132 b 



GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA. 



man is aided by his mother's people, makes the potlatch from Ids own 

 house and in his own last-adopted name. Dancing and singing are in 

 order at all potlatches. The first house-building is called tux-ku\o. 

 The second ki-au-ni-gexa. The third xashl. The fourth tlo-xo-Ms-til. 

 Slavery. Slavery is intimately interwoven with the social system of the 



Haidas, as with that of most of the tribes of the coast. Slaves were 

 formerly common among them, expeditions being undertaken — espe- 

 cially northward to the country about Sitka, where the totems are 

 different — for the special purposes of securing slaves. The intertribal 

 wars along the coast have now ceased, however, and such piratical 

 expeditions have also been abandoned owing to the wholesome dread 

 of gunboats. Slaves, in consequence, are becoming scarce, and the 

 custom is dying away. A slave is called elaidi in the Iiaida language. 

 They appear to have been formerly under the absolute rule of their 

 respective masters, and were sometimes cruelly treated. In some 

 cases a slave has been killed to bury beneath the corner post of a new 

 house. They are veritable hewers of wood and drawers of water. 

 They can be sold, and are supposed at the present time to bo worth 

 about two hundred blankets each, the price having risen owing to their 

 scarcity. Children born of slaves are also slaves. 



One slave still remains among the Gold Harbour Haidas. There 

 are none at Skidegate or other of the southern villages, but a consid- 

 erable number at Masset and the northern villages. Slaves sometimes 

 regain their freedom by running away, but should they return to their 

 native place are generally so much despised that their lives are rendered 

 miserable. 



When a man falls sick it devolves upon his brother to call in the 

 medicine-man, and also to invite the friends to the house of sickness, 

 and provide" them with tobacco to smoke. The house is thus generally 

 full of Sympathising Indians, with smoke, and the noise of the 

 medicine-man's performances. Should the sick man die, the body is 

 generally enclosed in a sitting posture in a nearly square cedar box, 

 which is made for the purpose by all the Indians conjointly ; or, if 

 they do not wish to make it, they subscribe to purchase from some 

 one of their number a suitable box. The coffin-box being the same in 

 shape as those used for ordinary domestic purposes, there is generally 

 no difficulty in securing one. In either case the brother, or other 

 near relative of the deceased, makes a potlatch, or distribution of 

 property, to repay the others for their labour or expense. 

 Entombment. If a man of ordinary reputation only, dies, his body (tl-ko-dd) is put 

 at once into the coffin-box (sa-tling-uri), and is then stored away in the 

 tomb-house (sa-tling-un-nai) , which is generally a little, covered shed 

 behind the house, or in the immediate neighbourhood of the village. 



Sickness'and 

 death. 



