ople of the pine forest were forced to do, the
Haidas and their neighbors were able without difficulty to bring their
food home. At all seasons the canoes made it easy to transport large
supplies of fish from places even a hundred miles away. Having settled
dwellings, the Haidas could accumulate property and acquire that feeling
of permanence which is one of the most important conditions for the
development of civilization. Doubtless the Haidas were intellectually
superior to many other tribes, but even if they had not been greatly
superior, their surroundings would probably have made them stand
relatively high in the scale of civilization. Southward from the Haidas,
around Puget Sound and in Washington and Oregon, there was a gradual
decline in civilization. The Chinook Indians of the lower Columbia,
beyond the limits of the great northern archipelago, had large communal
houses occupied by three or four families of twenty or more individuals.
Their villages were thus fairly permanent, although there was much
moving about in summer owing to the nature of the food supply, which
consisted chiefly of salmon, with roots and berries indigenous to the
region. The people were noted as traders not only among themselves but
with surrounding tribes. They were extremely skillful in handling their
canoes, which were well made, hollowed out of single logs, and often
of great size. In disposition they are described as treacherous and
deceitful, especially when their cupidity was aroused. Slaves were
common and were usually obtained by barter from surrounding tribes,
though occasionally by successful raids. These Indians of Oregon by no
means rivaled the Haidas, for their food supply was less certain and
they did not have the advantage of easy water communication, which did
so much to raise the Haidas to a high level of development.

Of the tribes farther south an observer says: "In general rudeness
of culture the California Indians are scarcely above the Eskimo, and
whereas the lack of development of the Eskimo on many sides of their
nature is reasonably attributable in part to their difficult and
limiting environment, the Indians of California inhabit a country
naturally as favorable, it would seem, as it might be. If the degree of
civilization attained by a people depends in any large measure on their
habitat, as does not seem likely, it might be concluded from the case of
the California Indians that natural advantages were an imped