QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS. 



L35 b 



the legs, arms and breasts being generally thus ornamented. Among 

 the Tshimsians it is occasionally practised. The design is in all ca 

 the totem-crest of the bearer. 



The strictness of the custom of payment for privileges granted, and 

 repayment for losses or injuries sustained, almost necessitated Hie 

 definition of a currency of some kind. Among most of the coast tribes Currency, 

 the dentalium shell was prized, but not so much as a means of exchange shells, 

 among themselves as for barter with the Indians of the interior. By 

 the Iiaidas the dentalium is called kivo-tsing, but as these people were 

 by their position debarred from the trade with the interior, it was 

 probably never of so great value with them. It is still sometimes 

 worn in ornaments, but has disappeared as a medium of exchange. 



Another article of purely conventional value, 



and serving as money, is the 'copper.' This is 'Coppers.' 



piece of native metal beaten out into a flat sheet, 



and made to take the form illustrated in the 



margin. These are not made by the Iiaidas, — 



nor indeed is the native metal known to exist 



in the islands, — but are imported as articles of 



great worth from the Chil-kat country, north 



of Sitka. Much attention is paid to the size 



and make of the copper, which should be of 



uniform but not too great thickness, and give 



forth a c;ood sound when struck with the hand. 



Length, about 18 inches 

 or 2 feet. 



At the present time spurious coppers have come into circulation, and 

 though these are easily detected by an expert, the value of the copper 

 has become somewhat reduced, and is often more nominal than real. 

 Formerly ten slaves were paid for a good copper, as a usual price, now 

 they are valued at from forty to eighty blankets. 



The blanket is now, however, the recognised currency, not only Blankets 

 among the Iiaidas, but generally along the coast. It takes the place 

 of the beaver-skin currency of the interior of British Columbia and the 

 North-west Territory. The blankets used in trade are distinguished by 

 points, or marks on the edge, woven into their texture, the best being 

 four-point, the smallest and poorest one-point. The acknowledged 

 unit of value is a single two-and-a-half-point blanket, now worth a 

 little over $1.50. Everything is referred to this unit, even a large 

 four-point blanket is said to be worth so many blankets. The Hudson 

 Bay Company, at their posts, and other traders, not infrequently buy 

 in blankets, taking them — when in good condition — from the Indians 

 as money, and selling them out again as required. 



Blankets are carefully stowed away in large boxes, neatly folded. 



