called the Chinook Indians, from the language which is principally in
use. In the second division may be comprised the tribes between Nanaimo
on the east coast, and Fort Rupert at the extreme north of Vancouver's
Island, and the Indians on the mainland between the same points. The
Tsimsheans, a third family, cluster round Fort Simpson, and occupy a
line of coast extending from the Skeena river to the borders of Alaska.

On his arrival at Fort Simpson, on the 1st of October, 1857, Mr.
Duncan found located there, to quote his own words in a recent official
report, "Nine tribes, numbering (for I counted them) about 2,300 souls.
These proved to be just one-third of the tribes speaking the Tsimshean
language. Of the other eighteen tribes, five were scattered over 100
miles of the coast south of Fort Simpson, other five occupied the Naas
river, and the remaining eight tribes lived on the Skeena river--the
whole of the twenty-seven tribes numbering then not over 8,000 souls,
though I at first set them down at 10,000. In addition to the Tsimshean
tribes which I have mentioned, I found that Indians of other two
distinct languages frequented the Fort for trade. These were the Alaska
Coast Indians, whose nearest village was only some fifteen miles north
of Fort Simpson, and the Hydahs from Queen Charlotte's Islands."

The tribal arrangements among the Tsimsheans are very much the same as
among other Indian clans. Each tribe has from three to five chiefs, one
of whom is the acknowledged head. Among the head chiefs of the various
tribes one again takes preeminence. At feasts and in council the chiefs
are seated according to their rank. As an outward mark, to distinguish
the rank of a chief, a pole is erected in front of his house. The
greater the chief the higher the pole. The Indians are very jealous in
regard to this distinction.