BELLACOOLA, an American Indian ethnic unit, also called Tallion, constituting the northernmost group of the Salishan family, of the Coast division. They lived in a number of inde pendent villages on Bentinck and Dean inlets and Bellacoola river in British Columbia. They adhered to the maritime culture restricted to the Northwest Coast. By 1902 their numbers had shrunk to 300. See F. Boas, in various writings on the area; and a monograph in press, Can. Div. Ethn., by T. F. Mcllwraith.