Note 143 — Chapter II · HUNTERS AND FISHERS.

There is another fact strengthening our hypothesis: women are often consulted in matters of trade. Among the Tlinkits “the men rarely conclude a bargain without consulting their wives”143. Nootka wives too “are consulted in matters of trade”144. About Puget Sound the females “are always consulted in matters of trade before a bargain is closed”145. Chinook women “are consulted on all important matters”146, which matters, among these commercial people, necessarily include the trade. Among the Haidas, the trade, in Jewitt’s time, was even principally managed by the women, who were expert in making a bargain147.