Note 129 — Chapter II · HUNTERS AND FISHERS.

4º. We are often informed, that slaves do domestic work. Tsimshian slaves cook the killed seals and cut wood129. Among the Nootkas “women prepare the fish and game for winter use, cook, manufacture cloth and clothing, and increase the stock of food by gathering berries and shell-fish; and most of this work among the richer class is done by slaves”. Our informant speaks also of “the hard labour required” from the slaves130. Among the Ahts, slaves, as Sproat tells us, serve the family. When a man of rank is going to remove, the new house is prepared in advance by his slaves. According to Jewitt’s narrative, “all the menial offices are performed by them, such as bringing water, cutting wood, and a variety of others”. “The females are employed principally in manufacturing cloth, in cooking, collecting berries, etc.”131. Among the Fish Indians old women and slaves prepare the food132. Chinook slaves “are obliged to perform all the drudgery for their masters.… But the amount of the work connected with the Chinook household is never great”133. The last sentence here proves that “drudgery” means household work.