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CHAPTER XXI 
TRIBES OF THE PACIFIC COAST 
From the i)lains we j^ass to the Pacific coast of Canada, neglect- 
ing for a time the inland tribes of British Columbia because most of 
them ])atterned their lives after their neighbours on the coast. The 
material culture of the coastal tribes^ hinged on the shoals of salmon 
that annually ascended the creeks and rivers, and on the abundant 
stands of free-grained cedar trees; for the salmon provided them 
with an assured supply of food throughout the year, and the cedar 
furnished timber for dwellings, canoes, and household utensils, and 
bark for clothing and mats. While there were local differences in the 
shapes of the houses and canoes, and in the chai’acter and proportion 
of other foods than salmon, these variations were on the whole less 
noticeable than differences in social organization, in religious beliefs, 
and in tribal ceremonies and rituals. The three northern tribes, the 
Tlinkit of southeastern Alaska, the Haida of Queen Charlotte islands, 
and the Tsimshian of the X^ass and Skeena rivers, possessed well- 
integrated social systems based on exogamous phratries and clans that 
recognized descent only in the female line; and they eschewed or 
kept in strict subordination all other groupings that tended to over- 
ride their systems. The Kwakiutl, Bella Coola, and Nootka tribes 
farther south recognized no phratric divisions, hesitated between 
matrilineal and patrilineal descent, between clan exogamy and clan 
endogamy, and permitted a rank outcrop of secret religious societies 
to dominate the clan groupings during the mid- winter months. Clans 
and secret societies, together with the unique style of painting and 
carving that accompanied them, tended to fade away among the 
Coast Salish, and disappeared altogether on the shores of the state of 
Washington, Considering this progression, it would seem logical to 
begin our sketch of the Pacific Coast tribes with the most northern, 
tlie Tlinkit, which, although strictly an Alaskan tribe hardly touching 
the borders of Canada, greatly influenced the Tsimshian and Haida 
Indians to the south and the Athapaskan peoples of Canada immedi- 
ately behind it. 
1 'I’Ik' word “ trilie ” is used loosely tlirouirliout this chapter as a synonym for the awkward 
expression " linguistic grouj).’' It iinist not he understood to imply any jiotitical unit larger than a 
village, or group of neighbouring villages. See Chapter x. 
