HAIDA  , a tribe of

North American Indians of Skittagetan stock . They still occupy their original home, the Queen Charlotte islands, British Columbia . They are skilful seamen, making long fishing expeditions in cedarwood canoes . They are noted for their carving and basket-work . They formerly made raids on the coast tribes . Slavery was hereditary, the slaves being prisoners of war . The population, some 7000 in the middle of the 19th century, is now reduced to a few hundreds . See Handbook of American Indians (Washington, 1907) . Fo1 " Haida Texts and Myths," see Bull.29 Smithsonian Institution Burei., Amer . Ethnol . (1905) .