The Native Races (Vol. 1-5). Hubert Howe Bancroft

The men make a wooden mask, which rests on a neckpiece, very ingeniously carved, and painted in colors, so as to represent the head of some bird or beast or mythological being. This was formerly worn in battle, probably, as La Pérouse suggests, in order to strike terror into the hearts of enemies, but is now used only on festive occasions.152

A small hat of roots and bark, woven in the shape of a truncated cone, ornamented with painted figures and pictures of animals, is worn by both sexes.153 Ordinarily, however, the men wear nothing on the head; their thick hair, greased and covered with ochre and birds' down, forming a sufficient covering. The hat is designed especially for rainy weather, as a protection to the elaborately dressed hair.154 Besides their every-day dress, they have a fantastic costume for tribal holidays.

For their winter habitations, a little back from the ocean, the Thlinkeets build substantial houses of plank or logs, sometimes of sufficient strength to serve as a fortress. They are six or eight feet in height, the base in the form of a square or parallelogram, the roof of poles placed at an angle of forty-five degrees and covered with bark. The entrance is by a small side door. The fire, which is usually kept burning night and day, occupies the centre of the room; over it is a smoke-hole of unusual size, and round the sides of the room are apartments or dens which are used as store-houses, sweat-houses, and private family rooms. The main room is very public and very filthy.155 Summer huts are light portable buildings, thrown up during hunting excursions in the interior, or on the sea-beach in the fishing-season. A frame is made of stakes driven into the ground, supporting a roof, and the whole covered with bark, or with green or dry branches, and skins or bark over all. The door is closed by bark or a curtain of skins. Each hut is the rendezvous for a small colony, frequently covering twenty or thirty persons, all under the direction of one chief.156

      FOOD OF THE THLINKEETS.

The food of the Thlinkeets is derived principally from the ocean, and consists of fish, mussels, sea-weeds, and in fact whatever is left upon the beach by the ebbing tide—which at Sitka rises and falls eighteen feet twice a day—or can be caught by artificial means. Holmberg says that all but the Yakutats hate whale as the Jews hate pork. Roots, grasses, berries, and snails are among their summer luxuries. They chew a certain plant as some chew tobacco, mixing with it lime to give it a stronger effect,157 and drink whale-oil as a European drinks beer. Preferring their food cooked, they put it in a tight wicker basket, pouring in water, and throwing in heated stones, until the food is boiled.158 For winter, they dry large quantities of herring, roes, and the flesh of animals.

For catching fish, they stake the rivers, and also use a hook and line; one fisherman casting from his canoe ten or fifteen lines, with bladders for floats. For herring, they fasten to the end of a pole four or five pointed bones, and with this instrument strike into a shoal, spearing a fish on every point. They sometimes make the same instrument in the shape of a rake, and transfix the fish with the teeth. The Sitkas catch halibut with large, wooden, bone-pointed hooks.159

The arms of the Thlinkeets denote a more warlike people than any we have hitherto encountered. Bows and arrows; hatchets of flint, and of a hard green stone which cuts wood so smoothly that no marks of notches are left; great lances, six or eight varas in length, if Bodega y Quadra may be trusted, hardened in the fire or pointed with copper, or later with iron; a large, broad, double-ended dagger, or knife—are their principal weapons. The knife is their chief implement and constant companion. The handle is nearer one end than the other, so that it has a long blade and a short blade, the latter being one quarter the length of the former. The handle is covered with leather, and a strap fastens it to the hand when fighting. Both blades have leathern sheaths, one of which is suspended from the neck by a strap.160

      THE THLINKEETS IN WAR.

They also encase almost the entire body in a wooden and leathern armor. Their helmets have curiously carved vizors, with grotesque representations of beings natural or supernatural, which, when brilliantly or dismally painted, and presented with proper yells, and brandishings of their ever-glittering knives, are supposed to strike terror into the heart of their enemies. They make a breast-plate of wood, and an arrow-proof coat of thin flexible strips, bound with strings like a woman's stays.161

When a Thlinkeet arms for war, he paints his face and powders his hair a brilliant red. He then ornaments his head with white eagle-feathers, a token of stern, vindictive determination. During war they pitch their camp in strong positions, and place the women on guard. Trial by combat is frequently resorted to, not only to determine private disputes, but to settle quarrels between petty tribes. In the latter case, each side chooses a champion, the warriors place themselves in battle array, the combatants armed with their favorite weapon, the dagger, and well armored, step forth and engage in fight; while the people on either side engage in song and dance during the combat. Wrangell and Laplace assert that brave warriors killed in battle are devoured by the conquerors, in the belief that the bravery of the victim thereby enters into the nature of the partaker.162

Coming from the north, the Thlinkeets are the first people of the coast who use wooden boats. They are made from a single trunk; the smaller ones about fifteen feet long, to carry from ten to twelve persons; and the larger ones, or war canoes, from fifty to seventy feet long; these will carry forty or fifty persons. They have from two and a half to three feet beam; are sharp fore and aft, and have the bow and stern raised, the former rather more than the latter. Being very light and well modeled, they can be handled with ease and celerity. Their paddles are about four feet in length, with crutch-like handles and wide, shovel-shaped blades. Boats as well as paddles are ornamented with painted figures, and the family coat-of-arms. Bodega y Quadra, in contradiction to all other authorities, describes these canoes as being built in three parts; with one hollowed piece, which forms the bottom and reaches well up the sides, and with two side planks. Having hollowed the trunk of a tree to the required depth, the Thlinkeet builders fill it with water, which they heat with hot stones to soften the wood, and in this state bend it to the desired shape. When they land, they draw their boats up on the beach, out of reach of the tide, and take great care in preserving them.163

      INDUSTRIES OF THE THLINKEETS.

The Thlinkeets manifest no less ingenuity in the manufacture of domestic and other implements than in their arms. Rope they make from sea-weed, water-tight baskets and mats from withes and grass; and pipes, bowls, and figures from a dark clay. They excel in the working of stone and copper, making necklaces, bracelets, and rings; they can also forge iron. They spin thread, use the needle, and make blankets from the white native wool. They exhibit considerable skill in carving and painting, ornamenting the fronts of their houses with heraldic symbols, and allegorical and historical figures; while in front of the principal dwellings, and on their canoes, are carved parts representing the human face, the heads of crows, eagles, sea-lions, and bears.164 La Pérouse asserts that, except in agriculture, which was not entirely unknown to them, the Thlinkeets were farther advanced in industry than the South Sea Islanders.

Trade is carried on between Europeans and the interior Indians, in which no little skill is manifested. Every article which they purchase undergoes the closest scrutiny, and every slight defect, which they are sure to discover, sends down the price.