British North America: I. The far West, the home of the Salish and Déné

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THE NATIVES OF BRITISH NORTH AMERICA

I. The Far West

THE HOME OF THE

SALISH AND DENE

BY

C. HILL-TOUT

WITH THIRTY-THREE FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS AND ONE MAP

TORONTO

THE COPP CLARK COMPANY

LIMITED

! I

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Edinburgh : T. and A. Constable. Printers to His Majesty

EDITOR'S PREFACE

Interest in the subject races of the British Empire should be especially keen in the Mother Country, where there are few families but send into our dependencies some member, be it as Government official, soldier, or colonist. Anthropological text-books are at once too technical and too bulky to attract the ordinary reader, who wishes for no more than a sketch of habits and customs, accurate but readable, in which matter too abstruse, or otherwise unsuitable for general consumption, is omitted. The present series is intended to supply in handy and readable form the needs of those who wish to learn something of the life of the uncivilised races of our Empire ; it will serve the purpose equally of those who remain at home and of those who fare forth into the world and come into personal contact with peoples in the lower stages of culture.

Unless otherwise stated the contributors to the series will be anthropologists who have personal knowledge of the tribes of whom they write ; references to authorities will be dispensed with, as unnecessary for the general reader; but for those who desire to follow up the subject a bibliography will be found at the end of each volume.

The present series may perhaps do more than vi BRITISH NORTH AMERICA

merely spread a knowledge of the dark-skinned races beneath the British flag. Germany awoke years ago to the importance of the study of native races from a political and commercial, no less than from a scientific point of view. In twenty-five years the Berlin Museum has accumulated ethnographical collections more than ten times as large as those of the British Museum, and the work of collection goes on incessantly. England, with the greatest colonial empire which the world has ever seen, lags far behind. Money will perhaps be forthcoming in England for work in anthropology when savage life and savage culture has disappeared for ever from the earth before the onward march of so-called civilisation. If, one hundred years hence, English anthropologists have to go to Germany to study the remains of those who were once our subject races, we shall owe this humiliation to the supineness of England at the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth century. The past, once lost, can never be recovered ; we have before us, in the subject races of our Empire, a living memorial of the past, and if England does her duty, she will lose no time in organising an Imperial Bureau of Ethnology, and thus enable English anthropologists to hold up their heads before their more fortunate German and American brethren.

NORTHCOTE W. THOMAS.

London, November 22, 1906.

Author's Preface

In writing the life-history of two such extensive and diversified Stocks as those treated of in this volume, one must needs be dependent, to a greater or less extent, upon the labours of others. No single student could cover so wide a field unaided, and I desire here to acknowledge my indebtedness to those from whom I have drawn or received assistance in the preparation of this work.

Foremost among these is my always courteous friend and fellow-student, the Reverend Father Morice of the Oblate Mission at Stuart's Lake, British Columbia.

This able and scholarly missionary has spent a large portion of his life among the Dene tribes, and is more familiar with all that appertains to their lives and customs, both past and present, than any other man living. To him I have gone for much of my information on this Stock, as also for confirmation of any doubtful points drawn from others, and my readers may feel assured that what I have written upon the Dene is accurate and reliable.

viii BRITISH NORTH AMERICA

In my treatment of the Salish, with whom I have myself been in close and friendly contact for the past fifteen years, I have relied mainly upon my own personal knowledge and studies, supplementing these, where I thought it desirable, with information gathered by others who have made special studies of particular tribes or subjects. For such help I believe I have always made acknowledgment in the text.

I desire also to express my sense of obligation to Dr. Otis Mason, Curator of the Department of Anthropology in the United States National Museum, to Dr. Clark Wissler, Acting Curator of the American Museum of Natural History, for their many courtesies to me, and for their kind permission to use such of the publications of their Institutions as bore upon my subject; and to Mr. Kermode, Curator of the Provincial Museum of British Columbia, for his kind assistance in photographing such of the objects of native art intrusted to his care as I desired for my purpose.

Abbotsford, British Columbia, April -^o, 1906.

Contents

PAGE

editor's preface, V

AUTHOR'S PREFACE, vii

Chapter I

Geography; the inland plain, the mountain systems, the central plateau, the rivers. Climate. Flora; cedar-tree. Birds, beasts, and fish. The salmon. History. Early voyagers : Juan de Fuca, Vancouver. Explorers : Mackenzie, Fraser. The Indians in their day. Treatment of the native races. Death rate, .......... i

Chapter II

'Indian.' Theories of their origin. The stocks of British North America. The Salish; their tribes and distribution. The Dene. Characteristic features of Indians : face, nose. Various types. Hair, eyes, teeth. Salish types. Head deformation ; various forms. Dene types. Father Morice's description. Intelligence of the Indians. Lack of courage. Virtues. Moral precepts, ........ o 3°

Chapter III

HABITATIONS Long-house of Coast Salish ; use of roofs ; interior ; furniture. Houses and lodges of Inland Salish. Girls' shelter. Lodges of the Dene. Fires. The tepee or tent, . . . . 51

X BRITISH NORTH AMERICA

Chapter IV Page

Clothing of men and women of Coast Salish. Hats. Blankets. Weaving. Clothing of noble of Inland Salish. Moccasins. Cloaks. Girls' dress. Modesty of girls. Ornaments ; ear-rings ; nose-pins; labrets; necklaces; armlets. Hairdressing. Face-paint. Tatoo. Clothing of Eastern and Western Dene. Ornaments. Headgear. Ceremonial attire. Head-dress. Apron. Girl's puberty costume, . . . . 63

Chapter VIII Social Organisation

PAGE

Exogamous divisions of the Nahane : bird, beast, and fish people. The Carriers. Three ranks. Property. Inheritance. Succession of chief ; the five feasts. The 'potlatch.' Patriarchy of Nahane and Eastern Dene. Marriage. Property. Organisation of Salish. Elective chiefs. Communism and aristocracy. Family pride. Endogamy. The 'potlatch.' Dances. Slavery, 143

Chapter IX

Animism. Treatment of game and vegetation. Salmon ceremony. Shaman. Guardian spirits. Names, things, and symbols. The soul. Future life, 166

Chapter X

Dene marriage customs. Wife purchase. Aunt marriage. Proposing. Salish customs ; Coast tribes ; Lillooet ; Thompson River Indians. Den^ death ceremonies. Mourners' taboos. Funeral feasts ; games. Burial. Widows. Salish customs. Preparation of corpse. Burial. Mortuary taboos. Customs of Thompsons, announcing the death. Burial. Divination. Widows and Widowers. Grave-figures, . . . . 181

Chapter XI

Origin of daylight. A Salish Orpheus. The Coyote and his

Friends. The Elk maiden, 212 xii BRITISH NORTH AMERICA

Chapter XII Page

Birth customs. Early life. Education of the youth and maiden.

Games. Gambling. Feasts. Longevity, .... 243

BIBLIOGRAPHY, 254

INDEX, 255

LIST OF PLATES

''acing

page

Indians fishing with the dip-net on Fraser River

— Frontispiece

I. A Salish woman extracting oil from the ' Candle-fish,'

II. A typical face — Sarcee Indian,

III. A Dene with marked Mongoloid features,

IV. A family group. Coast Salish, V. A Dene youth,

VI. A Dene Belle in native poncho, . VII. Typical Plain Indians, VIII. (i) A Salish chief, .

(2) A Salish boy, .

(3) A Salish grandmother,

(4) A Salish woman, IX. An Old-time Salish dwelling,

X. Long-houses of the Coast Salish, . XI. Summer Lodges of the Interior Salish, XII. Northern Dene Skin Lodges,

XIII. Sarcee Skin Lodge,

XIV. Ddne maids in native costume, XV. A Dene chief in full dress,

XVI. Sarcee braves in ceremonial costume, XVII. Dene ' medicine-men ' in ceremonial costume,

50 52 56 60 61

79 80 82 85 xiv BRITISH NORTH AMERICA

XVIII. Dene 'wampum,'. . . . facing page 86

XIX. A family of Eastern Dene in native

costume, ,, 88

XX. Imbricated basketry of the Fraser

XXI. Basketry Designs, . . . „ 117

XXII. Specimens of Salish woven basketry

and matting, . . . . „ 119

XXIII. Dend birch-bark canoes, Great Slave

XXIV. Typical Coast Salish canoes, . . ., 137 XXV. Salish ' pestle ' hammers and bowls, . ,, 139

XXVI. Salish stone ceremonial bowls, . „ 141

XXVII. Salish stone pipes, . . . „ 142

XXVIII. Tree burial, . . . . „ 196

XXIX. A Coast Salish mortuary column show-

ing the deceased's totem, . . „ 205

XXX. A Salish graveyard. Vancouver Island, ., 211

XXXI. A typical Salish mother and babe, . ,, 243

XXXII. Cradle life among the Salish, . . „ 244

Map of British North America.

THE NATIVES OF BRITISH NORTH AMERICA

Chapter I

The habitat and natural surroundings of a people, particularly if that people be in the earlier, ruder stages of life, have such an important bearing upon their character and cultural development that any attempt to treat of their national or tribal life, must, if it is to have any permanent value or be worthy of the reader's attention, give some account of their geographical position.

It will therefore be well to begin this life-history of two of the larger and more important native races of the westernmost portion of our Empire with a short description of the . chief geographical and zoological features of their country. In later chapters the flora and fauna, as they affect the lives of the tribes under consideration, will be more specifically treated in their proper relations.

The territory occupied by the Salish and Dene stocks is very extensive, comprising about one-half of the whole area of British North America, and stretches practically from the shores of Hudson Bay to the Pacific Ocean. This great tract of land includes the

A province of British Columbia and most of that portion of Canada lying to the north-east of it, known formerly as the North-West Territories. It is cut in two by the primary axis of the continent — the Rocky Mountains ; and nowhere can two adjacent districts be found which present greater physical contrasts than those that lie on either side of this dividing line.

East of the mountains the land slopes gently away from the foot-hills to the far-distant waters of the Hudson Bay in one continuous and almost level plain, which has been characterised by a learned explorer as a dreary region of rocks and marshes, of shallow lakes and treacherous rivers, offering no attractions of any kind save such as the hunter finds in the varied fur-bearing animals which roam over its vast solitudes, and afford the nomadic tribes, whose hereditary huntingground it is, a precarious existence.

On the west we find the very reverse of all this. Instead of vast stretches of level and barren plains we find here a country whose chief physical characteristics are extended and stupendous mountain systems and densely timbered forests. The climate and other natural conditions vary greatly here also, and have more deeply affected the life and culture of the natives than on the eastern side of the range. For this reason, and because one of the two races under consideration, as well as the most interesting and best known divisions of the other, have their habitat wholly on this side within the confines of British Columbia, we shall deal chiefly with the physical features of this region in our description of the country.

British Columbia is the most western of the several provinces which, with the North- West and North-East Territories, make up the Dominion of Canada, as our possessions in the New World are now generally named. It is the largest of all the provinces, having a length of some 700 miles and a width of about 400 ; it contains upwards of 300,000 square miles or an area nearly eight times the size of England. It stretches north and south from the International Boundary Line to the 60th parallel of northern latitude and east and west from the Pacific Ocean to the Rocky Mountains. It is essentially a mountainous country, as we have said, for within its borders there are not less than four distinct mountain systems or chains all running in the same general direction, north and south : two on its eastern, and two on its western flank.

Those on the eastern side are the Rocky Mountains just mentioned, whose summits here not infrequently rise to an elevation of 16,000 feet and upwards, and the Selkirk Mountains. These two ranges are separated from each other by a remarkably long and regular valley which stretches from the International Boundary to the northern limits of the Selkirks, a distance of over 700 miles. Those on the western side are the island and the coast ranges. The latter is sometimes called the Pacific Alps. It runs from near the mouth of the Eraser River, nearly due northward into Alaska, closely following the line of the coast the whole way. Some of its peaks attain a height of 10,000 feet.

Lying between these great flanking ramparts, in the interior of the Mainland, is a large elevated plateau, the altitude of which varies from looo feet to 3500 feet. Through this flows the great Fraser River, the chief salmon-bearing waters of the Province ; from which in pre-trading days, scores of native tribes drew their sustenance. This river has its source in the Rockies, and flowing through a gap in the Selkirks, after a varied course of close upon 800 miles, along bold and tortuous canons, and silent, wide-lying valleys, finally mingles its waters with the Pacific by way of the Gulf of Georgia. The larger and more important of the other rivers of the Province, of which there are a great number, are the Peace, Findlay, Skeena, and Stickeen Rivers. These are found in the northern portions of the country, the two former flowing eastward to form the Mackenzie River and the two latter westward to join their waters with the Pacific. Next to the great mountain systems of the Province the most marked physical feature of the country is the singularly broken character of the coast-line, which in this respect presents a striking contrast to the coast-line of the States to the south. From Cape Flattery to San Francisco, a distance of about 700 miles, the line is practically unbroken, not a single indention or bay being found big enough to form a serviceable harbour. But when we turn northward all this is changed. The whole coast from end to end, from Cape Flattery to Alaska, is cut and broken up with innumerable islands, bays and deep inlets, the latter of which far surpass in their dimensions and complexity those of any other part of the world. Some of the British Columbian fiords run like gigantic canals far into the interior between rugged mountain walls that rise sheer out of the water for 1000 feet or more. Others are bounded by tree-clad slopes and dotted with picturesque islets, the haunts of a varied fauna and the favourite hunting-grounds of the littoral tribes.

The main islands lie more or less in two groups, the more prominent of which are Vancouver's Island, which contains the capital of the province, and the Queen Charlotte Islands. The former is separated from the mainland by Juan de Fuca Strait, the Gulf of Georgia and Queen Charlotte Sound, and the latter, which lie 200 miles farther north, by Vancouver Strait. These islands represent the peaks and upper valleys of the westernmost of the four great mountain chains of the region, a submergence of this chain having taken place in past ages ; but beyond the Queen Charlotte Islands it rises again out of the Pacific and forms the Alaskan peninsula. The shores and bays of both groups of islands were in the days of the early navigators of these western waters comparatively densely peopled with native tribes. This can scarcely be said to be the case to-day. The mortality of the native races since the advent of the whites has been excessive, and nowhere more so than among these island tribes.

Owing to the large extent and varied physical features of the country the climate of British Columbia differs widely according to the locality. West of the coast ranges the climate, in comparison with that of the same latitude on the other side of the continent, is remarkably temperate, closely resembling that of the south coast of Devon. The rainfall is, however, much greater here than in any part of England.

This characteristic mildness of climate is due to the warm breezes that blow in from the Japanese current which skirts the shores of the north Pacific coast on its course to the Polar Sea. But owing to the formidable barriers reared by the coast range, the influence of these balmy winds is not so much felt in the interior of the province as is the influence of the Gulf Stream in the interior of England. Indeed, east of the coast range, which has a width of from sixty to a hundred miles, it is doubtful if it is felt at all, and instead of the excessive precipitation and humidity of the coast and islands, due to the vapour-laden winds of the ocean, the rainfall here is exceedingly scanty, and the climate consequently very dry.

The great central plateau is commonly spoken of as the ' dry belt.' Here it is both hotter in summer and colder in winter than west of the coast range, the temperature ranging from 80° to 110° in the shade in July and August, and from freezing-point to zero or considerably below in the winter months. Heavy falls of snow occur also here, which lie on the ground throughout the winter. On the southern portion of the coast, and particularly on Vancouver's Island snow falls as rarely and melts as quickly as in the southwest of England.

The vegetation of the southern portion of Vancouver's Island difl"ers very materially from that of the mainland ; and that again of the interior from the forms which characterise the humid coastal region.

West of the coast range dense forests of fir, of which the ' Douglas ' is the characteristic species, clothe the land to the water's edge. Some of these trees are of enormous proportions, not infrequently attaining a girth of five-and-twenty feet, and a height of three hundred, with perhaps a variation of less than a foot in their diameter for the first hundred and fifty feet.

Interspersed with these are other varieties of fir, cypress, spruce, hemlock, and the American white cedar, the Thuya gigantea of the botanists. Some of these latter along the coast also reach gigantic proportions, having not uncommonly a diameter of from fifteen to twenty feet near the base. This cedar-tree has had a unique and far-reaching influence in the lives of the littoral tribes, and has been more potent in shaping the lines of their culture than any other single factor of their environment. It was to them much what the cocoa-nut palm was to the South-Sea Islanders. From its outer bark the men constructed their ropes and lines, coverings for their dwellings, their slow matches or ' travelling fire,' and many other things. From its inner bark their wives wove garments for themselves and their children, made their beds and pillows, padded their babies' cradles, fashioned the compressing bands and pads for deforming their heads, besides applying it in a multitude of other ways. From its wood the men built the family and communal dwellings, made such furniture as they used — tubs, pots, kettles, bowls, dishes, and platters; fashioned their graceful and buoyant fishing and war canoes, their coffins, their treasure-chests, their ceremonial masks, their heraldic emblems, their commemorative columns, their totem poles, and a host of other objects. From the branches of the younger trees they made their most enduring withes and ties, and from its split roots their wives and daughters constructed the beautiful water-tight basketry of this region. There was practically no part of this wonderful tree which they did not apply to some useful purpose or other. They even resorted to it for food in times of scarcity and famine — the women and children robbing the squirrels and chipmunks of their stores of its cones for the nourishment which they contained. Indeed one can hardly imagine what the condition of the natives of this region would have been without this tree, no other in the country lending itself to such a variety of useful purposes.

In the river valleys, particularly in the Delta of the Fraser, birch, alder, poplar, maple, cotton-wood, crab and willow take the place or share the soil with the fir and cedar ; and wherever the land has been denuded by fire or other cause, of the more primitive fir, these deciduous trees spring up so rapidly in the mild, moist atmosphere of that region that in less than two score years a second forest appears. In these valleys a dense and varied undergrowth spreads itself in rank luxuriance. Ferns and mosses of almost countless varieties abound, conspicuous amongst which are magnificent specimens of the stag and fern mosses ; masses of the most exquisite oak and maiden-hair ferns, and the lofty fronds of the commoner bracken fern. In some districts this latter grows so high as to overtop a man's head when riding on horseback, and affords most excellent shelter and protection to numerous herds of black- and white-tailed deer.

In the eastern provinces of the same latitude as British Columbia the oak, elm and beech hold their own with the fir, or have entirely superseded it ; but here these trees have no chance of existence in the dense fir forests of the mainland. On the southern portions of Vancouver's Island, however, where the soil is of a different nature, shallow and rocky, a hardy, struggling variety of oak has managed to obtain a footing ; the juniper and the arbutus are also common.

In the interior plateau the characteristic tree is the black pine. On the lower slopes of the Rockies and Selkirks the tamarack, white spruce and juniper are mostly found.

Of flowers and flowering shrubs there are great numbers and many varieties. The more open glades of the forest, the upper valleys and the slopes of the mountains are clothed from spring to autumn with a succession of blooms. Many of the flowering shrubs are also fruit-bearing, and the gathering and preserving of their berries form no inconsiderable part of the work of the native women and girls in the autumn months of the year.

The dense forests and the mountain fastnesses of British Columbia offer ideal haunts for animal life of all kinds. It is not surprising, therefore, that this region was, and in many respects still is, one of the best hunting-grounds in the world. Its game is not lo BRITISH NORTH AMERICA

only abundant but also varied, and in pre-trading days supported in rude plenty a large native population.

The larger animals number among them the wapiti or American elk, the caribou, moose, deer of three varieties, the antelope goat, the ' big-horn ' or mountain sheep, of which there is more than one species, the panther, variously called 'puma,' 'cougar' or 'mountain lion,' the lynx, wolves of several species, the wild cat, red, white and silver-grey foxes, and black, brown, and grizzly bears. Among the smaller may be mentioned the beaver, martin, fisher, musk-rat, porcupine, gopher, wolverine, otter, racoon, hares and rabbits of several varieties, chipmunks, flying and other squirrels, the mink, the weasel, and its evil-smelling cousin the skunk.

The bird list of British Columbia is a very full and varied one. The difference between the species found here and in other parts of America is not very great or marked. In size it is generally thought the British Columbian birds are on the whole larger, and in plumage decidedly darker than eastern specimens. But they have one special feature of their own, few singing birds are found among them. The songsters of British Columbia are comparatively rare. Sea-birds and water-fowl generally are found in abundance. Of duck alone there are more than twenty-five species ; eight or nine of geese and at least two of swans. Snipe and plover of several varieties are also plentiful. The grouse family is likewise well represented and widely distributed, seven or eight different species being found. Birds of prey are correspondingly numerous.

d'

INTRODUCTORY ii

there being at least twenty species of falcons, hawks, and eagles and at least a dozen different kinds of owls. The smaller birds such as the finches, sparrows, thrushes, blackbirds, wrens, etc. are also well represented, and nothing makes the woods and forest lands of British Columbia so homelike to Englishmen as the presence everywhere of the last named. Troglodytes hiemalis pacificus, the commonest of the species, is a familiar sight all over the Province, It is found even in the densest forests where no other bird save the woodpecker is to be seen. This little bird consequently figures largely in the folk-tales and animal stories of the Indians.

British Columbia is also rich in marine life. The sea-otter, the fur and hair seal, and the sea-lion are common features of the coastal waters, and were and still are hunted by the natives both for their flesh and their fur. The early navigators of these waters have left us some very interesting accounts of the almost incredible numbers of skins of these animals they secured from the natives for a few handfuls of beads or nails, or an axe or two ; and Washington Irving tells us that at the beginning of the nineteenth century the flags of nearly two score nations of the world were represented by the ships of the traders who frequented these western waters in quest of hides and pelts.

But the characteristic product of the waters of British Columbia is the salmon. This fish is found nowhere in the world in such numbers and varieties as on the North Pacific coast. There are five or six species known to commerce, and most, if not all, of the canned salmon sold and eaten in England comes from this region. To the natives in pre-trading days the salmon formed the chief staple of their larders, taking much the same place in their dietary as bread does in our own, or rice in that of the Oriental. In treating of the food of the natives we shall have occasion to speak of this again, and show the various ways in which they made use of the salmon.

Each of the different species has its own period of ' running,' that is, the time of the year the fish leave the salt waters of the ocean and enter the rivers and streams for the purpose of spawning. It has been already mentioned that the Eraser River was one of the chief salmon-bearing rivers of the Province, and the numbers of these fish that pass up its waters to the spawning-grounds in a good season are almost incredible. In parts where the river narrows or the course of the fish is impeded by any natural or artificial obstruction, such as a fall or a weir, the salmon congregate below in such numbers that it is almost possible to cross the river upon their backs. Three other fish figured largely, though not over so wide a field as the salmon, in the dietary of the coastal tribes. These were the sturgeon, the halibut and the oolichan {Thaleichthys pacificus). The firstnamed attains enormous proportions, specimens weighing eight and nine hundred pounds being caught at times in the Eraser. The last-named, locally known as the 'candle fish,' is related to the salmon family. It is^ small fish about nine inches in length, and so plentifully do they ' run ' that they literally choke the

Uh o w

Plioto by C. VV. Mathers, Vancouver, B.C.

waters and can be scooped up in bucketfuls. They are caught in large numbers by the natives, who extract the oil or grease from them. The accompanying plate shows how this was commonly done. This grease was a staple article of trade with them in former years. It was packed in small cedar boxes and carried over the mountains along well-defined trade routes, and in this manner found its way far into the interior of the country. The oolichan is so full of fat that it is said that a dried specimen will burn like a torch. Hence its name of ' candle fish.' As an article of diet there is nothing finer. Fried in its own fat it is the most delicious of fish ; and during its short season is in great demand on the coast.

Another marine commodity in the earlier days was the clam. This shell-fish is found in great quantities on all the tidal-flats. The coastal tribes not only ate large numbers of these themselves but dried and cured them, using them in barter with the inland tribes. The midden-heaps of this region are largely formed from the shells of this fish. Some of these refuse-heaps are of enormous proportions, exceeding in mass and area the classic heaps of Denmark.

The chief physical feature of the great lone region east of the Rocky Mountains is the number of its lakes. These are found spread over its whole surface and connected one to the other by a network of streams and rivers forming an almost continuous line of waterways from Hudson Bay to the mouth of the Mackenzie, the waters of the north-western lakes flowing into the Arctic Ocean by way of the Mackenzie and those of the south-eastern into Hudson Bay through Chesterfield inlet. The larger and more important of these are the Great Bear, Great Slave, and Athabasca Lakes. North of the latter the country is everywhere bleak and barren except along the valley of the Mackenzie which, in places, is well wooded. The fauna of this region include the elk, reindeer, moose, caribou, musk ox, deer, bear, wolf, hare, fox, rabbit, and on the slopes of the Rockies, the mountain-sheep and goat. In some localities the reindeer and moose have been domesticated and are employed as beasts of burden. South of Lake Athabasca herds of buffalo formerly abounded, but these have now all disappeared. The lakes and rivers afford the natives a fair supply of fish of several varieties, such as trout, white fish, carp, pickerel, pike, and blue fish. Water-fowls frequent the lakes and rivers in large numbers at certain seasons of the year. These include the great and small swan, the great and small bustard, the grey and white goose, ducks of more than a dozen varieties, sea and land plovers, snipe, gulls, cranes, and pelicans.