territory that ensured their survival on their annual circular migrations. So these areas are dozens of smaller settlement chambers for a temporarily nomadic life. In bad years long-distance trade, using the coasts as routes for large trading canoes, could save lives. In the opposite direction, camas, later tomaton or potaton, could be exported to climatically unsuitable areas. The advantage of this way of life was that there were hardly any crop failures, and even if the crops failed in unfavorable years, one could switch to the sea. However, in order to secure access to such areas, the principle of family lineage came into play, which means that certain areas or devices, such as pots, could only be used along a line of family relationships. Consequently, the number of Coastal Salish was extremely large, although it cannot be precisely estimated. The explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark stated in 1805 that the number of inhabitants was not less than "in any part of the United States". Other fruits were also grown and transformed the landscape, but until very recently this was not recognized as a product of the peasant way of life. This is how the Cowichan brought Wapato roots to the Gulf Islands, i.e. Arrowwort. There were also large fields of wapato along the Columbia River. The wapatos, according to Clark on November 22, 1805, taste like Irish potatoes and they are a viable substitute for bread. The Kwagewlth maintained stone walled gardens of Pacific Silverweed (Potentilla pacifica) and cloverfields at the mouth of the Nimpkish River. The Sto:lo regularly burned down terrain to make berries grow better. Other tilled soil for growing Cranberries (also known as Cranberries), Gooseberries, Rubus spectabilis, Rubus parviflorus (Thimbleberry), Wild Onions, Strawberries, Cow Parsnip (Heracleum maximum, too known as Indian Celery or Pushki), carrots, so-called crab apples, blueberries, black currants, etc., with the boundaries between farming methods, gardening and simply keeping the area free for certain plants , e.g. by fire, or protection of a suitable area by stone walls. George Vancouver, who had seen extensive Camas fields on southern Vancouver Island and at Puget Sound, nevertheless reported: "I could not believe that any uncultivated land was ever discovered that such a gave a rich picture.” The fact that the population was quite thin, because smallpox had claimed so many lives shortly before, probably contributed to this impression. Around 1913/1916 the McKenna-McBride-Commission still clung to