Van. B.C.Sept. 25th 97
The Honourable
The Provincial Secretary, B.C.
Dear Sir,
During the past few years I have been collecting specimens of the tools and utensils etc. of the native tribes of this Province, and though my collection is not large it is fairly representative of the area from which it was taken, and I have several specimens which are not to be duplicated. Sir John Evans, Dr. Munro, and Dr. Dawson are pleased to express satisfaction at the collection, and I have received several offers of purchase, one from Dr. Dawson himself. I have not yet decided to accept any of these, and before doing so I would like to know if the Executive would care to purchase them for the Provincal Museum. I would rather that they remained in the Province, so if you could bring my offer before the Executive I should be obliged. I am not asking any unreasonable sum for the collection, though, as I said before, there are specimens among them of which there are no duplicates known. If the Executive thinks fit to purchase, I will arrange them in their proper order in the Museum.
In this connection I would like to say that when the archaeological material now in the Museum is transferred to its new quarters in the New Building a different system of classification and arrangement should be made so that the collection will not be simply interesting but educative in its influence, which, as I take it, should be the primary end of museum collections. As the material is now arranged it is neither one thing nor another, articles from different areas and stocks being mixed together without any regard to their origin or development. I shall be pleased to give to this end such knowledge as I possess of the technology of this area. I think I may venture to claim for myself the widest knowledge we have on this subject. I shall be obliged if you will bear this offer in mind when you contemplate a removal. It is claimed for you that your aim has been always to employ those who are the recognized authorities in their particular departments for all service on behalf of the Province. If this principle still animates the Executive, it can scarcely overlook my claims.
Hoping to get an early reply from you in regard to my offer of my collection,
I remain
Very truly yours
Chas. Hill-Tout
Buckland College
Van. B.C.
Dec. 8th 97
The Honourable
The Provincial Secretary
Victoria
Dear Sir,
In reply to your communication informing me that the Executive are willing to purchase my collection of Indian relics provided the price asked is reasonable, I beg to append a descriptive list of same.
With regard to the price I should put upon them, permit me to say that it is not easy to fix upon a sum for a collection of this kind. The objects themselves are sometimes of little intrinsic value though they may be very rare and ethnologically speaking of priceless value. The general method of placing values upon relics of this kind is to consider their rarity, the cost and trouble of procuring them, and whether there are many duplicates. Taking these points into consideration, if I were to ask for twice the sum I have fixed upon it could not be considered by those capable of judging an unreasonable price, as a great many of the objects in my collection are of rare form and make and without known duplicates; and some are of the highest technologic value, such as the partially cut nephrite boulders displaying as they do the methods of cutting employed by the old-time Indians.2 If, therefore, I place a sum upon them which only fairly covers my working and field expenses in gathering them, I do not think you can grumble. This, as near as I am able to estimate it, is about $250. There are 317 pieces in the collection, of which the rarer specimens alone would fetch the price 1 am asking if I took the trouble to offer them to private collectors. The collection should be kept intact as it is representative, as far as it goes (which is farther than any other known collection), of the Fraser area and of the Salish stock. They will require a case about 12 by 3 feet.
I am
very truly yours
Chas. Hill-Tout
P.S. The fact that Dr. G. M. Dawson is anxious to secure them for the Dominion Museum should assure the Executive that they are worth possessing.
List of the specimens of workmanship of the native races of B.C. in the Hill-Tout collection:
“Unique sculptured complex human figure, very valuable, no duplicate known.”
12 boulders of green jade or nephrite, 3 of which have great scientific value showing as they do the two methods of stone cutting employed by the natives – until the discovery of these but one method was known; 10 pestle hammers, assorted, no two alike, some carved, and some remarkably fine and polished specimens; 6 fractured ditto; 1 unique medicine bowl with human head sculptured on one side of it — no other of the kind known-, 2 plain oval ditto of different patterns; 1 compound ditto, containing 4 wells or basins; 3 irregular perforated stones, probably “sinkers” or anchors; 1 small perforated pebble, probably “sinker”; 1 circular perforated stone, probably spindle whorl; 5 sling-club stones; 5 chipping hammers; 3 celts; 15 scrapers; 6 pieces of worn grindstone; 10 augite-porphyrite flakes and nodules from graves; 40 assorted bone implements, including shaman’s incised sucking tube, perforated needle, barbed spear and arrow points; 3 steatite stone pipes, one carved and of unusual pattern; 1 small soapstone ditto model, made by modern Indians at Lytton; 1 copper spindle; 1 copper armlet; 1 copper knife; 1 copper ring; 4 pieces of copper bracelets; 1 fractured copper ornament; 1 perfect perforated scollop shell from Interior; 1 very fine double-edged and pointed dagger, rare design; 1 unique sculptured complex human figure, very valuable, no duplicate known, in stone,31 fractured double-edged stone sword “Roman” type, none such in Provincial Museum; 12 worked augite-porphyrite knives or scrapers; 50 assorted agate and jasper flakes, unworked, of various colours, taken from burial mounds; 6 fine ditto worked knives; 6 imperfect state knives; 6 augite-porphyrite ditto of different pattern; 1 incised rod-like stone, use not known, probably “chafer”; 5 plain ditto; 6 stone axes, some very perfect, mostly of jade; 1 perfect large jade adze; 1 slightly fractured ditto; 5 slightly fractured small ditto; 4 jade chisels; 12 spear heads of different kinds of stone; 20 very fine and rare augite-porphyrite, agate and jasper arrow heads of different patterns, small size; 12 ditto large size; 12 ditto less perfect; 12 “palaeolithic” assorted arrow heads; 2 beautiful and rare leafshaped stone knives, very symmetrically wrought; 4 specimens of basketry, unusual patterns; 1 small bark basket; 1 bow and 3 arrows with carved points from Polynesia: 317 pieces in all. N.B. The last item is only piece not of B.C. manufacture.
Letter from James Teit 1
Spences Bridge, B.C.
3rd June 1899
My dear Mr. Hill-Tout,
Your letter of the 23rd ult. came duly to hand; also the papers for which I am very much obliged. I am sorry that I have no spare copies of the folktales I wrote. I only received a few, and these I distributed amongst my friends, or gave to parties who have been kind enough to send me books dealing with Indian subjects. However, I send you herewith the only copy I have on hand, and when you have finished reading it please return it and oblige. Seeing you have been
