DEFINITION OF THE AHT TRIBES — APPEARANCE OF THE NATIVES — STRENGTH OF GRASP — PECULIARITY OF THE LEGS — GAIT OF THE WOMEN — SPEED OF THE MEN — DANCE — THE LIP ORNAMENT OF THE WOMEN — CLOTHING — THE BOAT CLOAK AND HAT — WEAPONS — THE BOW AND ARROW — INGENIOUS CONSTRUCTION OF THE BOW — ITS BACKING OF ELASTIC STRINGS — THE ARROWS AND THEIR SPIRAL FEATHERING — THE FISH SPEAR AND HARPOON ARROWS — THE HALIBUT HOOK — VARIOUS MODES OF HUNTING — SALMON SPEARING BY TORCHLIGHT — THE HERRING RAKE — HOW TO KEEP THE BOAT FROM SINKING — THE WHALE FISHERY.

Before leaving this part of the world, we will cast a brief glance at the tribes which inhabit Vancouver’s Island. They are singularly interesting, inasmuch as they combine some of the habits which distinguish the Esquimaux with others of the North American tribes, and add to them several of the customs which have been already noticed among the Polynesians, their insular position and peculiar climate no doubt affording the cause for this curious mixture.

As a type of these tribes, we will take the Ahts, though other tribes will be casually mentioned. The Ahts may rather be called a nation than a tribe, being divided into some twenty tribes, the names of which all end in “aht,” as, for example, Ohyaht, Muchlaht, Ayhuttisaht, Toquaht, etc. Altogether they number about seventeen hundred. They do not, however, act together as a nation, and each tribe is perfectly distinct, and often at war with another.

They are not a tall people, the men averaging a little less than five feet six inches, and the women being just above five feet. Possibly, from the continual paddling which they practise almost from childhood, the upper limbs of an Aht are exceedingly strong, so strong, indeed, that a slight-looking native can carry with ease on his extended fingers a weight which a white man can scarcely lift. Their power of grasp, probably from the same cause, is more like the grip of a machine than the grasp of a man; and those who have had to fight with them have found that if once an Aht be allowed to seize either the clothing or the hair, the only way to loosen his grasp is to knock him down with a blow in the throat or in the ribs—he cares nothing for a blow on the head.

When he comes to such close quarters in a quarrel, he has an awkward habit of grasping the enemy with one hand, and using with the other a knife which he has kept concealed in his long hair. Fortunately for his white opponent, so extraordinary a proceeding as a blow from the fist, which deprives him for a time of breath, bewilders and alarms him to such an extent that he seldom risks its repetition.

The legs of the Aht tribes are, as a rule, short, ill-made, bowed, and apparently deficient in power. This peculiarity is especially noticeable in the women, whose legs are so bowed, and whose toes are so turned inward, that they waddle rather than walk, and at every step they are obliged to cross their feet as a parrot does. The legs of the inland tribes are, as a rule, better developed than those of the inhabitants of the coast. Yet these unsightly limbs are by no means deficient in power. An Aht, powerfully built above, will step out of his canoe, and exhibit a pair of legs scarcely as thick as his arms, and yet he will walk in the woods for a whole day without showing any signs of fatigue.

Owing to this form of limb, the natives, though enduring enough, are not swift of foot, and can be easily overtaken by a white man on the open ground, notwithstanding the impediments of clothing, and especially of shoes, which hinder the progress of the pursuer, the pursued usually throwing off the only garment that he wears. Should he once reach the woods, pursuit is useless, as no white man can follow a naked native in them.

The color of the Ahts is a dull, but not dark, brown. Their face is broad and flat, the nose tolerably well formed when it is not dragged out of shape by rings and other ornaments, and the cheek-bones are strongly marked and broad, but not high. There is very little hair on the faces of the men, but that of the head is long, straight, and is generally allowed to hang loosely over the shoulders, though it is sometimes gathered into a knot at the back of the head, merely covered by a cap or a wreath of grass. They are very proud of their hair, so that when an Aht has been guilty of some offence which is not very serious, the best punishment is to cut off his hair, inasmuch as he will be an object of constant ridicule until it has grown again. The women divide their hair in the middle, and tie it in two plaits, one of which hangs at each side of the face, and often has a piece of lead suspended to the end to keep it straight. Mr. Sproat thinks that the physical characteristics of the Ahts have been modified by means of a large importation of Chinese, which took place about the end of the last century, and remarks that the peculiar Chinese eye is sometimes seen among these natives. Still, even if this be the fact, the modification can be but slight, as both people are undoubtedly members of the same great race, though altered by the conditions in which they have respectively been placed.

Some of the women have a hideously ugly ornament which they wear in their under lip, just as do the Botocudos of Tropical America. This practice exists only among the northern tribes, where it is carried out to an enormous extent. As the size of the ornament is gradually increased from childhood, the lip of an old woman will contain an oval ornament three inches long by two wide. There is a shallow groove round the edge so as to keep it in its place, and both sides are slightly concave. Sometimes it is used as a spoon, the woman putting on it a piece of meat that is too hot, and, when it is cool, turning it into her mouth by a contraction of the lip.

The value that is set upon this horrible disfigurement is almost ludicrous, a woman’s rank being due to the size of her lip ornament. Possibly, on account of the long time which must be occupied in stretching the orifice in the lip to the required size, the opinion of a woman with a large lip is always held in respect; and, if she should be opposed by a younger person of her own sex, she will contemptuously decline to enter into argument with a woman who has so small a lip. Some of them wear a shell ornament, like the stem of a clay tobacco-pipe, one or two inches long, stuck through the lip and projecting forward at a considerable angle with the chin. This ornament is called the hai-qua.

As for clothing, the men wear a sort of robe made by themselves, for which they have in later days substituted an European blanket. They are not at all particular as to the disposal of this robe, and even if it should fall off do not trouble themselves. The women also wear the blanket, but always have a small apron in addition to it. In their canoes they wear a cape. It is made of cedar-bark string, and is woven in nearly the same manner as the mat of the New Zealander, which has already been described; namely, by stretching the warp threads parallel to each other on a frame, and tying them together at intervals with a cross-thread which represents the woof. A specimen in my collection has the cross-threads at intervals of half an inch.

It is shaped exactly like the cross section of a boat, straight above, and rounded below. It measures five feet three inches in width, and three feet six inches in depth in the centre. As is usual with such robes, the upper edge is adorned with a strip of marten fur a quarter of an inch wide, wound spirally round the selvage so as to form quite a thick rope of fur. These capes are the work of the women, who have the manufacture of all the clothing. Fur bags are made by the simple process of skinning the marten, the body being then extricated through a cut made across the abdomen just below the tail. As the skin comes off it is reversed, and when dry and properly dressed it is turned with the fur outward, and the bag is complete, the tail serving as a handle. One of these bags in my collection was presented to me by Lieut. Pusey.

The woof thread is also made of the white pine bark, and the needle is nothing more than a sharpened twig. The same useful materials are also employed for the curious hats which the natives wear in their canoes. These hats are made on the principle of the sailors’ “sou’-westers,” and are fashioned so as to shoot rain off the shoulders. The outside of the hat is made of cedar bark, and the inside of white pine bark.

Depending largely upon animal food for their nourishment, the Aht tribes are expert hunters, and make very ingenious weapons, some of which are shown in the illustrations on page 1357, drawn from my own specimens.

The bow and arrows used by these people are worthy of a brief description. The bow is an admirable specimen of savage art, and must be the result of long experience. It is four feet three inches in length, and made of one piece of wood. In general shape it resembles the bow of the Andamans, though it is not of such gigantic dimensions. In the middle the wood is rounded, so as to form a handle which is nearly four inches in circumference. From the handle to the tips, the wood is gradually flattened and widened for about fourteen inches, where it is just two inches wide. From this point it gradually lessens again to the tip, which is rounded and thickened, so as to receive the notch for the string.

Were no addition made to the bow it would still be a very powerful weapon, but the maker has not been satisfied with the simple wood, and has strengthened it with a wonderfully complex arrangement of strings made of twisted sinews. In my specimen there are rather more than fifty of these strings, which are laid on the bow and interwoven with each other in a manner so strong and neat, that the most skilful sailor might be envious of such a piece of handiwork. Each of these strings is double, the two strands being about as large as thin whipcord, and when seen against the light they are quite translucent.

They are put on in the following manner. Two deep notches, parallel to the line of the bow, are made at each lip, these notches serving two purposes: first, the reception of the bow-strings, and next the support of the strengthening strings. Eight of the strings, measuring about eleven feet in length, have been doubled, the loop passed over the tip of the bow, and the strings led along the back over the corresponding notch at the other tip, and brought back to the middle. These strings lie parallel to each other, and form a flat belt from one end of the bow to the other. About an inch below the tip, three other sets of strings are fastened in a somewhat similar manner, so that four distinct layers of strings run throughout the length of the weapon.

Even these have not sufficed the maker, who has added six more layers starting from the widest and flattest part of the bow, so that nearly three feet of the centre of the weapon are strengthened by no less than twelve layers of sinew strings. By referring to the illustration, the reader will perceive the extreme ingenuity with which the strings are laid on the bow, so that whether the weapon be bent or unstrung, they all keep their places. So firmly are they lashed to the bow, that even when it is unstrung they are all as tight as harp strings.

The string of the bow is made of the same material as those which strengthen the back, and in consequence of the very great strength of the material, it is much thinner than the string of an ordinary archer’s bow. It is made of two strands, each strand being about as large as the back strings.

By referring to illustration No. 3, on the next page, a good idea can be gained of this singularly ingenious weapon. At first the bow is seen as it appears when strung, fig. 3 giving a section of the wood. At fig. 2 is an enlarged representation of one end of the bow, so as to show the manner in which the various sets of strings are fastened. At the upper part are seen the strings which form the first layer, passing over the end of the bow, and filling up the notch in which they lie. Just below the tip come the second and third sets, which pass down the bow, where they are met by, and interwoven with, the remainder of the strings, the whole of them being gathered in the rope with its spiral building. This beautiful weapon was added to my collection by Lieut. Pusey, R. N.

The arrows are of various kinds, according to the object for which they are intended. That which is used for ordinary occasions is shown in the uppermost figure of the illustration. It is two feet three inches in length, and is headed with bone.

There is a peculiarity about these arrows which is worthy of notice. Some time ago an arrow was patented in England, which had the feathers placed spirally upon the end of the shaft, so as to give it a rapidly revolving movement when discharged from the bow. The principle was exactly that of the screw which is applied to steam vessels; and those who used the arrow acknowledged that the spiral setting of the feathers not only increased the power of flight, but enabled the archer to drive his arrow through the wind with greater ease and certainty than could be obtained with the ordinarily feathered arrow. There is a very old saying that there is nothing new under the sun, and this is the case with the arrow in question, the savages of Northern America having adopted the same principle long ago. In their arrows the feathers are set spirally, with a bold curve, and there is really no difference between the weapon of the savage and the toy of civilization, than the greater neatness and higher finish of the latter.

The lower figure represents the arrow which is used for killing fish. In this weapon the point is also of bone, but is very much longer, and is double, the two halves diverging considerably from each other, and being barbed on the inner surface. It is firmly lashed to the shaft, and their divergence is given by means of two pegs, which are driven between the shaft and the two portions of the point. If a fish be struck by this ingenious weapon, it cannot possibly escape, the elastic points contracting violently and holding the fish between them.

It is worthy of notice that a police spear made exactly on the same principle is used by the Malays. It consists of a handle some seven feet long, from the end of which project two diverging points. The inner side of each point is armed with a row of very sharp barbs, all directed backward. Thorns are often used for this purpose. Should a criminal try to escape, the police officer has only to thrust his spear against the back of the man’s neck, when he is at once a prisoner, the barbed points effectually preventing him from escaping, even should the officer drop his weapon. The zoölogical reader will remember that the teeth of the snake and of many fish—the pike, for example—are set on exactly the same principle.

In some specimens the head is fitted loosely on the shaft, and connected with it by means of a string, which is wound spirally round it, and when the fish is struck the head is shaken off the shaft, which serves both as a drag to aid in tiring the fish, and as a float by which its presence may be indicated.

The most ingenious of these arrows is used for shooting seals and the larger fish, and is very elaborately constructed. It measures about four feet in length, and is almost deserving of the name of harpoon rather than arrow.

The shaft is made of very light wood, and is about as thick as a man’s finger. At the butt-end it is feathered in the usual manner, and at the other it is terminated by a pear-shaped piece of bone an inch in diameter at the thickest part. Into the end of this bone is bored a small conical hole, which receives the head. This is also made of bone, and is very small in comparison with the arrow, and is furnished with two deeply cut barbs. As is the case with all harpoon weapons, the head is connected with the shaft by a line, but in this case there is a peculiarity about the line and its mode of attachment.

Instead of being a mere double-strand string, it is made of a number of fibres arranged in three strands, and plaited, not twisted together, so as to form a flat line, which possesses enormous strength combined with great elasticity and small size. The mode of attachment is as ingenious as the method of manufacture. The line is a double one, measuring twelve feet in length. The line is first doubled, the loop is put through a hole in the point and over the head, so as to secure it, and the two halves of the line are then lashed together about eighteen inches from the point. One end is then fastened to the arrow just below the feathers, and the other to the shaft just above the bone tip. The object of this arrangement is evident. As soon as a seal is struck, it dashes off, shaking the shaft from the barbed head, which remains in its body. Were the line simply tied to the end of the shaft, the wounded creature would easily drag it through the water. But, as the line is fastened to each end of the shaft and to the head besides, when the latter transfixes a seal it is separated from the shaft, and the shaft is drawn crosswise through the water, presenting so great a resistance that the seal becomes exhausted with its unavailing struggles, and comes to the surface, where it is despatched with a second or third weapon.

Besides the harpoon and fish arrow, these people also use the hook (see page 1357), which is quite as ingenious in its way as the implements which have been described. The body of the hook is of wood, and is exactly in the shape of the capital letter U. The point bends slightly outward, and is charred at the tip to render it harder. It is also defended and strengthened by a band of very tough vegetable fibre, which covers it for about three inches. The barb is a piece of bone, about five inches in length, sharpened like a needle at the point. This barb is not attached to the point, as is the case with the generality of hooks, but is fastened to the shank, and is so long that its tip reaches to the middle of the hook.

At first sight this seems a very inadequate arrangement for securing fish, and looks as if the creature could easily slip off the unguarded point. If, however, the hook, which is a very large one, be tested, it will be found astonishingly efficacious. If the point be inserted between the fingers, as it would be inserted into the jaws of a fish, and then brought upward, it will be found that the sharp barb effectually prevents the hook from being withdrawn.

There is one effect of this mode of fixing the barb which may or may not have been intended. Should, by any accident, the line become entangled with the hook, and reverse it, the fish is quite as secure, the long, straight barb forming a second hook, to which it is transferred. The body of this hook is made of the Douglas pine, and it is brought into shape by steaming. The hook is chiefly used for catching the halibut, as, for some reason, the Ahts will not use a steel hook in the capture of this fish.

There is plenty of game, both large and small, in these regions, though the chase is in all cases a severe one, and tests not only the skill but the endurance of the hunter. There is, for example, the black bear, which is a most valuable animal, its fur being used for clothing, and its flesh for food. Bear hunting is not carried on at all times of the year, but is generally followed toward the end of autumn, when the bears are fat, and about to enter their winter quarters. Sometimes the Ahts wait until the bear has gone into retirement, and then spear it in its winter home. Traps are in great favor, because they do not spoil the skin. They are very simple; the trap consisting of a tree trunk heavily loaded with stones, and suspended at one end over the animal’s track. It is kept in position by a trigger, to which is attached a slight rope crossing the track. It is always placed in some spot where a large stump or the root of a fallen tree allows the trap to be set without disturbing the appearance of the track.

Then there are one or two deer, the largest of which is the wapiti, commonly but erroneously called the elk. The hunter generally takes it by following its track, and stalking it as it feeds, when the powerful bow drives an arrow to its heart. The skill of the hunter is shown as much after the deer is dead as during the actual chase. Captain Mayne mentions that he has seen a wapiti killed, and in a quarter of an hour it has been skinned, the whole of the flesh removed from the bones, and the skin converted into moccasins. The natives have rather a strange way of carrying the meat. At their first halt after killing a deer, they cut the meat into pieces two or three inches square, transfix them with a long stick, and carry the stick upon their shoulder, every now and then pulling off a piece and eating it as they go along. In this manner the flesh of a deer vanishes in a wonderfully short time. Very little meat is preserved, the Ahts generally eating it as soon as the animal is killed.

As to the fish, there are so many that only one or two can be mentioned. The salmon is the fish that seems to be the most valued by these fish-eating tribes, and it is caught, as with us, in a variety of ways. Sometimes the natives use a rather curious fish spear, about fifteen feet long in the shaft, and with a double head, made of wapiti bone. The head is only slightly fixed in the shaft, to which it is attached by a line, as in the harpoon arrow already described. Should the fish be a very heavy one, the hunter merely ties to the line a number of inflated bladders, and causes it to tire itself by useless struggles before he risks the fracture of the line or loss of the barbed head, one or both of which events would probably happen if he were to try to secure a fresh and powerful fish.

Sometimes, when the fish are plentiful, they are caught by dropping among them a stick armed with barbed points, and jerking it upward sharply, until it impales a fish on one or other of these points.

“Burning the water” is employed in catching salmon, and is carried on by two natives, one of whom paddles the canoe, while the other stands in the bow, where a torch is kept burning, and strikes the fish as they glide through the water. Mr. Sproat mentions that a single canoe has been known to bring back forty fine salmon as the result of a day’s fishing. Salmon traps are also employed. These are made after a fashion closely resembling that of the eel-traps used in this country. They are double baskets, externally cylindrical, and are set with their mouths directed down the stream. When the fish try to pass up the stream they enter the basket, and, as the inner basket is very much shorter than the other, shaped like a sugar-loaf, the salmon finds itself imprisoned between them. Some of these baskets measure as much as twenty feet in length, and five feet in diameter, so that they will contain a considerable number of fish.

One of the oddest fishing instruments is that by which the herring is caught. This is a pole about ten feet in length, flattened at one end like the blade of an oar, and armed along the edge with projecting spikes. When the fisherman gets among a shoal of herrings, he plunges his pole into the mass of fish, draws it through them with a peculiar movement of the arms, so as to transfix the herrings on the spikes, and then shakes them into his boat. By this mode of fishing, which is called “herring-raking,” great numbers of fish are taken, as well as by the net, which is ingeniously made from fibre obtained from a native nettle, which reaches eight or ten feet in height.

The Ahts are such keen fishermen that they will often endanger the safety of their canoes by the quantity of fish with which they will heap them, so that the gunwales are sunk within an inch or so of the water’s edge. In calm weather they can manage well enough, even with such a burden as this; but if the wind should get up before they can reach the shore, the danger is very great. Should such an event happen, these enterprising fishermen will not throw their cargo overboard to save the boat, but will fasten all the spare floats round the canoe, so as to keep it from sinking even if it be filled with water.

There is scarcely any end to the use which is made by the Ahts of these floats, and with their aid they will attack and conquer even the gigantic whale. The following account of their mode of whale fishing is written by Mr. G. M. Sproat:—“A whale-chase is an affair of some moment. The kind of whale commonly seen on the coast was described by an old whaling skipper as ‘finner,’ in which there is not much oil. The season for fishing whales commences about the end of May or in June. Many whales are killed every season by the Nitinahts, who live principally on the seaboard near Barclay or Nitinaht’s Sound. This tribe has a custom, which I have not observed elsewhere, of separating during spring and summer into small parties, each under a separate head, but all still continuing under the chieftaincy of the principal chief of the tribe.

“Months beforehand preparations are made for the whale fishing, which is considered almost a sacred season. I particularly noticed this circumstance from having, in my boyhood, heard of the Manx custom, in which all the crews of the herring fleet invoke a blessing before ‘shooting’ their herring-nets. The honor of using the harpoon in an Aht tribe is enjoyed but by few,—about a dozen in the tribe,—who inherit the privilege. Instances, however, are known of the privilege having been acquired by merit.

“Eight or nine men, selected by the harpooner, form the crew of his canoe. For several moons before the fishing begins, these men are compelled to abstain from their usual food; they live away from their wives, wash their bodies morning, noon, and night, and rub their skins with twigs or a rough stone. If a canoe is damaged or capsized by a whale, or any accident happens during the fishing season, it is assumed that some of the crew have failed in their preparatory offices, and a very strict inquiry is instituted by the chief men of the tribe. Witnesses are examined, and an investigation made into the domestic affairs of the accused persons. Should any inculpatory circumstance appear, the delinquent is severely dealt with, and is often deprived of his rank and placed under a ban for months.

“When the whales approach the coast, the fishermen are out all day, let the wind blow high or not. The canoes have different cruising grounds, some little distance apart. The Indian whaling gear consists of harpoons, lines, inflated seal-skins, and wooden or bone spears. The harpoon is often made of a piece of the iron hoop of an ale cask, cut with a chisel into the shape of a harpoon blade, two barbs fashioned from the tips of deer-horns being affixed to this blade with gum. Close to the harpoon the line is of deer sinews. To this the main line is attached, which is generally made of cedar twigs laid together as thick as a three-inch rope. Large inflated skins are fastened to this line about twelve feet from the harpoon. The weapon itself is then tied slightly to a yew handle ten feet long.

“On getting close, the harpooner, from the bow of his canoe, throws his harpoon at the whale with full force. As soon as the barb enters, the fastening of the wooden handle, being but slight, breaks, and becomes detached from the line. The natives raise a yell, and the whale dives quickly, but the seal-skins impede his movements. Very long lengths of line are kept in the canoes, and sometimes the lines from several canoes are joined. On the re-appearance of the whale on the surface, he is attacked from the nearest canoe; and thus, finally, forty or fifty large buoys are attached to his body. He struggles violently for a time, and beats and lashes the water in all directions, until, weakened by loss of blood, and fatigued by his exertions, he ceases to struggle, and the natives despatch him with their short spears. The whale is then taken in tow by the whole fleet of canoes, the crews yelling and singing, and keeping time with their paddles.

“Sometimes, after being harpooned, the whale escapes, and takes ropes, harpoons, seal-skins, and everything with him. Should he die from his wounds, and be found by another tribe at sea, or on shore within the territorial limits of the finders, the instruments are returned to the losers, with a large piece of the fish as a present. Many disputes arise between tribes on the finding of dead whales near the undefined boundaries of the tribal territories. If the quarrel is serious, all intercourse ceases, trade is forbidden, and war is threatened. By and by, when the loss of trade is felt, negotiation is tried. An envoy is selected who is of high rank in his own tribe, and, if possible, connected with the other tribe by marriage. He is usually a quiet man of fluent speech. Wearing white eagle feathers in his headdress as a mark of peace, he departs in a small canoe. Only one female attendant, generally an old slave, accompanies him, to assist in paddling, as the natives never risk two men on such occasions. The envoy’s return is anxiously awaited. As a general rule, the first proposition is rejected. Objections, references, counter proposals, frequently make three or four embassies necessary before the question can be settled. By that time the blubber must be very rancid.”