Amrn'"diarrupr~s.Thelifestyleofrhcpeopleo fNorthAmerica's
northwest coastwasdifferent again.Theygathered
nursandberriesfromrhc fores ts,burtheir m ainfoo d
wasfish,es pecia llythe salmon of'rhcriversandth e
ocean.Eachspringhundredsofth ousalid sofsalmon
swaminfr o mthePacificandfought theirwayup the
Potlatches
The"potlat ch "wasa popularcl·rl' m onyamongst
thew ealthyPacific coasttribesofNorthAmerica.
The wordmeans·' g iftgiving. "Amodernpotlatch
is a kindo f party at whichg uests arcgl\TIl gi fts,
but theo riginalpotlatc hceremo n ieswentmuch
furthe r. Achiefor head ofafam ilym ig ht givefast-Rowing rivers tospdw n.A fewmonths' w o rk
during this season providedth e peopleofth e Pacific
coastwith eno ug hfoodtolast a wholeyear.
Thisabundanceoffoodg avcthe tribesofth e Pac ifi c
co ast tim efo r feastin g , for carvingand for buildi ng.
TribesliketheHaida live d in largehousesbuilto f
wo od enplank s withelaboratelycarvedgablesand
doo rpos ts.The rno srimportant carv ingsw ereo n
rorcmpoles .Theseweres pec ially decoratedtree
tr unk swhichsomembcsplaced in fromofth eir
houses,burw hichtheH aid am adeparto f theh ou se
itsdf.Thecarvings0 11the tote m pole werea record
oftheh isrorycfrhcfamilythatlivedinthehou se.
T heA merind ianpeopleso f NorthAmerica
develope dw iddyvariedwaysofhfc.All suitedthe
natu ralenviron me ntsIIIwhichthetr ibeslived,and
theylastedfo rlllallYcent u ries. Butthear riva lof
Euro peanswiththeirguns,th eirdiseasesandtheir
hunger for landwouldevent uallydestroythemall.aWdY everything that he owned 10 sho w how
wealthy he was and gain resp ect. To avoid
disgrace.th e pl,.'rsollreceiving th e g ifts hadtog ive
back evenmore. If he failed to doso hisentir e
fa m ilywas disgraced.7