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The Indians have brought in specimens of bituminous coal said to have been obtained upon a stream discharging into Cumshewa Inlet, and they also report having seen a seam near Ninstints. Messrs Knight, Williams and Allen, practical coal miners of Nanaimo, prospected the islands for coal during the past summer, but made no locations.

Copper.

Copper bearing rocks, and veins occur in several localities on the east coast of Moresby Island, and shafts have been sunk into them at Copper Bay and opposite Copper Island and abandoned. The examination of these deposits is briefly mentioned in progress report No. 2.

Productions, Cereals and Vegetables.

Oats are the only cereal which has been successfully grown in the islands.

Potatoes, turnips, cabbages, peas, and garden vegetables generally, with the exception of Indian corn tomatoes and melons are raised.

Fruits.

Crab-apples, red, blue and black whortleberries, Scotch, salal, salmon and strawberries are very abundant. Cranberries were found on the north and east side of Graham Island. A few black currants and gooseberries were also seen. Apple and pear trees grow well, but bear an inferior fruit which seldom ripens.

Inhabitants--Physical Characteristics.

These islands are inhabited by about 800 Hydah Indians, a very remarkable race of people. The most common type of the adult unmixed Hydah is about five feet, seven inches in height, thick-set, large-boned, with fairly regular broad features, coal-black hair and eyes, and a bronze complexion. They have generally--both men and women--finely developed breasts and fore-arms, caused by their almost daily use of the canoe paddle from infancy. A few have well-formed legs, though the greater number are defective in this respect, resulting from much sitting, or rather squatting in their, canoes, in and around their lodges, with but comparatively little walking. Their feet are so short, broad and thick through the instep, that shoes are made by the manufacturer, expressly for them. Some of the young men wear a moustache, and a scanty beard is occasionally seen upon the face of the old men, though both generally eradicate such hair as it grows. Only the women and medicine men permit the hair of the head to grow long. They walk with a springy light tread and agile step, though I easily outran a young Indian of Massett, who matched himself against me. Some of them are very strong in the arms, an Indian of Skidegate beating me at "tug of war." Many are expert swimmers, sometimes diving from their canoes into the rough sea, and bringing out wounded seal which have sunk to the bottom. One of my men performed such a feat, springing from the top of a great rock, where the ocean was breaking. They are intelligent and quick to learn from observation.

There are, probably, more well formed and featured people among the Hydas than any other aboriginal race, though there are none which can be considered handsome; indeed I have never seen an Indian beauty, nor an adult Indian woman of graceful movement. Black hair and eyes, white teeth and occasionally a rich olive complexion are their chief attractions. The Indian ages rapidly and are shorter lived than the whites. They suffer most from pulmonary and venereal diseases, the faces of many being scarred by the latter in its worst forms. Small pox has also destroyed them by the hundreds.

Dress--Ornaments. Etc.

Nearly all the adults are tattooed upon the arms and legs, many upon the breasts, and occasionally one upon the face. The designs usually represent tribal and family crests and totem. The practice is being gradually discontinued. The face is generally painted for dances, by the women when mourning, and frequently by both sexes when travelling, to protect it from the effects of the sun and wind, Vermillion, the fungus of trees, burnt and ground, common charcoal, deer tallow, and spruce gum are used for this purpose. Labrets--pieces of wood, bone or shell, from 1.5 to 2.5 inches in length--are worn by a few old females, but this hideous, monstrosity is now never found upon the young women. Many of the middle-aged, however, pierce the centre of the lower lip and insert a small silver tube, which projects about a quarter of an inch. Both sexes perforate the septum of the nose for rings, but I have only seen two worn by the Hydas, and these were silver. The medicine men, while performing their dances, sometimes insert a semi-circular bone from eight to ten inches in length. They are very fond of ornaments, which are used in profusion, especially upon their dance and ceremonial dresses and robes, and by the females upon their persons. I saw a woman at Skidegate with sixteen silver rings upon her hands, and two or three heavy silver bracelets are quite commonly worn. Feathers, mother-of-pearl buttons, puffin bills, abalone, dentalum and other shells, silver pieces, and deer toes, are among their favorite articles of adornment.

Manners and Customs.

The Indian generally, is an ill-mannered brute, who steals into your presence without warning, handles whatever he sees without permission, smokes if you allow it, and seldom, especially if a middle-aged or old woman, leaves you without begging a potlatch. He exhibits very little deferential respect for his superiors, seldom expresses gratitude for favors, and more rarely does them without expecting compensation. At their homes, however, there is much to be commended in their conduct. There they are generally quiet and peaceable, converse in low tones, and treat their children with kindness. There is a noticeable difference in favor of the deportment of those Hydas of Massett and Skidegate who have come under the influence of missionary training.

Domestic Relations.

The Hydas generally enter the marriage state in early youth, the females frequently between the ages of fourteen and sixteen. Matches are often arranged by the parents before the children are old enough to choose for themselves. In such cases when of suitable age, the young man and woman begin to live together without other ceremony than a mutual agreement and understanding between them and their relatives, and the bestowal of presents and dowry upon the bride. When the parties make their own selections, which is now oftenest done, and the young man falls in love, he tells his mother, who goes to the mother of his sweetheart, and makes a declaration of her son's affection for and desire to marry the girl. If the proposal is favorably received, the parents and friends of the groom assemble at an appointed time at the house of the bride's parents, where, all sitting around the fire, the good qualities of the young man are praised by his friends to the father of the girl. She is present, also, and if satisfied after listening to all the gracious words in favor of her intended, she rises from her place, goes and sits down beside her lover, and taking his hand in hers the ceremony is complete. Among those Hydas who profess Christianity, marriage is solemnized by a ceremony, at which a missionary or Justice of the Peace officiates, the same as among the whites, and other unions are not regarded as binding. Polygamy was formerly much practised, especially by the chiefs, who took young women for their wives as often as they desired them, but none of the natives, so far as my obervation extended, now have more than one wife. Married women are generally well treated, and instead of being mere menial servants as frequently represented, they oftener carry the purse than the men, and have an equal voice in the management of family affairs. Indeed, the only domestic unpleasantness which I witnessed were cases of young wives vigorously asserting authority over the "old man." The marriage relation has, however, undergone a radical change since so many females, from their own earnings, not only bring most of the money into the household, but frequently support the men in idleness.

Slavery.

Slavery has existed among the Hydas, as with the other native races, from the earliest times. Until a comparatively recent period they were always at war with some of the coast tribes, and, being generally victorious, made many captives, whom they held in bondage, usually attached to the household of the conquering chief, who became their absolute owner and master, even to ordering their sacrifice, which has occurred on many occasions. A slave, , was formerly valued at from one hundred and fifty to two hundred blankets, but now, though there are still a number upon the island, they are no longer bought and sold, but enjoy unrestrained freedom. Many prefer to remain with or near their former masters and render service for food and protection--especially men--rather than return to their native villages and endure the disgrace and taunts for having been overcome in battle. Several white men have been captured and held as slaves by the Hydas within the last thirty years.

Potlatches.

This custom of distributing property prevails more or less among all the northwestern tribes. The potlatch is usually preceded by a feast, also provided by the donor. They are never prompted by a spirit of unselfish generosity, but are given as a means of acquiring popularity and influence, for the compensation of labor performed, in satisfaction for injuries done, and sometimes as a means of revenge. The greatest potlatches are given by the chiefs, either for the purpose of obtaining or retaining the chieftaincy. On such occasions the feasts are sometimes prolonged for days, and hundreds of blankets distributed. Whenever a great house or carved pole is erected, there is a feast and potlatch for all who assist in the work. They are also held on occasions of tattooing, when females arrive at maturity, and as a part of the funeral ceremony. In most instances a record is kept of the property dispensed, and an equivalent, if not already received, is expected at some future potlatch.

Dancing and Masquerading.

Totems and Crests.

Religion.

The Hydas, with the exception of those who have embraced the Christian faith, have no forms of religious worship, and I am informed by Rev. Mr Harrison, missionary at Massett, and probably the best authority upon the subject, that there is no word in their language which signifies the praise or adoration of a Supreme Being. They believe in a Great Spirit, a future life, and in the transmigration of souls. Their God, , possesses chiefly the attributes of power, and is invoked to help them attain their desires. Their Devil, , corresponds with the devil of common belief, a demon who in various forms brings upon them evil and destruction.

Morals.

Legends and Traditions.

The mind of the Indian is full of weird strange fancies and imaginations. Groping in darkness, in almost total ignorance of the discoveries of science, with nothing to guide or correct him, it is no wonder that in his blind struggles to solve the great problems which are more or less a mystery to us all--the origin of man and original creations--that he has wrought out the incongruous mixture of ignorance, superstition and vulgar imagination which mainly compose their legends and traditions. Some of them are doubtless based upon actual occurrences in the remote ages, which they have interwoven with their own fancies; others upon the exploits and experiences of their ancestors; though the greater number are pure fictions, fairy tales and hobgoblin stories, handed down from generation to generation. It would require a large volume to contain them all, and years to translate them with accuracy. I can therefore only give a few examples from those most frequently narrated, which I had from the lips of Edensaw, the oldest and ranking Chief of the Hydah nation, and Goo'd-nai-u-uns, wife of Goo-gul, well known as a gifted relator of their legends and traditions. Ne-kil-stlas is their great creative geni, who, by transforming himself into men, women, children, beasts, birds and fishes, or whatever thing is best suited to accomplish his designs, performs the most miraculous deeds. Ne-kil-stlas is known also as Kill-sing-ne-kee-uns, Goya-ta-get-ya, Goy-kilt, Guoy-ne, kill-gee-sklass, Hoya, and by other names, according to the shape which he assumes.

The Creation of Man.

When the water which once covered the whole earth subsided, a raven was the only creature surviving. In his loneliness he started around the islands, seeking companionship, and when passing Sand Spit Point heard very faint cries, which he soon discovered proceeded from a cockle shell lying upon the beach. While examining it with great wonder, the voices grew louder and loader, until finally there issued therefrom several male infant children, which rapidly increasing in stature joined him in a common search for mates. Upon reaching the lonely island of Ninstints they found females clinging helplessly to the rocks, whom rescuing and taking for their wives, peopled the land.

Origin of Light--The Sun, Moon and Stars.

Ne-kil-stlas, soon discovering that light, fresh water, and many other things which the people most needed were in possession of a powerful chief called Setlin-ki-jash, and jealously guarded by him, resolved to obtain them. Now this chief's daughter had a little babe, which, when they all slept, Ne-kil-stlas killed, and taking the place of the infant was fondly petted and cared for. When he found where the chief kept the moon, he began to cry to see it, and continued so to do for a long time, and until they opened the door into the apartment where the moon was concealed, which seeing, Ne-kil-stlas instantly became a raven and seizing it with his bill flew away to the Naas country. Here the Indians gathered about him and begged to see the moon, of which they had heard. Ne-kil-stlas agreed to let them see it if they would give him all the oolachan fish which he desired, to which consenting, he threw down the moon before them, which they in their wild delight tossed so high in the air that it broke in pieces, and formed one part the sun, another the moon, and the small fragments the stars.

Carvings.

The Hydas are distinguished for their superior skill, above that possessed by any other aboriginal people on the continent, in carving and mechanical arts and contrivances generally. Besides their great columns, from 30 to 75 feet in height, covered with figures from top to bottom, nearly every article used by them is carved to represent either their totem crests, or some animal, bird or fish familiar to their sight. House-posts, canoe-heads, stone axes, mauls and mortars, fish-hooks and floats, seal-killing clubs, boxes of all kinds, cooking and eating utensils, trays, spoons, ladles, medicine charms, masks, rattles, whistles, gambling sticks, towes, and other articles, too numerous to mention, are all carved. Their designs are often grotesque, many evidently purposely so, and their workmanship commonly rude compared with that of our best white carvers; yet their skill in so curiously and accurately shaping some things, considering their few and inferior tools and semi-savage state, is quite remarkable. Desiring to possess some small article of Hyda manufacture, I gave a young Indian jeweler a two-and-a-half dollar gold piece at 9 o'clock in the morning with instructions to make from it an eagle. Before 1 o'clock the same day he brought me the bird so well made that not many jewelers could improve upon it.

Food Supplies.

Hyda Villages.

There are seven inhabited, and fifteen deserted villages upon the islands, which will be briefly noticed in the order reached in circumnavigating the archipelago from North Island, proceeding eastward. They are situated upon the immediate shore, the houses generally standing in a row facing to the south or east, with from one to three tall carved poles in front. Kah-oh and Ki-oos-ta, both in ruins, the former containing six houses and ten poles, and the latter fifteen houses and eighteen poles, are situated near each other on the south shore of Parry Passage, on Moresby Island. On the north side of the Passage, on the south end of North Island, opposite Lucy Island, lies Tadense, with its six small houses--still occupied by hunters and fishermen during the summer--and one lonely carved pole. On the rocky, exposed shore, just east of Klas-kwun Point, stands the three houses and one carved pole comprising the village known at Yatze. It is now only the occasional stopping place of parties of Indians en route to and from the west coast. Its builders formerly occupied deserted Kung, very pleasantly situated on the west shore, at the entrance to Naden Harbor. Fifteen houses, all in ruins but two, and twenty poles, are all that remain visible here, except numerous graves of the dead. There are three villages near the entrance to Massett Inlet: Yan--abandoned--with 20 houses and 25 carved poles, on the west side, and Utte-was--now Massett--and Ka-Yung, situated about a mile below, on the east. Massett is the principal village of the Hyda nation, now containing a population of about three hundred and fifty Indians, 40 occupied houses, 50 carved poles, and the ruins of many ancient lodges. The Hudson Bay Company have had a Trading Post here since 1855, Mr. Alexander McKenzie having been their agent for the last six years. He is the extreme north-western resident white man on the soil of the Dominion of Canada. The Episcopal Church of England established a mission at Massett in 1877, now under the excellent charge of Rev. Chas. Harrison and wife. At Ka-Yung we found only the ruins of a few houses and carved poles; also at the mouth of the Hiellen, where there was formerly a considerable village. A still larger one is said to have stood at the base of Rose Spit Point, called by the Indians Ne-coon, and another between this point and Cape Ball, on the the east coast of Graham Island, the remains of which may still be seen.

We have now reached Skidegate, an imposing village, finely situated, on the north shore of Skidegate Inlet, eight or ten miles from its eastern entrance. It contains 30 houses and 55 carved poles. A Methodist Mission, Church, and School building occupies a prominent site in the back-ground. The village of Gold Harbour is situated upon Maud Island, three miles further up the inlet. Its people, now numbering 108, removed from Gold Harbour, on the west coast, a few years ago. Here are 13 houses and 18 carved poles. Cumahewa, situated on the north shore of the inlet of that name, contains 60 people, 18 houses and 25 carved poles, and Skedance, on the opposite, only 12 Indians, but 25 houses and 30 carved poles. Tanoo, or Laskeek, on Tanoo Island, is next reached. It is second in population to Massett, containing 150 natives, 20 houses and 25 carved poles. There is only one more Hyda village to the southward, Ninstints, with 30 inhabitants, 20 houses, 25 carved poles, and 20 burial columns, occupying a rock-bound islet lying off the south-west coast of Moresby Island, near the western entrance to Houston Stewart Channel. There are five other villages on the west coast of the islands, all abandoned, and most of them in ruins. Tasso, on Tasso Harbour, Gold Harbour, between Gold Harbour and Skidegate Channel, picturesque Chathl, on Canoe Passage, near its western entrance, Lenna-how, on Graham Island, opposite Nesto Island, Tiahn on Tiahn Cove, between Stowe Harbour and Frederick Island, and Susk, on Graham, opposite the latter. There are, besides these villages named, numerous houses and temporary lodges, from one to seven in a place, situated at the mouths of the principal salmon streams, near potato gardens, and convenient to choice hunting and fishing grounds.

PROGRESS REPORT NUMBER ONE,

SKIDEGATE, Queen Charlotte Islands, May, 1884.

MASSETT INLET

Is a magnificent body of water, about twenty-seven miles in length, from one to one-and-a-half miles in width, for eighteen miles, then widening to over eighteen miles, being sufficiently deep for vessels drawing twelve feet of water. There is fifteen feet of water on the bar at low tide, and safe anchorage immediately inside, except during north-westers, when perfect protection could be secured by running down the inlet.

I desired first to make a reconnoisance of the entire island, penetrate all its rivers, inlets and waterways, that I might thereby be better able to determine which portion should receive the greater share of my attention. For this purpose I proceeded to the mouth of the Ya-koun River, about twenty-six miles south of Massett, and from thence examined the shores systematically northward along the east side of Massett Inlet to Massett, thence eastward following the north shore to Rose Spit, and from thence southward to Skidegate, penetrating the rivers, inlets and inland as indicated by the red lines on the accompanying map. A brief description of the topography of this shore line and of its water courses and bordering country will assist in locating the lands and other resources hereafter noticed. First in the order reached is a small stream, not down on the chart, flowing into a little bay about four miles north of the mouth of the Ya-koun River. From having found on its bank a cedar twenty-four feet in circumference, I named it Cedar Creek. It is not to exceed fifteen feet in width and filled with fallen trees its entire length.

CANOE PASSAGE,

Navigable for canoes at high tide, is about eight miles in length, and from 150 to 200 feet in width. Passing through it at half tide with an average sized canoe, we were compelled to wade and drag it over a mile. Flowing into it from the east is a little stream, unnamed, and not shown on the chart, which, from having seen numerous grouse thereon and for convenience, I have called Grouse Creek. It is only about twenty-five feet wide and full of fallen trees. About a mile above the northern entrance to Canoe Passage we reached a considerably larger stream, named Nedo Creek. It is about fifty feet wide at its mouth, but obstructed with log jams almost down to the inlet. Next comes a small creek, called by my Indian guide Ka-la-pu-tant-la; then, Watoon Creek, which is about sixty feet in width, but full of dead fallen trees from near its mouth up.

This brings us to the largest indentation on the east shore of Massett Inlet, about one mile and three-quarters in depth inland, not named on the chart, but called by the Indians Del-kat-lay Inlet. It is situated about three and a half miles south of Massett. The eastern shores of Massett Inlet are uniformly low, sandy and forest-covered, though for several miles south from Watoon Creek, they are from fifteen to fifty feet in height, with small burnt openings on their summits. Following eastward along the north shore of the island,

SKOONAN RIVER

Is the first stream crossed. It is misnamed on the chart Chown Brooke. Chown is the name of the point lying just to the westward, which is more prominent than shown on the chart. This river is about forty feet wide, but not navigable, owing to log obstructions. An inlet extends westward from near its mouth about two miles at high tide.

TOW HILL,

A bold, rocky, perpendicular cliff, rising to the height of about 300 feet immediately on the sea shore, eight miles eastward, is the most prominent landmark on the north part of the island. It is visible in fair weather twenty-five miles at sea and guides the navigator approaching the harbors of the north coast. The Hi-ellen River, larger than any yet mentioned, except the Ya-koun, flows into the sea just east of Tow Hill. This is also obstructed from within half mile of its mouth up by log jams.

ROSE SPIT,

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