349 
was a steady fading away of all those characteristic traits that dis- 
tinguish the north Pacific Coast ])eoples from the other tribes of 
Canada, and indeed from all other tribes in America. 
We have no estimate of the numl)ers of the Coast Salish before 
about the middle of the nineteenth century, when European diseases 
and demoralization due to lif|uor had already produced a serious 
decline. Mooney conjectured that they exceeded 15,000 when Cap- 
tain James Cook explored the northwest coast in 1778.^ Unless this 
71405 
Grave iiionninent of tlie Coast Sali.s]i. (Photo tnj Uarhiti I. t^mith.) 
figure is unduly high, which seems improbable, they have suffered as 
greatly as the other tribes along the coast, for the population to-day 
does not exceed 4,000. 
1 Mooney: Oji. cit., p. 28 f. 
