A forced detention at Skidegate for the recovery of a disabled hand,
afforded an unexpected opportunity of becoming acquainted with Indian
life in their village lodges and fishing camps, which I will more
fully describe in another letter. The waters of Skidegate Inlet,
during the months of June and July, were alive with canoe-loads of
men, women and children, plying between the dog-fishing grounds, their
villages and the works of the Skidegate Oil Company. The latter are
situated on Sterling Bay, a beautiful little harbor on the north shore
of the Inlet, about three miles from Skidegate. Here, as previously
stated, were assembled at times a numerous fleet of canoes and
hundreds of natives from all parts of the island, with their
klootchmen, papooses and dogs. The latter gave us a series of
concerts which will never be forgotten. Their number may be inferred
from my having seen eleven dogs disembark from a medium-sized canoe,
following one Indian, who alone arrived with it. The leaders of this
remarkable band were ten dogs which belonged to a family of Hydah
aristocracy, whose habitation was on the shore of a cosy cove about
one mile distant, hidden from view by a rocky, wooded point. Three or
four times during the twenty-four hours, they rounded the point, sat
down on the shore, raised their noses heaven-ward at an angle of about
forty-five degrees, when, with half-closed eyes, and the expression of
a spirit medium when about to deliver an inspirational lecture, they
abandoned themselves to paroxysms of howling and yelping.
To their first outburst, came a prompt and deafening response from
every dog in the encampment, which continued with increasing vigor,
until their united chorus quite baffles description. I have heard
Chinese bands, Calliopes, the braying of jackasses, the love songs of
Tom cats, operatic screechers, brass band and violin murderers, broken
down hand organs and accordeons, Red River carts during the dry
season, the maniacal howling of the bulls and bears of Broad Street,
and many other noises of like character, but none of them are at all
comparable to the voicings of these Hydah dogs, when thoroughly warmed
up to their best efforts by a few hours' practice.