

 Island the leaves of the sal-lal roasted before the fire and mixed with 

 tobacco, and among the Chippeway Indians and others the bark of the 

 red osier dog-wood (Cornus stolonifera). 



The dog is the only domesticated animal among the Haidas. The The dog. 

 original breed is now much disguised by imported strains. The j>res- 

 ent natives are grey wolfish-looking curs about the size of a coyote. 



Social organisation. 



The Haidas, like other tribes inhabiting the coast of British Colum- Houses and 

 bia and its adjacent islands, have permanent villages. The general 

 type of construction of the houses in these is nearly the same among 

 all the tribes, but among the Haidas the buildings are more substan- 

 tially made, and much more care is given to the accurate fitting 

 together and ornamentation of the edifice than I have elsewhere seen. 

 This may be due in part to the comparatively late date at which the 

 Haidas have come closely in contact with the whites, but probably also 

 indicates an original greater facility in constructive and mechanical 

 processes than is found among the other tribes. This would be fully 

 borne out by their present character in these regards. Especially in 

 the great number, size, and elaborate carving of the symbolical posts, 

 La ibis superiority shown. Among the Tshimsians at Port Simpson. 

 most of the original carved posts have been cut down as missionary 

 influence spread among the people. At Nawitti (Hope Island). Quat- 



