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QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS

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Originally appearing in Volume V22, Page 730 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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See also:

QUEEN See also:CHARLOTTE ISLANDS , a compact See also:group lying off the See also:northern See also:part of the See also:coast of See also:British See also:Columbia, and forming part of that See also:province of See also:Canada. Geologically the group is composed mainly of Triassic, Cretaceous and See also:Tertiary strata, penetrated by intrusive rocks. It occupies a position similarto that held by See also:Vancouver See also:Island farther to the See also:south, in regard to the mainland coast and its immediately adjacent islands, but is separated by a somewhat wider See also:sea from the coast. It was named by See also:Captain See also:Dixon, who visited the islands in the " Queen Charlotte" in 1787. Although the islands promise to become important, because of their excellent harbours, the See also:discovery of See also:good seams of bituminous See also:coal (beside the See also:anthracite already known), their abundant See also:timber of certain kinds and their prolific See also:fisheries, but little See also:settlement has taken See also:place. The wonderfully productive See also:halibut fisheries of See also:Hecate Strait, which separates these islands from the mainland and its adjacent islands, have attracted the See also:attention of fishing companies, and See also:great quantities of this See also:fish are taken regularly and shipped across the See also:continent in See also:cold storage. The natives, the See also:Haida See also:people, constitute with little doubt the finest See also:race, and that most advanced in the arts, of the entire See also:west coast of See also:North See also:America. They had See also:developed in its highest degree the See also:peculiar conventional See also:art of the north-west coast See also:Indians, which is found in decreasing importance among the Tsimshians on the west, the Tlingit on the north and the See also:Kwakiutl and other tribes farther south on the Pacific coast. The carved totem posts of the Haida, See also:standing in front of the heavily framed houses, or at a little distance from them, represent the coats of arms of the respective families of the tribes and generally exhibit designs treated in a bold and See also:original manner, highly conventionalized but always recognizable in their purport by any one See also:familiar with the distinctive marks of the See also:animal forms portrayed. These See also:primitive monuments are, however, rapidly falling to decay, and the people who erected them are becoming reduced in number and spirit. The native See also:population of the islands is less than 700. (F.

D.

End of Article: QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS

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