164 b 



GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OP CANADA. 



Origin of the 

 name Masset. 



Temporary 



villages. 



Abandoned 



village. 



houses on and beyond which appear to be considered as properly 

 forming a distinct village, though generally included in the former. 

 The remaining Masset village (JKa-yung) is smaller than this one, and 

 was not particularly examined. The principal chief of this vicinity is 

 named We-he ; he is an old man, rather stout, and with nearly white 

 hair and beard. I did not learn the precise extent of his authority, or 

 whether, or in what degree, it may embrace the villages beyond that 

 in which he resides. 



The name Masset is of uncertain origin. Some of the natives when 

 questioned about it, said that it has been given by the whites ; while 

 others believe that it has been extended to the whole inlet by the 

 whites, but was the same with that of a small island which lies a little 

 higher up the channel than the villages, and is said to be called Maast 

 by the Haidas. It is unfortunate that so many places on this part of 

 the west coast have been frequently renamed, owing to the ignorance 

 of the names given by former explorers, but not widely published by 

 them. The name Massette occurs, evidently denoting the place now 

 so called in Mr. Work's table given on a following page, and constructed 

 between 1836 and 1841. It is also found on the map illustrating Green- 

 how's Northwest Coast of North America, dated 1840, as Massette, but 

 is attached to a supposed village between the positions of Masset Inlet 

 and Virago Sound. It is suspiciously like Mazaredo, a name given by 

 Caamano in 1793 ; but this, according to Greenhow's identification, is 

 the same place known to the American traders as Craft's Sound, which 

 is identical with Virago Sound of the modern charts ; and this ident- 

 ification appears also to be borne out by Vancouver's chart. 



A number of small houses, occupied during the summer, or salmon- 

 fishing season, are scattered about the shores of the southern expansion 

 of Masset Inlet. Of these, two are situated on the A in River near its 

 mouth, and several near the mouth of the Ya-koun. These summer 

 houses are always small and slightly built compared with those of the 

 permanent villages, and no attempt is made to erect any carved posts 

 or symbols such as are appropriate at the main seat of the family. 



On the north shore of Graham Island, east of Masset, and about a 

 mile and a half from Tow Hill, is a temporary village also belonging 

 to the Masset Indians, and occupied during the dog-fish and halibut 

 fishery. A few small potato gardens surround the houses, which are 

 of the unpretentious character above described, and about half a dozen 

 in number. 



Just east of Tow Hill, and on low ground on the east bank of the 

 Hi-ellen River, a few much-decayed carved posts and beams of former 

 houses are still standing, where, according to the Indians, a large 

 village formerly existed. Its disappearance is partly accounted for 



