The Takellies are a sedentary people, remaining shut up in their huts during the severer part of the winter.  You may then approach a camp without perceiving any sign of its vicinity, until you come upon their well, or one of their salmon caches.  They are very social, congregating at each other’s huts, and passing their time talking or sleeping.  When awake, their tongues are ever in motion,—­all bawling out at the same time; and it has often surprised me how they could possibly make themselves understood in the midst of such an uproar.

All Indians with whom I have come in contact, Christian as well as Pagan, are addicted to falsehood; but the Takellies excel; they are perfect adepts in the art, telling their stories with such an appearance of truth, that even those who know them well are often deceived.  They were the greatest thieves in the world when the whites first settled among them.  The utmost vigilance failed to detect them.  Some of our people have been known to have their belts taken off them, without perceiving it till too late; and many a poor fellow, after passing a night in one of their encampments, has been obliged to pass the remainder of the winter with but half a blanket—­the other half having been cut off while he slept.

Theft, however, is not quite so prevalent as formerly; and, strange to say, no Indians can be more honest in paying their debts.  It would indeed be desirable that this credit system, long since introduced, were abolished; but if this were done, the natives would carry the greater part of their hunts to another quarter.  Some of the natives of the coast, having become regular traders of late years, penetrate a considerable distance into the interior; in this manner the goods obtained from the Company’s posts along the coast, or from foreign trading ships, pass from hand to hand in barter, until they eventually reach the borders of New Caledonia, where the trade still affords a very handsome profit to the native speculator.

These Indians are not given to hospitality in the proper sense of the word.  A stranger arriving among them is provided with food for a day only; should he remain longer, he pays for it; for that day’s entertainment, however, the best fare is liberally furnished.  Strangers invited to their feasts are also provided for while they remain.

There is much more variety and melody in the airs they sing, than I have heard in any other part of the Indian country.  They have professed composers, who turn their talent to good account on the occasion of a feast, when new airs are in great request, and are purchased at a high rate.  They dance in circles, men and women promiscuously, holding each other by the hand; and keeping both feet together, hop a little to a side all at once, giving at the same time a singular jerk to their persons behind.  The movement seems to be difficult of execution, as it causes them to perspire profusely; they, however, keep excellent time, and the blending of the voices of the men and women in symphony has an agreeable effect.