Hubert Bancroft - The Native Races [of the Pacific states], Volume 1, Wild Tribes

'Their heads and their garments swarm with vermin, which, … we used to see them pick off with great composure, and eat.' Cook's Voy. to Pac. , vol. ii., p. 305. See also pp. 279-80, 318-24. 'Their mode of living is very simple – their food consisting almost wholly of fish, or fish spawn fresh or dried, the blubber of the whale, seal, or sea-cow, muscles, clams, and berries of various kinds; all of which are eaten with a profusion of train oil.' Jewitt's Nar. , pp. 58-60, 68-9, 86-8, 94-7, 103. Sproat's Scenes , pp. 52-7, 61, 87, 144-9, 216-70. 'The common business of fishing for ordinary sustenance is carried on by slaves, or the lower class of people; – While the more noble occupation of killing the whale and hunting the sea-otter, is followed by none but the chiefs and warriors.' Meares' Voy. , p. 258. 'They make use of the dried fucus giganteus, anointed with oil, for lines, in taking salmon and sea-otters.' Belcher's Voy. , vol. i., pp. 112-13. Sutil y Mexicana , Viage , pp. 17, 26, 45-6, 59-60, 76, 129-30, 134-5; Grant , in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour. , vol. xxvii., pp. 299-300; Mayne's B. C. , pp. 252-7; Macfie's Vanc. Isl. , pp. 165-442; Simpson's Overland Journ. , vol. i., p. 239; Pemberton's Vanc. Isl. , pp. 28-32; Dunn's Oregon , p. 243; Mofras , Explor. , tom. ii., p. 338. The Sau-kau-lutuck tribe 'are said to live on the edge of a lake, and subsist principally on deer and bear, and such fish as they can take in the lake.' Lord's Nat. , vol. i., pp. 158-9; Barrett-Lennard's Trav. , pp. 48, 74-5, 76-7, 85-6, 90-1, 144-50, 197-8; vol. ii., p. 111; Cornwallis' New El Dorado , p. 100; Forbes' Vanc. Isl. , pp. 54-5; Rattray's Vanc. Isl. , pp. 77-8, 82-3; Hud. Bay Co., Rept. Spec. Com. , 1857, p. 114.

Sutil y Mexicana , Viage , pp. 57, 63, 78; Jewitt's Nar. , pp. 78-81; Vancouver's Voy. , vol. i., p. 307; Macfie's Vanc. Isl. , p. 443; Cox's Adven. , vol. i., p. 100. 'The native bow, like the canoe and paddle, is beautifully formed. It is generally made of yew or crab-apple wood, and is three and a half feet long, with about two inches at each end turned sharply backwards from the string. The string is a piece of dried seal-gut, deer-sinew, or twisted bark. The arrows are about thirty inches long, and are made of pine or cedar, tipped with six inches of serrated bone, or with two unbarbed bone or iron prongs. I have never seen an Aht arrow with a barbed head.' Sproat's Scenes , p. 82. 'Having now to a great extent discarded the use of the traditional tomahawk and spear. Many of these weapons are, however, still preserved as heirlooms among them.' Barrett-Lennard's Trav. , p. 42. 'No bows and arrows.' 'Generally fight hand to hand, and not with missiles.' Fitzwilliam's Evidence , in Hud. Bay Co. Rept. , 1857, p. 115.

The Ahts 'do not take the scalp of the enemy, but cut off his head, by three dexterous movements of the knife … and the warrior who has taken most heads is most praised and feared.' Sproat's Scenes , pp. 186-202. 'Scalp every one they kill.' Macfie's Vanc. Isl. , p. 470, 443, 467. One of the Nootka princes assured the Spaniards that the bravest captains ate human flesh before engaging in battle. Sutil y Mexicana , Viage , p. 130. The Nittinahts consider the heads of enemies slain in battle as spolia opima . Whymper's Alaska , pp. 54, 78; Jewitt's Nar. , pp. 120-1; Lord's Nat. , vol. i., pp. 155-6, 158, 166, 171, vol. ii., p. 251-3. Women keep watch during the night, and tell the exploits of their nation to keep awake. Meares' Voy. , p. 267. Vancouver's Voy. , vol. i., p. 396; Grant , in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour. , vol. xxvii., p. 296; Mayne's B. C. , p. 270; Barrett-Lennard's Trav. , pp. 41-2, 129-36.

'They have no seats… The rowers generally sit on their hams, but sometimes they make use of a kind of small stool.' Meares' Voy. , pp. 263-4. The larger canoes are used for sleeping and eating, being dry and more comfortable than the houses. Cook's Voy. to Pac. , vol. ii., pp. 319, 327, and Atlas , pl. 41. 'The most skillful canoe-makers among the tribes are the Nitinahts and the Klah-oh-quahts. They make canoes for sale to other tribes.' 'The baling-dish of the canoes, is always of one shape – the shape of the gable-roof of a cottage.' Sproat's Scenes , pp. 85, 87-8; Mayne's B. C. , p. 283, and cut on title-page. Canoes not in use are hauled up on the beach in front of their villages. Grant , in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour. , vol. xxvii., p. 301. 'They keep time to the stroke of the paddle with their songs.' Jewitt's Nar. , pp. 69-71, 75; Sutil y Mexicana , Viage , pp. 39, 133; Lord's Nat. , vol. i., p. 144; Vancouver's Voy. , vol. i., p. 338. Their canoes 'are believed to supply the pattern after which clipper ships are built.' Macfie's Vanc. Isl. , pp. 484, 430. Barrett-Lennard's Trav. , p. 50. Colyer , in Ind. Aff. Rept. , 1869, p. 533.

Cook's Voy. to Pac. , vol. ii., pp. 271, 308, 316, 326, 329-30. Sproat's Scenes , pp. 86-9, 317; Sutil y Mexicana , Viage , p. 129; Lord's Nat. , vol. ii., pp. 257-8, which describes a painted and ornamented plate of native copper some one and a half by two and a half feet, kept with great care in a wooden case, also elaborately ornamented. It was the property of the tribe at Fort Rupert, and was highly prized, and only brought out on great occasions, though its use was not discovered. Macfie's Vanc. Isl. , p. 165.

Woolen cloths of all degrees of fineness, made by hand and worked in figures, by a method not known. Cook's Voy. to Pac. , vol. ii., p. 325. Sutil y Mexicana , Viage , pp. 46, 136; Lord's Nat. , vol. ii., p. 254; Sproat's Scenes , pp. 88-9; Jewitt's Nar. , p. 55; Macfie's Vanc. Isl. , pp. 442, 451, 483-5; Mofras , Explor. , tom. ii., p. 344; Pemberton's Vanc. Isl. , p. 131; Cornwallis' New El Dorado , pp. 99-100. 'The implement used for weaving, (by the Teets) differed in no apparent respect from the rude loom of the days of the Pharaohs.' Anderson , in Hist. Mag. , vol. vii., p. 78.

Sproat's Scenes , pp. 79-81, 89, 96, 111-13; Kane's Wand. , pp. 220-1; Macfie's Vanc. Isl. , pp. 429, 437; Cook's Voy. to Pac. , vol. ii., p. 284; Sutil y Mexicana , Viage , p. 147; Lord's Nat. , vol. i., pp. 165-6; Mayne's B. C. , 263-5.

Jewitt's Nar. , pp. 78-80; Sproat's Scenes , pp. 19, 55, 78-9, 92. Before the adoption of blankets as a currency, they used small shells from the coast bays for coin, and they are still used by some of the more remote tribes. Grant , in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour. , vol. xxvii., p. 307. 'Their acuteness in barter is remarkable.' Forbes' Vanc. Isl. , p. 25.

The Ahts 'divide the year into thirteen months, or rather moons, and begin with the one that pretty well answers to our November. At the same time, as their names are applied to each actual new moon as it appears, they are not, by half a month and more (sometimes), identical with our calendar months.' Sproat's Scenes , pp. 121-4. 'Las personas mas cultas dividen el año en catorce meses, y cada uno de estos en veinte dias, agregando luego algunos dias intercalares al fin de cada mes. El de Julio, que ellos llaman Satz-tzi-mitl , y es el primero de su año, á mas de sus veinte dias ordinarios tiene tantos intercalares quantos dura la abundancia de lenguados, atunes, etc.' Sutil y Mexicana , Viage , pp. 153-4, 148; Grant , in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour. , vol. xxvii., pp. 295, 304; Lord's Nat. , vol. ii., pp. 242-4.