Jack the Young Canoeman: An Eastern Boy's Voyage in a Chinook Canoe

by George Bird Grinnell

"Well," said Hugh, "that's all mighty curious, and I'm mighty glad I've come out here to see it all. I never thought about it much before, but I always had an idea that all Indians were about the same as those I knew most about; and that they lived about the same sort of lives. Of course I can see now just what a fool notion that was to have, but I did not see it then."

"But, Mr. Fannin," said Jack, "these Indians must have a lot of money. They are all provided with ordinary clothing, which they must buy; and they're pretty well fixed apparently, with everything that they need. Where do they get this money? Do all of them work, and get so much a day?"

"No," said Fannin, "not by a jugful. Some of them work, and work pretty steadily; a good many work, and after they have been at it for a week or a month, they get tired of it, throw up their jobs and go off in their canoes. They do considerable trading with the whites, however. They gather a great deal of oil, and this is one of the main articles of trade. You saw over on Burrard Inlet a whole lot of dog-fish. Well, the Indians catch lots of these, and take the liver and throw the carcase overboard. The liver is full of oil, which brings a pretty fair price. They also kill lots of porpoises, and porpoise oil is salable. Then, they make a great many baskets; mighty good ones too, they seem to be. Some of them are water-tight, perfectly good for cooking, or for water buckets. They also make mats, both of reeds and of the bark of the cedar, and these are useful and sell well."

"Well," said Jack, "how do they live? We've seen some tents on the beaches, but I suppose that in the winter time they must have something more substantial to live in than these tents."

"Yes," said Fannin, "of course they do. Though you must not think that the winters here are like the winters we have back East. It's pretty warm here, and we have little or no snow until you get back in among the mountains. The Siwashes along the coast live in wooden houses. We'll see a lot of them before long, and then you'll know that they are better than I can tell you. They are made of big planks split off the cedar, and roofed with the same. All around the house, near to the walls, a platform is built, on which the people sit and sleep. In the middle of the house the ground is bare; and it is there that the fire is built for cooking and for warmth. There may be a number of families living in one of these houses, each family having its sleeping place—its room you might call it—but all of them cooking at and sitting about the common fire. The roof planks do not quite come together at the peak of the house and the smoke of the fire goes out through the hole. Sometimes the roof beams and the posts which hold up the roof in front and behind are carved and painted.

"Close to some of the houses stand tall carved poles, called totem poles. One may be carved with a representation of a bear, a beaver, a frog, and an eagle, each animal resting on the head of the one carved below it on the pole. They are queer things to see, and if you will be patient for a few days we'll see them; and maybe we'll get some Indians to explain them to us. They have something to do with the family history, and some people say that each of these animals that is carved on the pole represents an ancestor or ancestors of the man before whose house the pole stands."

"Well," said Jack, "I'd like to see them. But from what you say, and from what I have seen, the Indians must be mighty good carvers. The canoes that we've seen had queer figures on them, and Mr. MacTavish had some beautiful pieces of carving in black slate that he said came from Queen Charlotte Islands; but I've forgotten what Indians carved them."

"Oh, yes," said Mr. Fannin, "that is Haida work. All the Indians north from Victoria are good at carving. Of course the animals and figures that they represent do not agree with our ideas of how these things should be represented. Most of the figures are grotesque, but they show fine workmanship; and if you give any of these Indians a model to copy he will follow it very closely. Up in the North they will hammer a bracelet or a spoon for you from a silver dollar; and they will put on it pretty much any design that you may give them."