Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1899-08-31
INDIANS OF THE NORTH.
QUEER TRIBES THAT lNHABlT BRIT
ISH COLUMBIA.
Resemblance Inclines Scientists to the
Belief That They Originally
Came From Asia.

The Smithsonian has done much to pre-
serve for the science of the future great
deal that relates to the appearance, lam
yuagc habits ana customs ard mythol-
pgy Of the North American ahoriginc, but
there are private persons who are help
Ing most cflicaciously in that useful work,
says the New York Times. Among them
there is scarcely one who deserves more
consideration tor what he has aCcumpiish H.
ed and is in process of enectiug than Mr..
JeSup, the president of the Museum of
Natural History.
just at present he has Bandclier at
work in Peru and Lumms in Mexico.
Two Russian, are exploring at his eN-
pcnsc among the TscLultschcs IN North
eastern ASIA i'm autumn. Mr. Savile, Of
the museum, Will probably return to the
scenes of his former labors ON the north
west coast of our continent
Some of the materials MIR. Boas and
Nlr George Hunt collected formerly in
british Columbia may he mentioned here;
they are mere fragment of u vast guam
titN Of things which will be eventually
shown in the American Museum of Nat
ural History.
The tribes on the northwest coast STUD
ic1 by Hoas ana Hunt. are apt to be
thickSet, hroad-facod people, rather long
bodied. and sometimes bearded. They are
divided up into ~ Tiueits, of Southern
Alaska, ~ Iluidas OF queen Charlotte
lsl"uds, 60 T~imshiau, of the Mass ana
SNocn Rivers Cn Wakashan, of NauCou-
Nrt's Island and the mainland near by,
aud ca SaliShun, Of Southern NanCouNerS
Island and the coast down to Washtl r.
ton. and eastward into Idaho ana Mon
tana. The kwakutls fan under group
4 or Wakashan, and belong chiefly he
tween Rivers Inlet and Cape Nudge,
i. c.
LOOK LIKE THE JAPs.
Tho Ewakiutls are a tribe of l,ht col
orod Indians whose faces and expression
readily recall those of the lower class
Japanese and Koreans across the Pacific.
They differ from other coast Indians by
having very high-hrdscd. often hooked
los, ), and very long faces. The shape of
tuoir heads is artificial. Like our own
lIaLhcads and some tribes in MXccO and
South America. they dcform the head in
infancy, so that the upper forehead,
which we consider a. sign of Intellect, is
depressed perhaps I'm order to obtain an
approach to the skull Of a beast or bird.
What the object of this intentional NAL
formation is forms one of those problems
that appeal to tho Imagination of the
archacologiSt. \ collector of Antiquities
iu Mexico has made speciality of these
dcformed skulls, and Is said 20 argue that
they are attempts TO produce a head like
some four-footcd beast. the coyote or rae
coon. tor which the ancestors of the tribes
in question had "a special reverence. per
htps in the nature of totem worship br.
Franz Boas has not found any record
among the Kwakiuls of British Column
ba which points to amy specific worship
Of this kind. but the pronounced revcr-
cnce for animals which is shown in the
beast fish. and bird masks used in cere-
monial rites and the dances of their Sc
rrot societies might encourage such
view. The habit of maformation has per
sisted very much the bandaging of the
feet of Chinese women has persisted and
is only now giving way before the
changes introduced by the whites. The
method of hattening the forehead can be
seen at the Museum OF Natural History
i'm the family group modelled by Caspar
Meyer the size of life, which s exhibited
ON the ground floor. 1t is said that the
practice gives little or no pain to the pa
TOosc.
SOME PECULIAR CUSTOMS.
The heads of a man and woman of
this tribe. given front face and in profile
exhibits the results of this early training
OF the bones of the head. Whether it
coca sious pain to the child or not. there
is general agreement that it has no
effect upon the intelligence Of the people
to whom it is applied. They are much
more Intelligent than the passing tray
eler would imagine, The investigator
who comes among them with some knoWl-
edge of their beliefs and rites obtains
their oonhdenc" and finds them, if not
remarkable specimens of intelligence, still
Ivy no means lacking iu wits, In his pub
Ncltors for the Smithsonian and the
Museum of Natural History DR.. Boas
opens up very extraordinary glimpse IN
to their manners and customs. Among
these are the potlatch feasts given by
chiefs to uphold their authority, in which
MeN distribute iars'sS IN b." very hrnIr-
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