ABSTRACT
The deeply indented coast was flanked with numberless islands which not only trebled the shoreline, but gave great sheltered areas of water and protected navigation from the unbroken sweep of the Pacific. The sea life that haunts this region is proverbial. It is still the great spawning ground of the world, and the tribes of the North-West Coast knew the calendar of the fish runs as other peoples have known the habits of bears or the season for putting seed into the earth. The experience of meeting the supernatural spirit was closely related to that of the vision, the experience which in so many parts of North America gave to the suppliant, fasting in isolation and often torturing himself, the guardian spirit who aided him for life. On the North-West Coast the personal encounter with the spirit had become a formal matter, nothing more than a way of phrasing the right to join a coveted secret society.
