Family solidarity is still the basis of political life. The chiefs of the tribes were mostly men, but women were often the heads of their households. Leadership depended on the ability to acquire and properly exercise spiritual power and on personal ability. There was no formal, super-personal authority. Related to this is the concept of redistribution, the redistribution of property primarily through the potlatch in the sense of giving away ostentatiouss while equalizing wealth. Therefore, the governmental prohibitions valid until 1934 (USA) and 1951 (Canada) were an attack on one of the supporting pillars of the Indian cultures. Trade . Trade played a role not consistently comparable to European trade. The voyages served for the exchange of goods, but also for the establishment and consolidation of kinship relations, which one could fall back on, even after a longer period of dormancy. Thus, the coastal Salish had places to stay practically everywhere in the vast residential area, which in turn facilitated trade. However, this knowledge was "private" and belonged to only one family at a time. The lower class was much more restricted regionally and possessed no such knowledge. With Camas bulbs, which were 4–8 cm in diameter and could weigh over 100 g, there was an intensive trade, especially with the Nuu-chah-nulth, because the majority of the coveted fruit grew in the less humid and warmer south of Vancouver Island. Even before white settlers settled there, Indians grew tomatoes and potatoes, which they probably obtained from the first forts of the Hudson's Bay Company. Beans were also occasionally planted, but they were apparently not a trade commodity. Other important trade goods were otter and beaver pelts, fish oil and fat (especially the buttery fat of the candlefish), but also timber for the plank houses and for the forts of the fur trading companies. In addition, there were blankets, some of which were made from the hair of goats, around the Juan de Fuca Strait also often from the specially kept dogs. Dogs were probably kept like flocks of sheep and provided white and dark fibers for blankets, mats, baskets, and clothing that were widely traded. With the severance of numerous trade contacts, blankets became an important commodity soon traded by the Hudson's Bay Company. They were also offered as barter for abandoned land when reservations were established. The raiding and pillaging campaigns of the tribes living north of the Salish,