86 SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 



a great number of fur-bearing animals, the most important of which 

 is beaver. 



Most of the Carrier Indians live in small communities scattered 

 along the lakes and rivers, but on the southern end of Stuart Lake 

 they have a rancheria of several hundred persons which, with 

 an equal number of whites, make up the village of Fort St. James. 

 The "Fort," which is 42 miles north of the railroad at the end of an 

 automobile road, is the last real outpost of civilization. Beyond it, one 

 may travel for several hundred miles by boat along a chain of 

 scenic lakes or, if hurried, he may even engage one of three sea 

 planes that are stationed on Stuart Lake to serve the mines. 



Fort St. James is nearly ideal from the anthropologist's point of 

 view. Several hotels provide comfortable accommodations, and stores 

 and trading posts afford essential needs. The Indians are friendly 

 and intelligent, most of them speaking English fluently, and many 

 are excellent informants. An ideal informant was found in Chief 

 Louis Billy Prince, grandson of the great Chief Kwah who died 100 

 years ago, and acknowledged leader of the Stuart Lake Carrier. 

 Physically vigorous, long of memory, and keen of mind at 76, his 

 talents included not only a remarkably detailed knowledge of his 

 own people but a reading knowledge of English, French, and the old 

 Carrier syllabary taught him two generations ago by the missionary 

 Father Morice. For 2 months the Chief answered questions about 

 the past and present Carrier ways of living. When his information 

 faltered, we always found another person who could fill gaps or 

 verify statements. 



After the data supplied by Chief Louis Billy were analyzed, it was 

 possible to reconstruct a coherent picture of the main social and 

 economic changes during Carrier history. 



The Carrier Indians have always been hunters, trappers, and fish- 

 ermen, living in reasonable security if not in affluence. They hunted 

 with bows and arrows, nets, and traps, took salmon with weirs, and 

 caught fur-bearing animals with a variety of ingenious devices. 

 Originally, they had exploited their lands in some communal man- 

 ner. Probably the members of a simple, democratic band hunted their 

 territory together. But in late prehistoric times influence from the 

 Pacific coast tribes swept away this early system and introduced 

 in its place an organization of titled nobility, each with its lands like 

 the baronial estates of Europe. By a system of clans with descent 

 through the mother's side of the family, each wealthy aristocrat be- 

 queathed his lands and title to his sister's son. It was not sufficient, 

 however, merely to inherit riches and social status. In order to gain 



