QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS. 165 B 



by the fact that the sea has washed away much of the ground on which 

 it stood. As the subsoil is only sand and gravel, this might easily have 

 occurred during a single heavy storm coming from an unusual direction, 

 or otherwise under exceptional conditions. It is probably that called 

 Ne-coon, and credited with five houses in Mr. Works table given further 

 on. Ne-coon or Nai-koon is, however, the name of the whole north-east 

 point of the island. North of Caj^e Ball, or Kul-tow-sis, on the east 

 coast of Graham Island, the ruins of still another village yet remain. 

 It is said to have been populous, and is near some excellent halibut 

 banks. It is doubtless that called A-se-guang in Mr. Work's list, and 

 .said to have nine houses. 



Tl-ell is the name of a tract of country north of the entrance to Large old hou?e 

 Skidegate, between Boulder Point and the mouth of a large stream 

 twelve miles beyond it. About nine miles from Boulder Point, some 

 posts are still standing, of an old house which must have been of great 

 size and built of very heavy timbers. This was erected by the Skide- 

 gate chief of one or two generations back, concerning whose great 

 size and powers many stories are current among the Haidas. The 

 region came into the possession of Skidegate as the property of his 

 wife, but was afterwards given by him to the Skedans of that day as 

 a peace-offering for the wounding or killing of one of his (Skedans) 

 women. The tract thus now belongs to Skedans, and is valued as a 

 berry ground. 



Skit-ei-get, or Skidegate Tillage as it is ordinarily called, situated in Skidegate 

 the inlet of the same name, and extended along the shore of a wide^ 

 bay with sandy beach, is still one of the most populous Haicla villages, 

 and has always been a place of great importance. It has suffered more 

 than most places, however, from the habit of its people in resorting to 

 Victoria and other towns to the south. There are many unoccupied 

 and ruinous houses, and fully one-half of those who still claim it as 

 their residence are generally absent. The true name of the town is, I 

 believe, Hyo-hai-ka, while Skit-ei-get is that of the hereditary chief. It 

 is called Kil-hai-oo by the Tshimsians. There are now standing in this 

 village about twenty-five houses, counting some of which the beams 

 only remain, and several which are uninhabited. Of carved posts 

 there are in all about fifty-three, making on an average two for each 

 house, which was found also to be about the proportion in several other 

 places. Nearly one-half of these are monumental posts or x-at, it being- 

 rare to find more than a single door-post or ke-%en for each house. Mr. 

 Work assigns forty-eight houses to this place, which is not improbably 

 correct for the date to which he refers, as there are signs that the village 

 has formerly been much more extensive, and the Skidegate Haidas 

 themselves never cease to dwell on the deplorable decrease of the 



