IOO 



RECREA TION. 



while its people were away in the Stick, on 

 their big hunt, they would still have their 

 food left. 



The cache is constructed by placing in 

 the ground, at right angles, 4 round posts, 

 8 to 10 feet high and usually occupying a 

 space about 6 by 8 feet. On top of these 2 

 long logs are fastened, opposite each other. 

 Across these a floor is made, of straight 

 poles, carefully fitted to one another. On 

 top of this a log house is built, about 4 feet 

 above the floor, and covered with spruce 

 bark. It is made sufficiently tight to shed 

 snow and rain and the height puts the con- 

 tents out of the reach of bears and wolves. 



A striking illustration of the honesty of 

 these people, and of the confidence they 

 have in one another is given in the fact that 

 natives have been known to starve, but 

 never to rob one another's caches. They 

 might pilfer the ictas (merchandise) of the 

 white trader, from his place of business, but 

 the personal effects of the white man they 

 would not touch. All summer long the 

 cabin in which we kept our supplies was left 

 unlocked and we were away in the moun- 

 tains for weeks, leaving expensive guns, 

 field glasses, hunting knives, ammunition, 

 and many other articles an Indian would 

 delight in; but they were never disturbed. 

 These Indians, as well as all others, like the 

 best of a trade, but they will not steal. 



When we were in camp on the Tahltan 

 these people had just commenced carrying 

 their dried fish to the cache. Old, feeble 

 men and women, and small children, all 

 joined the middle aged and the strong, on 

 the trail to the cache. Each carried a bale 

 as large as he could manage, and as they 

 climbed the high bluff, from the drying 

 station at the river's edge, winding in single 

 file back and forth along the crooked trail, 

 the entire party joined in a monotonous 

 chant. 



I learned that this same song was always 

 used on departing from or returning to the 

 village and they told me it denoted happi- 

 ness, or at least contentment. 



As showing the thriftiness of the Tahl- 

 tans I will relate an incident that occurred 

 while traveling in their country. We had 

 pitched camp one evening on a long, dry 

 beach, shut in by high, dry lava walls. 

 There were 2 or 3 acres of this little level 

 tract and about 100 yards from where we 

 made our halt, several native families were 

 camping. We threw our duffle on the 

 ground and opened it out promiscously. 

 Among my traps was a small case in which 

 I carried a comb, a brush, and other things, 

 including a number of papers of needles, 

 put up in fancy wrappers that I had brought 

 along to use in trading with the natives. 



Fuel here was scarce and while Ed. and 

 our Indian, Billy, were picking up some 

 small dead branches, left by some previous 

 camper, with which to start a fire, I went 

 to skirmish for wood. After searching al- 



most every part of the little flat, I finally 

 found a good dry stick that was about as 

 large as I could carry. It was the only 

 stick of wood I could find. 



It was soon blazing on the camp fire and 

 the heat from it was just browning the pan 

 bread, when a stalwart Indian, somewhat 

 past the middle age, came walking hur- 

 riedly up to camp, looked us over, then 

 looked at the fire and with an expression of 

 anger depicted in his face, commenced talk- 

 ing to Billy. The latter told me this man 

 claimed the wood. He said wood was very 

 scarce there, and was secured at the ex- 

 pense of great labor, by the Indians, who 

 had gone several miles up stream to gather 

 and float it down. The old man demanded 

 that we take this wood from the fire and 

 return it to him. 



I told him, through my interpreter, that I 

 was sorry we had made the mistake, but 

 that the wood was burning and could not 

 now be returned if we wished; but our vis- 

 itor grew only the more angry. No argu- 

 ment I could offer had any effect on him. 



Finally, I stepped over to my pack, took 

 out a paper of needles and offered them to 

 him. This saved our wood and our supper. 

 He took the needles and examined them 

 carefully. The expression on his face 

 brightened. He shook me by the hand and 

 then hurried away to show them to his 

 kloochman. 



I now felt sure the wood was ours; but 

 imagine my surprise when, in a few min- 

 utes, another Indian appeared on the scene 

 and claimed the same stick of wood! He 

 wore, if possible, a more angry and fore- 

 boding look than his predecessor. Again 

 we parleyed but it was no go. The old Ind- 

 ian grew wild and seemed determined to 

 have the wood. Supper was almost ready 

 and we were all very hungry. I therefore 

 closed the argument by again paying for 

 the wood, with another paper of needles, 

 and receiving the old man's blessing. 



When the bread was baked we drew from 

 the fire the remnants of the log, believing it 

 was now doubly our property and knowing 

 we should need it in the morning. We 

 were just comfortably seated at our even- 

 ing meal, when to our astonishment, up 

 bobbed a third claimant. This one acted dif- 

 ferently. He sat down on the ground, some 

 distance away, and contented himself with 

 eyeing us while we ate. He wore a sad, de- 

 jected look and acted as though he realized 

 he was too late to run a successful bluff. 

 He was not so well supplied with nerve, 

 and was not so capable of pushing a busi- 

 ness proposition 'as the men who had come 

 before him. 



Finally he came around and examined 

 our guns and other traps. He expressed 

 great surprise at all he saw. He placed my 

 12 pound rifle to his shoulder and sighted 

 along the barrel. Then he took from my 

 cartridge belt a 45-100-550 Sharps special, 



