[79] These seem to be the Nimpkish, from the Nimpkish River, south of Fort Rupert, on the eastern shore of Vancouver Island, who still frequently cross the island by a chain of rivers and lakes to Nootka Sound. This is confirmed by Jewitt writing in another place that they lived somewhat in the interior. It is doubtful whether he knew that the country in which he lived was an island. At all events, he never mentions it by that name. This route I have described in "Das Innere der Vancouver Insel" (Petermann, _Geographische Mittheilungen_, 1869). [80] _Enhydra lutris_, or "Quiaotluck," now so rapidly decreasing in numbers that it can scarcely escape the fate of Steller's Rhytina. [81] For an account of the habits and history of these valued animals, the reader is referred to _The Countries of the World_, vol. i. p. 304. [82] The harpoon is at present a little different in construction. Pine resin, not "turpentine," is used for the purpose described, and the tips of deers' horns are utilised for the barbs. The most remarkable fact about the west coast of Vancouver Island whaling is its use of inflated sealskins to impede the motion of the animal through the water. This is an Eskimo contrivance in use by the Alaskans and other extreme northern tribes, from whom the West Vancouverians seem to have borrowed it. In Sproat's _Scenes and Studies of Savage Life_, p. 226, there is an excellent description of whaling as practised in that part of Vancouver Island. The species pursued is usually finbacks, though a "black fish" with good whalebone is occasionally captured. [83] The honour of using the harpoon is a hereditary privilege, enjoyed by only a few men in a tribe, and previous to the whaling season the crews have to practise all manner of ascetic practices in order to ensure good luck in the venture. [84] This porpoise Dr. Gray considered, after examining a skull which I brought to the British Museum in 1866, to differ little, if at all, from the _Phocæna communis_ of the Atlantic; but Dr. (afterwards Sir) W. H. Flower (_List of the Specimens of Cetacea_, etc., 1885, p. 16) seems to be of a different opinion.