Natives in the Neighborhood of Astoria--Their Persons and
Characteristics.--Causes of Deformity--Their Dress.--
Their Contempt of Beards--Ornaments--Armor and Weapons.-Mode
of Flattening the Head.--Extent of the Custom.--Religious
Belief.-The Two Great Spirits of the Air and of the Fire.--
Priests or Medicine Men.--The Rival Idols.--Polygamy a Cause
of Greatness-Petty Warfare.--Music, Dancing, Gambling.--
Thieving a Virtue.--Keen Traders--Intrusive Habits--
Abhorrence of Drunkenness--Anecdote of Comcomly.
A BRIEF mention has already been made of the tribes or hordes existing
about the lower part of the Columbia at the time of the settlement; a
few more particulars concerning them may be acceptable. The four tribes
nearest to Astoria, and with whom the traders had most intercourse,
were, as has heretofore been observed, the Chinooks, the Clatsops, the
Wahkiacums, and the Cathlamets. The Chinooks reside chiefly along the
banks of a river of the same name, running parallel to the sea-coast,
through a low country studded with stagnant pools, and emptying itself
into Baker’s Bay, a few miles from Cape Disappointment. This was the
tribe over which Comcomly, the one-eyed chieftain, held sway; it boasted
two hundred and fourteen fighting men. Their chief subsistence was on
fish, with an occasional regale of the flesh of elk and deer, and of
wild-fowl from the neighboring ponds.
The Clatsops resided on both sides of Point Adams; they were the mere
relics of a tribe which had been nearly swept off by the small-pox, and
did not number more than one hundred and eighty fighting men.
The Wahkiacums, or Waak-i-cums, inhabited the north side of the
Columbia, and numbered sixty-six warriors. They and the Chinooks
were originally the same; but a dispute arising about two generations
previous to the time of the settlement, between the ruling chief and his
brother Wahkiacum, the latter seceded, and with his adherents formed the
present horde which continues to go by his name. In this way new tribes
or clans are formed, and lurking causes of hostility engendered.
The Cathlamets lived opposite to the lower village of the Wahkiacums,
and numbered ninety-four warriors.
These four tribes, or rather clans, have every appearance of springing
from the same origin, resembling each other in person, dress, language,
and manners. They are rather a diminutive race, generally below five
feet five inches, with crooked legs and thick ankles--a deformity
caused by their passing so much of their time sitting or squatting
upon the calves of their legs and their heels, in the bottom of their
canoes--a favorite position, which they retain, even when on shore. The
women increase the deformity by wearing tight bandages round the ankles,
which prevent the circulation of the blood, and cause a swelling of the
muscles of the leg.
Neither sex can boast of personal beauty. Their faces are round, with
small but animated eyes. Their noses are broad and flat at top, and
fleshy at the end, with large nostrils. They have wide mouths, thick
lips, and short, irregular and dirty teeth. Indeed good teeth are seldom
to be seen among the tribes west of the Rocky Mountains, who live simply
on fish.
In the early stages of their intercourse with white men, these savages
were but scantily clad. In summer time the men went entirely naked; in
the winter and in bad weather the men wore a small robe, reaching to the
middle of the thigh, made of the skins of animals, or of the wool of the
mountain sheep. Occasionally, they wore a kind of mantle of matting,
to keep off the rain but, having thus protected the back and shoulders,
they left the rest of the body naked.
The women wore similar robes, though shorter, not reaching below the
waist; besides which, they had a kind of petticoat, or fringe, reaching
from the waist to the knee, formed of the fibres of cedar bark, broken
into strands, or a tissue of silk grass twisted and knotted at the ends.
This was the usual dress of the women in summer; should the weather be
inclement, they added a vest of skins, similar to the robe.
The men carefully eradicated every vestige of a beard, considering it
a great deformity. They looked with disgust at the whiskers and
well-furnished chins of the white men, and in derision called them
Long-beards. Both sexes, on the other hand, cherished the hair of the
head, which with them is generally black and rather coarse. They allowed
it to grow to a great length and were very proud and careful of it,
sometimes wearing it plaited, sometimes wound round the head in fanciful
tresses. No greater affront could be offered to them than to cut off
their treasured locks.
They had conical hats with narrow rims, neatly woven of bear grass or of
the fibres of cedar bark, interwoven with designs of various shapes
and colors; sometimes merely squares and triangles, at other times rude
representations of canoes, with men fishing and harpooning. These hats
were nearly waterproof, and extremely durable.
The favorite ornaments of the men were collars of bears’ claws, the
proud trophies of hunting exploits; while the women and children wore
similar decorations of elks’ tusks. An intercourse with the white
traders, however, soon effected a change in the toilets of both sexes.
They became fond of arraying themselves in any article of civilized
dress which they could procure, and often made a most grotesque
appearance. They adapted many articles of finery, also, to their own
previous tastes. Both sexes were fond of adorning themselves with
bracelets of iron, brass, or copper. They were delighted, also, with
blue and white beads, particularly the former, and wore broad tight
bands of them round the waist and ankles, large rolls of them round
the neck, and pendants of them in the ears. The men, especially, who
in savage life carry a passion for personal decoration further than the
females, did not think their gala equipments complete unless they had
a jewel of hiaqua, or wampum, dangling at the nose. Thus arrayed, their
hair besmeared with fish oil, and their bodies bedaubed with red clay,
they considered themselves irresistible.
When on warlike expeditions, they painted their faces and bodies in the
most hideous and grotesque manner, according to the universal practice
of American savages. Their arms were bows and arrows, spears, and war
clubs. Some wore a corselet of pieces of hard wood laced together with
bear grass, so as to form a light coat of mail, pliant to the body; and
a kind of casque of cedar bark, leather, and bear grass, sufficient to
protect the head from an arrow or war club. A more complete article of
defensive armor was a buff jerkin or shirt of great thickness, made of
doublings of elk skin, and reaching to the feet, holes being left for
the head and arms. This was perfectly arrowproof; add to which, it was
often endowed with charmed virtues, by the spells and mystic ceremonials
of the medicine man, or conjurer.
Of the peculiar custom, prevalent among these people, of flattening
the head, we have already spoken. It is one of those instances of human
caprice, like the crippling of the feet of females in China, which
are quite incomprehensible. This custom prevails principally among the
tribes on the sea-coast, and about the lower parts of the rivers. How
far it extends along the coast we are not able to ascertain. Some of the
tribes, both north and south of the Columbia, practice it; but they all
speak the Chinook language, and probably originated from the same stock.
As far as we can learn, the remoter tribes, which speak an entirely
different language, do not flatten the head. This absurd custom
declines, also, in receding from the shores of the Pacific; few traces
of it are to be found among the tribes of the Rocky Mountains, and
after crossing the mountains it disappears altogether. Those Indians,
therefore, about the head waters of the Columbia, and in the solitary
mountain regions, who are often called Flatheads, must not be supposed
to be characterized by this deformity. It is an appellation often given
by the hunters east of the mountain chain, to all western Indians,
excepting the Snakes.
The religious belief of these people was extremely limited and confined;
or rather, in all probability, their explanations were but little
understood by their visitors. They had an idea of a benevolent and
omnipotent spirit, the creator of all things. They represent him as
assuming various shapes at pleasure, but generally that of an immense
bird. He usually inhabits the sun, but occasionally wings his way
through the aerial regions, and sees all that is doing upon earth.
Should anything displease him, he vents his wrath in terrific storms and
tempests, the lightning being the flashes of his eyes, and the thunder
the clapping of his wings. To propitiate his favor they offer to him
annual sacrifices of salmon and venison, the first fruits of their
fishing and hunting.
Besides this aerial spirit they believe in an inferior one, who inhabits
the fire, and of whom they are in perpetual dread, as, though he
possesses equally the power of good and evil, the evil is apt to
predominate. They endeavor, therefore, to keep him in good humor by
frequent offerings. He is supposed also to have great influence with the
winged spirit, their sovereign protector and benefactor. They implore
him, therefore, to act as their interpreter, and procure them all
desirable things, such as success in fishing and hunting, abundance of
game, fleet horses, obedient wives, and male children.
These Indians have likewise their priests, or conjurers, or medicine
men, who pretend to be in the confidence of the deities, and the
expounders and enforcers of their will. Each of these medicine men has
his idols carved in wood, representing the spirits of the air and of the
fire, under some rude and grotesque form of a horse, a bear, a beaver,
or other quadruped, or that of bird or fish. These idols are hung round
with amulets and votive offerings, such as beavers’ teeth, and bears’
and eagles’ claws.
When any chief personage is on his death-bed, or dangerously ill, the
medicine men are sent for. Each brings with him his idols, with which
he retires into a canoe to hold a consultation. As doctors are prone to
disagree, so these medicine men have now and then a violent altercation
as to the malady of the patient, or the treatment of it. To settle this
they beat their idols soundly against each other; whichever first loses
a tooth or a claw is considered as confuted, and his votary retires from
the field. Polygamy is not only allowed, but considered honorable, and
the greater number of wives a man can maintain, the more important is he
in the eyes of the tribe. The first wife, however, takes rank of all
the others, and is considered mistress of the house. Still the domestic
establishment is liable to jealousies and cabals, and the lord and
master has much difficulty in maintaining harmony in his jangling
household.
In the manuscript from which we draw many of these particulars, it is
stated that he who exceeds his neighbors in the number of his wives,
male children, and slaves, is elected chief of the village; a title to
office which we do not recollect ever before to have met with.
Feuds are frequent among these tribes, but are not very deadly. They
have occasionally pitched battles, fought on appointed days, and at
specific places, which are generally the banks of a rivulet. The adverse
parties post themselves on the opposite sides of the stream, and at such
distances that the battles often last a long while before any blood
is shed. The number of killed and wounded seldom exceed half a dozen.
Should the damage be equal on each side, the war is considered as
honorably concluded; should one party lose more than the other, it
is entitled to a compensation in slaves or other property, otherwise
hostilities are liable to be renewed at a future day. They are also
given to predatory inroads into the territories of their enemies, and
sometimes of their friendly neighbors. Should they fall upon a band of
inferior force, or upon a village, weakly defended, they act with the
ferocity of true poltroons, slaying all the men, and carrying off the
women and children as slaves. As to the property, it is packed upon
horses which they bring with them for the purpose. They are mean and
paltry as warriors, and altogether inferior in heroic qualities to the
savages of the buffalo plains on the east side of the mountains.
A great portion of their time is passed in revelry, music, dancing, and
gambling. Their music scarcely deserves the name; the instruments being
of the rudest kind. Their singing is harsh and discordant; the songs
are chiefly extempore, relating to passing circumstances, the persons
present, or any trifling object that strikes the attention of the
singer. They have several kinds of dances, some of them lively and
pleasing. The women are rarely permitted to dance with the men, but form
groups apart, dancing to the same instrument and song.
They have a great passion for play, and a variety of games. To such a
pitch of excitement are they sometimes roused, that they gamble away
everything they possess, even to their wives and children. They are
notorious thieves, also, and proud of their dexterity. He who is
frequently successful, gains much applause and popularity; but the
clumsy thief, who is detected in some bungling attempt, is scoffed at
and despised, and sometimes severely punished.
Such are a few leading characteristics of the natives in the
neighborhood of Astoria. They appear to us inferior in many respects to
the tribes east of the mountains, the bold rovers of the prairies; and
to partake much of Esquimaux character; elevated in some degree by a
more genial climate and more varied living style.
The habits of traffic engendered at the cataracts of the Columbia, have
had their influence along the coast. The Chinooks and other Indians
at the mouth of the river, soon proved themselves keen traders, and in
their early dealings with the Astorians never hesitated to ask three
times what they considered the real value of an article. They were
inquisitive, also, in the extreme, and impertinently intrusive; and
were prone to indulge in scoffing and ridicule at the expense of the
strangers.
In one thing, however, they showed superior judgment and self-command to
most of their race; this was, in their abstinence from ardent spirits,
and the abhorrence and disgust with which they regarded a drunkard. On
one occasion a son of Comcomly had been induced to drink freely at the
factory, and went home in a state of intoxication, playing all kinds of
mad pranks, until he sank into a stupor, in which he remained for
two days. The old chieftain repaired to his friend, M’Dougal, with
indignation flaming in his countenance, and bitterly reproached him for
having permitted his son to degrade himself into a beast, and to render
himself an object of scorn and laughter to his slave.