44 
fish of the shores afford an easy supply of food. Then there are fish of 
many species, such as the salmon that ascend the rivers in unbelievable 
numbers, seals, whales, deer, and other mammals, and various land and 
water birds. All these resources must have been available to the Indians 
of the old shell-heap days just as they are today. 
It is hardly surprising, therefore, that the culture represented in the 
ancient middens should seem to be similar, on the whole, to that of the 
Indians found in this region at the time of its discovery. In both ancient 
and modern times goats, deer, and elk were hunted with bows and arrows, 
large sea-mammals were caught with retrieving harpoons, fish with the 
spear and probably with hook and line, and huge quantities of shell-fish 
were taken by hand. Pottery was unknown in both periods, meat and 
fish being cooked with the aid of hot stones. The depressions in the soil 
left by the ancient houses indicate that they were huge, rectangular 
structures built of planks like the few native dwellings that still remain. 
The social organization and religious beliefs of the earlier period we do 
not know, but the animal carvings on bone and stone discovered in the 
shell-heaps prove that the art of sculpture had attained the same degree 
of excellence as in modern times. Totem-poles, it is true, are absent, and 
totem-poles are peculiarly typical of this coast-line today. However, 
everything made of wood has decayed in the middens; and even if totem- 
poles are a comparatively recent invention, as the traditions of the natives 
sometimes seem to indicate, yet we can hardly doubt that there were other 
wood-carvings in those early days little, if at all, inferior to the modern. 
There are, it is true, certain differences. Of the two types of Indians 
apparently co-existing in shell-heap days only one has been observed among 
the existing tribes. Trephining, unknown in recent times, was not un- 
common among the ancient people of both types. The modern Indians 
buried objects with their dead, but objects associated with human remains 
are rare in the shell-heaps, or in the cairns that seem to belong to the same 
period. The circle and dot design so common now was apparently un- 
known; and labrets, which were never used in historic times along the 
southern part of the coast, are found there in the shell-heaps. These 
differences, however, are small, and cannot outweigh the overwhelming 
resemblances. Even the strange type of Indian might be found today 
if we made a closer study of the surviving natives. 
Turning now to the shell-heap culture alone, some differences between 
the northern and southern parts of the British Columbia coast may not 
be without significance. Archaeological sites in Fraser River delta and 
vicinity (i.e., part of the Salishan linguistic area) contain a few tubular 
pipes and chipped stone points similar to those found in the ruins in the 
hinterland, a little copper, plain celts, celt hafts, carvings representing a 
seated human figure with a bowl in its lap, clubs made of bones of whales, 
and cairn burials. All these appear to be absent in Queen Charlo tte 
islands to the north. On the other hand, the grooved hammer heads and 
grooved adzes found in Queen Charlotte islands seem to be absent from 
Fraser River delta and neighbouring regions. One other feature is worth 
noticing. The frequency of human remains in the rear portions of the 
shell-heaps in Fraser River delta suggests a peculiar method of burial, for 
in shell-heaps elsewhere human remains are very scarce. More excava- 
tions will be necessary to confirm and amplify these differences before 
