their earliest infancy, they are besmeared from head to foot, there is
great reason to believe that their colour would have differed but little
from such of the labouring Europeans, as are constantly exposed to the
inclemency and alterations of the weather.' _Vancouver's Voy._, vol.
ii., p. 262. 'Between the olive and the copper.' _Mackenzie's Voy._, pp.
370-1. 'Their complexion, when they are washed free from paint, is as
white as that of the people of the S. of Europe.' _Scouler_, in _Lond.
Geog. Soc., Jour._, vol. xi., p. 218. Skin 'nearly as white as ours.'
_Poole's Q. Char. Isl._, pp. 314-5. 'Of a remarkable light color.'
_Bendel's Alex. Arch._, p. 29. 'Fairer in complexion than the
Vancouverians.' 'Their young women's skins are as clear and white as
those of Englishwomen.' _Sproat's Scenes_, pp. 23-4. 'Fair in
complexion, sometimes with ruddy cheeks.' _Hale's Ethnog._, in _U. S.
Ex. Ex._, vol. vi., p. 197. 'De buen semblante, color blanco y
bermejos.' _Crespi_, in _Doc. Hist. Mex._, s. iv., vol. vi., p. 646.
[239] Tolmie mentions several instances of the kind, and states that
'amongst the Hydah or Queen Charlotte Island tribes, exist a family of
coarse, red-haired, light-brown eyed, square-built people,
short-sighted, and of fair complexion.' _Lord's Nat._, vol. ii., pp.
229-30.
[240] _Mackenzie's Voy._, pp. 322-3, 371; _Vancouver's Voy._, vol. ii.,
p. 370; _Dunn's Oregon_, p. 283; _Poole's Q. Char. Isl._, p. 315.
[241] _Scouler_, in _Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour._, vol. xi., p. 218; _Poole's
Q. Char. Isl._, p. 74. 'What is very unusual among the aborigines of
America, they have thick beards, which appear early in life.' _Hale's
Ethnog._, in _U. S. Ex. Ex._, vol. vi., p. 197.
[242] 'After the age of puberty, their bodies, in their natural state,
are covered in the same manner as those of the Europeans. The men,
indeed, esteem a beard very unbecoming, and take great pains to get rid
of it, nor is there any ever to be perceived on their faces, except when
they grow old, and become inattentive to their appearance. Every crinous
efflorescence on the other parts of the body is held unseemly by them,
and both sexes employ much time in their extirpation. The Nawdowessies,
and the remote nations, pluck them out with bent pieces of hard wood,
formed into a kind of nippers; whilst those who have communication with
Europeans procure from them wire, which they twist into a screw or worm;
applying this to the part, they press the rings together, and with a
sudden twitch draw out all the hairs that are inclosed between them.'
_Carver's Trav._, p. 225.
[243] _Scouler_, in _Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour._, vol. xi., p. 220.
[244] _Mackenzie's Voy._, pp. 370-1; _Lord's Nat._, vol. ii., p. 226;
_Dunn's Oregon_, p. 287.
[245] _Lord's Nat._, vol. ii., p. 232; _Scouler_, in _Lond. Geog. Soc.,
Jour._, vol. xi., pp. 218, 220, 223. 'The most northern of these
Flat-head tribes is the Hautzuk.' _Schoolcraft's Arch._, vol. ii., p.
325.
[246] _Simpson's Overland Journ._, vol. i., pp. 204, 233. 'This wooden
ornament seems to be wore by all the sex indiscriminately, whereas at
Norfolk Sound it is confined to those of superior rank.' _Dixon's Voy._,
pp. 225, 208, with a cut. A piece of brass or copper is first put in,
and 'this corrodes the lacerated parts, and by consuming the flesh
gradually increases the orifice.' _Vancouver's Voy._, vol. ii., pp.
279-80, 408. _Scouler_, in _Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour._, vol. xi., p. 218;
_Dunn's Oregon_, pp. 276, 279; _Crespi_, in _Doc. Hist. Mex._, s. iv.,
vol. vi., p. 651; _Cornwallis' New El Dorado_, p. 106; _Catlin's N. Am.
Ind._, vol. ii., p. 113, with plate.
[247] _Mayne's B. C._, pp. 281-2; _Poole's Q. Char. Isl._, pp. 75, 311;
_Barrett-Lennard's Trav._, pp. 45-6; _Dunn's Oregon_, pp. 279, 285.
[248] _Poole's Q. Char. Isl._, pp. 82, 106, 310, 322-3; _Mayne's B. C._,
pp. 282, 283; _Dunn's Oregon_, p. 251.
[249] _Mayne's B. C._, p. 282; _Dunn's Oregon_, pp. 251, 276, 291;
_Parker's Explor. Tour_, p. 263; _Poole's Q. Char. Isl._, p. 310. 'The
men habitually go naked, but when they go off on a journey they wear a
blanket.' _Reed's Nar._ 'Cuero de nutrias y lobo marino ... sombreros de
junco bien tejidos con la copa puntiaguda.' _Crespi_, in _Doc. Hist.
Mex._, s. iv., vol. vi., p. 646.
[250] _Dunn's Oregon_, pp. 253, 276-7; _Catlin's N. Am. Ind._, vol. ii.,
p. 113.
[251] At Salmon River, 52° 58´, 'their dress consists of a single robe
tied over the shoulders, falling down behind, to the heels, and before,
a little below the knees, with a deep fringe round the bottom. It is
generally made of the bark of the cedar tree, which they prepare as fine
as hemp; though some of these garments are interwoven with strips of the
sea-otter skin, which give them the appearance of a fur on one side.
Others have stripes of red and yellow threads fancifully introduced
towards the borders.' Clothing is laid aside whenever convenient. 'The
women wear a close fringe hanging down before them about two feet in
length, and half as wide. When they sit down they draw this between
their thighs.' _Mackenzie's Voy._, pp. 322-3, 371; _Vancouver's Voy._,
vol. ii., pp. 280, 339.
[252] A house 'erected on a platform, ... raised and supported near
thirty feet from the ground by perpendicular spars of a very large size;
the whole occupying a space of about thirty-five by fifteen (yards), was
covered in by a roof of boards lying nearly horizontal, and parallel to
the platform; it seemed to be divided into three different houses, or
rather apartments, each having a separate access formed by a long tree
in an inclined position from the platform to the ground, with notches
cut in it by way of steps, about a foot and a half asunder.'
_Vancouver's Voy._, vol. ii., p. 274. See also pp. 137, 267-8, 272, 284.
'Their summer and winter residences are built of split plank, similar to
those of the Chenooks.' _Parker's Explor. Tour_, p. 263. 'Ils habitent
dans des loges de soixante pieds de long, construites avec des troncs de
sapin et recouvertes d'écorces d'arbres.' _Mofras_, _Explor._, tom. ii.,
p. 337. 'Their houses are neatly constructed, standing in a row; having
large images, cut out of wood, resembling idols. The dwellings have all
painted fronts, showing imitations of men and animals. Attached to their
houses most of them have large potatoe gardens.' _Dunn's Oregon_, pp.
293-4. See also, pp. 251-2, 273-4, 290; _Lord's Nat._, vol. i., p. 89;
vol. ii., pp. 253, 255, with cuts on p. 255 and frontispiece. 'Near the
house of the chief I observed several oblong squares, of about twenty
feet by eight. They were made of thick cedar boards, which were joined
with so much neatness, that I at first thought they were one piece. They
were painted with hieroglyphics, and figures of different animals,'
probably for purposes of devotion, as was 'a large building in the
middle of the village.... The ground-plot was fifty feet by forty-five;
each end is formed by four stout posts, fixed perpendicularly in the
ground. The corner ones are plain, and support a beam of the whole
length, having three intermediate props on each side, but of a larger
size, and eight or nine feet in height. The two centre posts, at each
end, are two and a half feet in diameter, and carved into human figures,
supporting two ridge poles on their heads, twelve feet from the ground.
The figures at the upper part of this square represent two persons, with
their hands upon their knees, as if they supported the weight with pain
and difficulty: the others opposite to them stand at their ease, with
their hands resting on their hips.... Posts, poles, and figures, were
painted red and black, but the sculpture of these people is superior to
their painting.' _Mackenzie's Voy._, p. 331. See also pp. 307, 318,
328-30, 339, 345; _Poole's Q. Char. Isl._, pp. 111, 113-4; _Reed's
Nar._; _Marchand_, _Voy._, tom. ii., pp. 127-31.
[253] On food of the Haidahs and the methods of procuring it, see
_Lord's Nat._, vol. i., pp. 41, 152; _Mackenzie's Voy._, pp. 306,
313-14, 319-21, 327, 333, 339, 369-70; _Poole's Q. Char. Isl._, pp. 148,
284-5, 315-16; _Vancouver's Voy._, vol. ii., p. 273; _Dunn's Oregon_,
pp. 251, 267, 274, 290-1; _Mofras_, _Explor._, tom. ii., p. 337;
_Pemberton's Vancouver Island_, p. 23; _Parker's Explor. Tour_, p. 263;
_Reed's Nar._
[254] _Vancouver's Voy._, vol. ii., p. 339; _Poole's Q. Char. Isl._, p.
316; _Mackenzie's Voy._, p. 372-3. 'Once I saw a party of Kaiganys of
about two hundred men returning from war. The paddles of the warriors
killed in the fight were lashed upright in their various seats, so that
from a long distance the number of the fallen could be ascertained; and
on each mast of the canoes--and some of them had three--was stuck the
head of a slain foe.' _Bendel's Alex. Arch._, p. 30.
[255] The Kaiganies 'are noted for the beauty and size of their cedar
canoes, and their skill in carving. Most of the stone pipes, inlaid with
fragments of Haliotis or pearl shells, so common in ethnological
collections, are their handiwork. The slate quarry from which the stone
is obtained is situated on Queen Charlotte's Island.' _Dall's Alaska_,
p. 411. The Chimsyans 'make figures in stone dressed like Englishmen;
plates and other utensils of civilization, ornamented pipe stems and
heads, models of houses, stone flutes, adorned with well-carved figures
of animals. Their imitative skill is as noticeable as their dexterity in
carving.' _Sproat's Scenes_, p. 317. The supporting posts of their
probable temples were carved into human figures, and all painted red and
black, 'but the sculpture of these people (52° 40´) is superior to their
painting.' _Mackenzie's Voy._, pp. 330-1; see pp. 333-4. 'One man (near
Fort Simpson) known as the Arrowsmith of the north-east coast, had gone
far beyond his compeers, having prepared very accurate charts of most
parts of the adjacent shores.' _Simpson's Overland Journ._, vol. i., p.
207. 'The Indians of the Northern Family are remarkable for their
ingenuity and mechanical dexterity in the construction of their canoes,
houses, and different warlike or fishing implements. They construct
drinking-vessels, tobacco-pipes, &c., from a soft argillaceous stone,
and these articles are remarkable for the symmetry of their form, and
the exceedingly elaborate and intricate figures which are carved upon
them. With respect to carving and a faculty for imitation, the Queen
Charlotte's Islanders are equal to the most ingenious of the Polynesian
Tribes.' _Scouler_, in _Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour._, vol. xi., p. 218. 'Like
the Chinese, they imitate literally anything that is given them to do;
so that if you give them a cracked gun-stock to copy, and do not warn
them, they will in their manufacture repeat the blemish. Many of their
slate-carvings are very good indeed, and their designs most curious.'
_Mayne's B. C._, p. 278. See also, _Dunn's Oregon_, p. 293; _Mofras_,
_Explor._, tom. ii., p. 337, and plate p. 387. The Skidagates 'showed me
beautifully wrought articles of their own design and make, and amongst
them some flutes manufactured from an unctuous blue slate.... The two
ends were inlaid with lead, giving the idea of a fine silver mounting.
Two of the keys perfectly represented frogs in a sitting posture, the
eyes being picked out with burnished lead.... It would have done credit
to a European modeller.' _Poole's Q. Char. Isl._, p. 258. 'Their talent
for carving has made them famous far beyond their own country.'
_Bendel's Alex. Arch._, p. 29. A square wooden box, holding one or two
bushels, is made from three pieces, the sides being from one piece so
mitred as to bend at the corners without breaking. 'During their
performance of this character of labor, (carving, etc.) their
superstitions will not allow any spectator of the operator's work.'
_Reed's Nar._; _Ind. Life_, p. 96. 'Of a very fine and hard slate they
make cups, plates, pipes, little images, and various ornaments, wrought
with surprising elegance and taste.' _Hale's Ethnog._, in _U. S. Ex.
Ex._, vol. vi., p. 197. 'Ils peignent aussi avec le même goût.' _Rossi_,
_Souvenirs_, p. 298; _Anderson_, in _Hist. Mag._, vol. vii., pp. 74-5.
[256] _Mackenzie's Voy._, p. 338; _Lord's Nat._, vol. i., p. 63; vol.
ii., pp. 215-17, 254, 258; _Dunn's Oregon_, pp. 251, 253, 291, 293.
'They boil the cedar root until it becomes pliable to be worked by the
hand and beaten with sticks, when they pick the fibres apart into
threads. The warp is of a different material--sinew of the whale, or
dried kelp-thread.' _Reed's Nar._ 'Petatito de vara en cuadro bien
vistoso, tejido de palma fina de dos colores blanco y negro que tejido
en cuadritos.' _Crespi_, in _Doc. Hist. Mex._, s. iv., vol. vi., pp.
647, 650-1.
[257] _Poole's Q. Char. Isl._, p. 269, and cuts on pp. 121, 291;
_Mackenzie's Voy._, p. 335; _Simpson's Overland Journ._, vol. i., p.
204; _Vancouver's Voy._, vol. ii., p. 303; _Sutil y Mexicana_, _Viage_,
p. cxxv; _Lord's Nat._, vol. i., p. 174; _Reed's Nar._; _Catlin's N. Am.
Ind._, vol. ii., p. 113, with plate. The Bellabellahs 'promised to
construct a steam-ship on the model of ours.... Some time after this
rude steamer appeared. She was from 20 to 30 feet long, all in one
piece--a large tree hollowed out--resembling the model of our steamer.
She was black, with painted ports; decked over; and had paddles painted
red, and Indians under cover, to turn them round. The steersman was not
seen. She was floated triumphantly, and went at the rate of three miles
an hour. They thought they had nearly come up to the point of external
structure; but then the enginery baffled them; and this they thought
they could imitate in time, by perseverance, and the helping
illumination of the Great Spirit.' _Dunn's Oregon_, p. 272. See also, p.
291. 'A canoe easily distanced the champion boat of the American Navy,
belonging to the man-of-war _Saranac_.' _Bendel's Alex. Arch._, p. 29.
[258] _Scouler_, in _Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour._, vol. xi., p. 219;
_Macfie's B. C._, pp. 429, 437, 458; _Simpson's Overland Journ._, vol.
i., p. 206; _Lord's Nat._, vol. i., p. 174; _Anderson_, in _Hist. Mag._,
vol. vii., p. 74; _Dunn's Oregon_, pp. 279, 281-3, 292; _Sutil y
Mexicana_, _Viage_, p. cxxv.
[259] _Mackenzie's Voy._, pp. 374-5; _Tolmie and Anderson_, in _Lord's
Nat._, vol. ii., pp. 240-2, 235; _Macfie's B. C._, p. 429; _Simpson's
Overland Journ._, vol. i., p. 205; _Dixon's Voy._, p. 227. 'There exists
among them a regular aristocracy.' 'The chiefs are always of
unquestionable birth, and generally count among their ancestors men who
were famous in battle and council.' 'The chief is regarded with all the
reverence and respect which his rank, his birth, and his wealth can
claim,' but 'his power is by no means unlimited.' _Bendel's Alex.
Arch._, p. 30.
[260] _Dunn's Oregon_, pp. 273-4, 283; _Parker's Explor. Tour_, p. 263;
_Bendel's Alex. Arch._, p. 30; _Kane's Wand._, p. 220.
[261] 'Polygamy is universal, regulated simply by the facilities for
subsistence.' _Anderson_, in _Lord's Nat._, vol. ii., p. 235. See pp.
231-5, and vol. i., pp. 89-90. The women 'cohabit almost promiscuously
with their own tribe though rarely with other tribes.' Poole, spending
the night with a chief, was given the place of honor, under the same
blanket with the chief's daughter--and her father. _Poole's Q. Char.
Isl._, pp. 312-15, 115-16, 155. 'The Indians are in general very jealous
of their women.' _Dixon's Voy._, p. 225-6. 'Tous les individus d'une
famille couchent pêle-mêle sur le sol plancheyé de l'habitation.'
_Marchand_, _Voy._, tom. ii., p. 144. 'Soon after I had retired ... the
chief paid me a visit to insist on my going to his bed-companion, and
taking my place himself.' _Mackenzie's Voy._, p. 331. See pp. 300,
371-2. _Parker's Explor. Tour_, p. 263. 'On the weddingday they have a
public feast, at which they dance and sing.' _Dunn's Oregon_, pp. 252-3,
289-90. 'According to a custom of the Bellabollahs, the widow of the
deceased is transferred to his brother's harem.' _Simpson's Overland
Journ._, vol. i., p. 203-4. 'The temporary present of a wife is one of
the greatest honours that can be shown there to a guest.' _Sproat's
Scenes_, p. 95.
[262] 'The Queen Charlotte Islanders surpass any people that I ever saw
in passionate addiction' to gambling. _Poole's Q. Char. Isl._, p.
318-20. See pp. 186-87, 232-33. _Mackenzie's Voy._, pp. 288, 311. The
Sebassas are great gamblers, and 'resemble the Chinooks in their games.'
_Dunn's Oregon_, pp. 25-7, 252-9, 281-3, 293. 'The Indian mode of
dancing bears a strange resemblance to that in use among the Chinese.'
_Poole's Q. Char. Isl._, p. 82. _Lord's Nat._, vol. ii., p. 258;
_Parker's Explor. Tour_, p. 263; _Ind. Life_, p. 63.
[263] _Scouler_, in _Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour._, vol. xi., p. 223;
_Duncan_, in _Mayne's B. C._, pp. 285-8, and in _Macfie's Vanc. Isl._,
pp. 434-7; _White's Oregon_, p. 246; _Simpson's Overland Journ._, vol.
i., p. 205; _Hutchings' Cal. Mag._, Nov. 1860, pp. 222-8; _Ind. Life_,
p. 68; _Reed's Nar._; _Anderson_, in _Hist. Mag._, vol. vii., p. 79.
[264] The Indians of Millbank Sound became exasperated against me, 'and
they gave me the name of "_Schloapes_," i. e., "_stingy_:" and when near
them, if I should spit, they would run and try to take up the spittle in
something; for, according as they afterwards informed me, they intended
to give it to their doctor or magician; and he would charm my life
away.' _Dunn's Oregon_, pp. 246-7. See pp. 279-80; _Poole's Q. Char.
Isl._, pp. 320-1.
[265] _Lord's Nat._, vol. ii., pp. 32-4, 53-4; _Dunn's Oregon_, pp. 367,
274-5.
[266] _Vancouver's Voy._, vol. ii., pp. 385-9.
[267] _Poole's Q. Char. Isl._, pp. 109-10, 116; _Anderson_, in _Lord's
Nat._, vol. ii., p. 242.
[268] At about 52° 40´, between the Fraser River and the Pacific,
Mackenzie observed the treatment of a man with a bad ulcer on his back.
They blew on him and whistled, pressed their fingers on his stomach, put
their fists into his mouth, and spouted water into his face. Then he was
carried into the woods, laid down in a clear spot, and a fire was built
against his back while the doctor scarified the ulcer with a blunt
instrument. _Voy._, pp. 331-33; _Dunn's Oregon_, pp. 258, 284; _Poole's
Q. Char. Isl._, pp. 316-18; _Duncan_, in _Mayne's B. C._, 289-91;
_Reed's Nar._, in _Olympia Wash. Stand._, _May 16, 1868_.
[269] At Boca de Quadra, Vancouver found 'a box about three feet square,
and a foot and a half deep, in which were the remains of a human
skeleton, which appeared from the confused situation of the bones,
either to have been cut to pieces, or thrust with great violence into
this small space.' ... 'I was inclined to suppose that this mode of
depositing their dead is practised only in respect to certain persons of
their society.' _Voy._, vol. ii., p. 351. At Cape Northumberland, in 54°
45´, 'was a kind of vault formed partly by the natural cavity of the
rocks, and partly by the rude artists of the country. It was lined with
boards, and contained some fragments of warlike implements, lying near a
square box covered with mats and very curiously corded down.' _Id._, p.
370; _Cornwallis' New El Dorado_, pp. 106-7. On Queen Charlotte Islands,
'Ces monumens sont de deux espèces: les premiers et les plus simples ne
sont composés que d'un seul pilier d'environ dix pieds d'élévation et
d'un pied de diamètre, sur le sommet duquel sont fixées des planches
formant un plateau; et dans quelques-uns ce plateau est supporté par
deux piliers. Le corps, déposé sur cette plate-forme, est recouvert de
mousse et de grosses pierres' ... 'Les mausolées de la seconde espèce
sont plus composés: quatre poteaux plantés en terre, et élevés de deux
pieds seulement au-dessus du sol portent un sarcophage travaillé avec
art, et hermétiquement clos.' _Marchand_, _Voy._, tom. ii., pp. 135-6.
'According to another account it appeared that they actually bury their
dead; and when another of the family dies, the remains of the person who
was last interred, are taken from the grave and burned.' _Mackenzie's
Voy._, p. 308. See also pp. 374, 295-98; _Simpson's Overland Journ._,
vol. i., pp. 203-4; _Dunn's Oregon_, pp. 272, 276, 280; _Mayne's B. C._,
pp. 272, 293; _Lord's Nat._, vol. ii., p. 235; _Macfie's Vanc. Isl._,
pp. 440-41; _Dall's Alaska_, p. 417.
[270] On the coast, at 52° 12´, Vancouver found them 'civil,
good-humoured and friendly.' At Cascade Canal, about 52° 24´, 'in
traffic they proved themselves to be keen traders, but acted with the
strictest honesty;' at Point Hopkins 'they all behaved very civilly and
honestly;' while further north, at Observatory Inlet, 'in their
countenances was expressed a degree of savage ferocity infinitely
surpassing any thing of the sort I had before observed,' presents being
scornfully rejected. _Voy._, vol. ii., pp. 281, 269, 303, 337. The
Kitswinscolds on Skeena River 'are represented as a very superior race,
industrious, sober, cleanly, and peaceable.' _Ind. Aff. Rept._, 1869, p.
533. The Chimsyans are fiercer and more uncivilized than the Indians of
the South. _Sproat's Scenes_, p. 317. 'Finer and fiercer men than the
Indians of the South.' _Mayne's B. C._, p. 250. 'They appear to be of a
friendly disposition, but they are subject to sudden gusts of passion,
which are as quickly composed; and the transition is instantaneous, from
violent irritation to the most tranquil demeanor. Of the many tribes ...
whom I have seen, these appear to be the most susceptible of
civilization.' _Mackenzie's Voy._, p. 375, 322. At Stewart's Lake the
natives, whenever there is any advantage to be gained are just as
readily tempted to betray each other as to deceive the colonists.
_Macfie's Vanc. Isl._, pp. 466-68, 458-59; _Lord's Nat._, vol. i., p.
174. A Kygarnie chief being asked to go to America or England, refused
to go where even chiefs were slaves--that is, had duties to
perform--while he at home was served by slaves and wives. The Sebassas
'are more active and enterprising than the Milbank tribes, but the
greatest thieves and robbers on the coast.' _Dunn's Oregon_, p. 287,
273. 'All these visitors of Fort Simpson are turbulent and fierce. Their
broils, which are invariably attended with bloodshed, generally arise
from the most trivial causes.' _Simpson's Overland Journ._, vol. i., p.
206. The Kygarnies 'are very cleanly, fierce and daring.' The islanders,
'when they visit the mainland, they are bold and treacherous, and always
ready for mischief.' _Scouler_, in _Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour._, vol. xi.,
p. 219. The Kygarnies 'are a very fierce, treacherous race, and have not
been improved by the rum and fire-arms sold to them.' _Dall's Alaska_,
p. 411. Queen Charlotte Islanders look upon white men as superior
beings, but conceal the conviction. The Skidagates are the most
intelligent race upon the islands. Wonderfully acute in reading
character, yet clumsy in their own dissimulation.... 'Not revengeful or
blood-thirsty, except when smarting under injury or seeking to avert an
imaginary wrong.' ... 'I never met with a really brave man among them.'
The Acoltas have 'given more trouble to the Colonial Government than any
other along the coast.' _Poole's Q. Char. Isl._, pp. 83, 151-2, 185-6,
208, 214, 233, 235, 245, 257, 271-72, 289, 309, 320-21. 'Of a cruel and
treacherous disposition.' _Hale's Ethnog._, in _U. S. Ex. Ex._, vol.
vi., p. 197. They will stand up and fight Englishmen with their fists.
_Sproat's Scenes_, p. 23. Intellectually superior to the Puget Sound
tribes. _Reed's Nar._ 'Mansos y de buena indole.' _Crespi_, in _Doc.
Hist. Mex._, s. iv., vol. vi., p. 646. On Skeena River, 'the worst I
have seen in all my travels.' _Downie_, in _B. C. Papers_, vol. iii., p.
73. 'As rogues, where all are rogues,' preëminence is awarded them.
_Anderson_, in _Hist. Mag._, vol. vii., pp. 74-5.
[271] 'On my arrival at this inlet, I had honoured it with the name of
King George's Sound; but I afterward found, that it is called Nootka by
the natives.' _Cook's Voy. to Pac._, vol. ii., p. 288. 'No Aht Indian of
the present day ever heard of such a name as Nootkah, though most of
them recognize the other words in Cook's account of their language.'
_Sproat's Scenes_, p. 315. Sproat conjectures that the name may have
come from _Noochee! Noochee!_ the Aht word for mountain. A large
proportion of geographical names originate in like manner through
accident.
[272] For full particulars see TRIBAL BOUNDARIES at end of this chapter.
[273] 'The Newatees, mentioned in many books, are not known on the west
coast. Probably the Klah-oh-quahts are meant.' _Sproat's Scenes_, p.
314.
[274] There are no Indians in the interior. _Fitzwilliam's Evidence_, in
_Hud. B. Co., Rept. Spec. Com._, 1857, p. 115.
[275] The same name is also applied to one of the _Sound_ nations across
the strait in Washington.
[276] The Teets or Haitlins are called by the Tacullies, '_Sa-Chinco_'
strangers. _Anderson_, in _Hist. Mag._, vol. vii., pp. 73-4.
[277] Sproat's division into nations, 'almost as distinct as the
nations of Europe' is into the Quoquoulth (Quackoll) or Fort Rupert,
in the north and north-east; the Kowitchan, or Thongeith, on the east
and south; Aht on the west coast; and Komux, a distinct tribe also on
the east of Vancouver. 'These tribes of the Ahts are not confederated;
and I have no other warrant for calling them a nation than the fact of
their occupying adjacent territories, and having the same
superstitions and language.' _Sproat's Scenes_, pp. 18-19, 311. Mayne
makes by language four nations; the first including the Cowitchen in
the harbor and valley of the same name north of Victoria, with the
Nanaimo and Kwantlum Indians about the mouth of the Fraser River, and
the Songhies; the second comprising the Comoux, Nanoose, Nimpkish,
Quawguult, etc., on Vancouver, and the Squawmisht, Sechelt, Clahoose,
Ucle-tah, Mama-lil-a-culla, etc., on the main, and islands, between
Nanaimo and Fort Rupert; the third and fourth groups include the
twenty-four west-coast tribes who speak two distinct languages, not
named. _Mayne's Vanc. Isl._, pp. 243-51. Grant's division gives four
languages on Vancouver, viz., the Quackoll, from Clayoquot Sound north
to C. Scott, and thence S. to Johnson's Strait; the Cowitchin, from
Johnson's Strait to Sanetch Arm; the Tsclallum, or Clellum, from
Sanetch to Soke, and on the opposite American shore; and the Macaw,
from Patcheena to Clayoquot Sound. 'These four principal languages ...
are totally distinct from each other, both in sound, formation, and
modes of expression.' _Grant_, in _Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour._, vol.
xxvii., p. 295. Scouler attempts no division into nations or
languages. _Lond. Geo. Soc., Jour._, vol. xi., pp. 221, 224. Mofras
singularly designates them as one nation of 20,000 souls, under the
name of _Ouakich_. _Mofras_, _Explor._, tom. ii., p. 343. Recent
investigations have shown a somewhat different relationship of these
languages, which I shall give more particularly in a subsequent
volume.
[278] See _Sproat's Scenes_, pp. 272-86, on the 'effects upon savages of
intercourse with civilized men.' 'Hitherto, (1856) in Vancouver Island,
the tribes who have principally been in intercourse with the white man,
have found it for their interest to keep up that intercourse in amity
for the purposes of trade, and the white adventurers have been so few in
number, that they have not at all interfered with the ordinary pursuits
of the natives.' _Grant_, in _Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour._, vol. xxvii., p.
303.
[279] 'Muy robustos y bien apersonados.' 'De mediana estatura, excepto
los Xefes cuya corpulencia se hace notar.' _Sutil y Mexicana_, _Viage_,
pp. 55, 124. 'The young princess was of low stature, very plump.'
_Vancouver's Voy._, vol. i., p. 395. Macquilla, the chief was five feet
eight inches, with square shoulders and muscular limbs; his son was five
feet nine inches. _Belcher's Voy._, vol. i., pp. 110-12. The seaboard
tribes have 'not much physical strength.' _Poole's Q. Char. Isl._, p.
73. 'La gente dicen ser muy robusta.' _Perez_, _Rel. del Viage, MS._, p.
20. 'Leur taille est moyenne.' _Mofras_, _Explor._, tom. ii., p. 343.
'In general, robust and well proportioned.' _Meares' Voy._, p. 249.
Under the common stature, pretty full and plump, but not muscular--never
corpulent, old people lean--short neck and clumsy body; women nearly the
same size as the men. _Cook's Voy. to Pac._, vol. ii., pp. 301-3. 'Of
smaller stature than the Northern Tribes; they are usually fatter and
more muscular.' _Scouler_, in _Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour._, vol. xi., p.
221. In the north, among the Clayoquots and Quackolls, men are often met
of five feet ten inches and over; on the south coast the stature varies
from five feet three inches to five feet six inches. _Grant_, in _Lond.
Geog. Soc., Jour._, vol. xxvii., p. 297. 'The men are in general from
about five feet six to five feet eight inches in height; remarkably
straight, of a good form, robust and strong.' Only one dwarf was seen.
_Jewitt's Nar._, pp. 60-61. The Klah-oh-quahts are 'as a tribe
physically the finest. Individuals may be found in all the tribes who
reach a height of five feet eleven inches, and a weight of 180 pounds,
without much flesh on their bodies.' Extreme average height: men, five
feet six inches, women, five feet one-fourth inch. 'Many of the men have
well-shaped forms and limbs. None are corpulent.' 'The men generally
have well-set, strong frames, and, if they had pluck and skill, could
probably hold their own in a grapple with Englishmen of the same
stature.' _Sproat's Scenes_, pp. 22-3. 'Rather above the middle stature,
copper-colored and of an athletic make.' _Spark's Life of Ledyard_, p.
71; _Prichard's Researches_, vol. v., p. 442. 'Spare muscular forms.'
_Barrett-Lennard's Trav._, pp. 44; _Gordon's Hist. and Geog. Mem._, pp.
14-22.
[280] Limbs small, crooked, or ill-made; large feet; badly shaped, and
projecting ankles from sitting so much on their hams and knees. _Cook's
Voy. to Pac._, vol. ii., pp. 301-3. 'Their limbs, though stout and
athletic, are crooked and ill-shaped.' _Meares' Voy._, p. 250. 'Ils ont
les membres inférieures légèrement arqués, les chevilles
très-saillantes, et la pointe des pieds tournée en dedans, difformité
qui provient de la manière dont ils sont assis dans leurs canots.'
_Mofras_, _Explor._, tom. ii., pp. 343-4. 'Stunted, and move with a lazy
waddling gait.' _Macfie's Vanc. Isl._, p. 428. 'Skeleton shanks ... not
much physical strength ... bow-legged--defects common to the seaboard
tribes.' _Poole's Q. Char. Isl._, pp. 73-4. All the females of the
Northwest Coast are very short-limbed. 'Raro es el que no tiene muy
salientes los tobillos y las puntas de los pies inclinadas hácia dentro
... y una especie de entumecimiento que se advierte, particularmente en
las mugeres.' _Sutil y Mexicana_, _Viage_, pp. 124, 30, 62-3. They have
great strength in the fingers. _Sproat's Scenes_ p. 33. Women,
short-limbed, and toe in. _Id._, p. 22; _Mayne's B. C._, pp. 282-3. 'The
limbs of both sexes are ill-formed, and the toes turned inwards.' 'The
legs of the women, especially those of the slaves, are often swollen as
if oedematous, so that the leg appears of an uniform thickness from the
ankle to the calf,' from wearing a garter. _Scouler_, in _Lond. Geog.
Soc., Jour._, vol. xi., p. 221.
[281] The different Aht tribes vary in physiognomy somewhat--'faces of the
Chinese and Spanish types may be seen.' 'The face of the Ahts is rather
broad and flat; the mouth and lips of both men and women are large,
though to this there are exceptions, and the cheekbones are broad but
not high. The skull is fairly shaped, the eyes small and long, deep set,
in colour a lustreless inexpressive black, or very dark hazel, none being
blue, grey, or brown.... One occasionally sees an Indian with eyes
distinctly Chinese. The nose ... in some instances is remarkably
well-shaped.' 'The teeth are regular, but stumpy, and are deficient in
enamel at the points,' perhaps from eating sanded salmon. _Sproat's
Scenes_, pp. 19, 27. 'Their faces are large and full, their cheeks high
and prominent, with small black eyes; their noses are broad and flat;
their lips thick, and they have generally very fine teeth, and of the
most brilliant whiteness.' _Meares' Voy._, pp. 249-50; _Barrett-Lennard's
Trav._, p. 44. 'La fisonomia de estos (Nitinats) era differente de la de
los habitantes de Nutka: tenian el cráneo de figura natural, los ojos
chicos muy próximos, cargados los párpados.' Many have a languid look,
but few a stupid appearance. _Sutil y Mexicana_, _Viage_, pp. 28, 30,
62-3, 124. 'Dull and inexpressive eye.' 'Unprepossessing and stupid
countenances.' _Poole's Q. Char. Isl._, pp. 74, 80. The Wickinninish
have 'a much less open and pleasing expression of countenance' than the
Klaizzarts. The Newchemass 'were the most savage looking and ugly men
that I ever saw.' 'The shape of the face is oval; the features are
tolerably regular, the lips being thin and the teeth very white and
even: their eyes are black but rather small, and the nose pretty well
formed, being neither flat nor very prominent.' The women 'are in
general very well-looking, and some quite handsome.' _Jewitt's Nar._,
pp. 76, 77, 61. 'Features that would have attracted notice for their
delicacy and beauty, in those parts of the world where the qualities of
the human form are best understood.' _Meares' Voy._, p. 250. Face round
and full, sometimes broad, with prominent cheek-bones ... falling in
between the temples, the nose flattening at the base, wide nostrils and
a rounded point ... forehead low; eyes small, black and languishing;
mouth round, with large, round, thickish lips; teeth tolerably equal and
well-set, but not very white. Remarkable sameness, a dull phlegmatic
want of expression; no pretensions to beauty among the women. _Cook's
Voy. to Pac._, vol. ii., pp. 301-2. See portraits of Nootkas in
_Belcher's Voy._, vol. i., p. 108; _Cook's Atlas_, pl. 38-9; _Sutil y
Mexicana_, _Viage_, _Atlas_; _Whymper's Alaska_, p. 75. 'Long nose, high
cheek bones, large ugly mouth, very long eyes, and foreheads
villainously low.' 'The women of Vancouver Island have seldom or ever
good features; they are almost invariably pug-nosed; they have however,
frequently a pleasing expression, and there is no lack of intelligence
in their dark hazel eyes.' _Grant_, in _Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour._, vol.
xxvii., pp. 297-8. 'Though without any pretensions to beauty, could not
be considered as disagreeable.' _Vancouver's Voy._, vol. i., p. 395.
'Have the common facial characteristics of low foreheads, high
cheek-bones, aquiline noses, and large mouths.' 'Among some of the
tribes pretty women may be seen.' _Mayne's B. C._, p. 277.
[282] 'Her skin was clean, and being nearly white,' etc. _Vancouver's
Voy._, vol. i., p. 395. 'Reddish brown, like that of a dirty copper
kettle.' Some, when washed, have 'almost a florid complexion.' _Grant_,
in _Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour._, vol. xxvii., pp. 297, 299. 'Brown, somewhat
inclining to a copper cast.' The women are much whiter, 'many of them
not being darker than those in some of the Southern parts of Europe.'
The Newchemass are much darker than the other tribes. _Jewitt's Nar._,
pp. 61, 77. 'Their complexion, though light, has more of a copper hue'
than that of the Haidahs. _Scouler_, in _Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour._, vol.
xi., p. 221. 'Skin white, with the clear complexion of Europe.' _Meares'
Voy._, p. 250. The color hard to tell on account of the paint, but in a
few cases 'the whiteness of the skin appeared almost to equal that of
Europeans; though rather of that pale effete cast ... of our southern
nations.... Their children ... also equalled ours in whiteness.' _Cook's
Voy. to Pac._, vol. ii., p. 303. 'Their complexion is a dull brown,'
darker than the Haidahs. 'Cook and Meares probably mentioned exceptional
cases.' _Sproat's Scenes_, pp. 23-4. 'Tan blancos como el mejor
Español.' _Perez_, _Rel. del Viage, MS._, p. 20. 'Por lo que se puede
inferir del (color) de los niños, parece menos obscuro que el de los
Mexicanos,' but judging by the chiefs' daughters they are wholly white.
_Sutil y Mexicana_, _Viage_, p. 125. 'A dark, swarthy copper-coloured
figure.' _Lord's Nat._, vol. i., p. 143. They 'have lighter complexions
than other aborigines of America.' _Greenhow's Hist. Ogn._, p. 116.
'Sallow complexion, verging towards copper colour.' _Barrett-Lennard's
Trav._, pp. 44-6. Copper-coloured. _Spark's Life of Ledyard_, p. 71.
[283] 'The hair of the natives is never shaven from the head. It is
black or dark brown, without gloss, coarse and lank, but not scanty,
worn long.... Slaves wear their hair short. Now and then, but rarely, a
light-haired native is seen. There is one woman in the Opechisat tribe
at Alberni who had curly, or rather wavy, brown hair. Few grey-haired
men can be noticed in any tribe. The men's beards and whiskers are
deficient, probably from the old alleged custom, now seldom practiced,
of extirpating the hairs with small shells. Several of the Nootkah Sound
natives (Moouchahts) have large moustaches and whiskers.' _Sproat's
Scenes_, pp. 25-7. 'El cabello es largo lacio y grueso, variando su
color entre rubio, obscuro, castaño y negro. La barba sale á los mozos
con la misma regularidad que á los de otros paises, y llega á ser en los
ancianos tan poblada y larga como la de los Turcos; pero los jóvenes
parecen imberbes porque se la arrancan con los dedos, ó mas comunmente
con pinzas formadas de pequeñas conchas.' _Sutil y Mexicana_, _Viage_,
pp. 124-5, 57. 'Hair of the head is in great abundance, very coarse, and
strong; and without a single exception, black, straight and lank.' No
beards at all, or a small thin one on the chin, not from a natural
defect, but from plucking. Old men often have beards. Eyebrows scanty
and narrow. _Cook's Voy. to Pac._, vol. ii., pp. 301-3. 'Neither beard,
whisker, nor moustache ever adorns the face of the redskin.' _Lord's
Nat._, vol. i., p. 143; _Jewitt's Nar._, pp. 61, 75, 77. Hair
'invariably either black or dark brown.' _Grant_, in _Lond. Geog. Soc.,
Jour._, vol. xxvii., p. 297; _Meares' Voy._, p. 250; _Mayne's B. C._,
pp. 277-8; _Macfie's Vanc. Isl._, p. 442; _Spark's Life of Ledyard_, p.
71.
[284] _Cook's Voy. to Pac._, vol. ii., pp. 304-8; _Sutil y Mexicana_,
_Viage_, pp. 126-7; _Sproat's Scenes_, pp. 26-7; _Meares' Voy._, p. 254;
_Macfie's Vanc. Isl._, p. 442; _Jewitt's Nar._, pp. 21, 23, 62, 65,
77-8; _Grant_, in _Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour._, vol. xxvii., p. 297;
_Mayne's B. C._, pp. 277-8; _Barrett-Lennard's Trav._, p. 44.
[285] _Mayne's B. C._, pp. 242, 277, with cut of a child with bandaged
head, and of a girl with a sugar-loaf head, measuring eighteen inches
from the eyes to the summit. _Sproat's Scenes_, pp. 28-30; _Grant_, in
_Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour._, vol. xxvii., p. 298; _Scouler_, in _Lond.
Geog. Soc., Jour._, vol. xi., p. 222; Meares' Voy., p. 249; _Macfie's
Vanc. Isl._, p. 441; _Sutil y Mexicana_, _Viage_, p. 124; _Lord's Nat._,
vol. i., p. 171; vol. ii., p. 103, cut of three skulls of flattened,
conical, and natural form; _Kane's Wand._, p. 241; _Jewitt's Nar._, p.
76; _Schoolcraft's Arch._, vol. ii., p. 325; _Barrett-Lennard's Trav._,
p. 45; _Gordon's Hist. and Geog. Mem._, p. 115.
[286] At Valdes Island, 'the faces of some were made intirely white,
some red, black, or lead colour.' _Vancouver's Voy._, vol. i., pp. 307,
341. At Nuñez Gaona Bay, 'se pintan de encarnado y negro.' _Sutil y
Mexicana_, _Viage_, p. 30. At Nootka Sound, 'Con esta grasa (de ballena)
se untan todo el cuerpo, y despues se pintan con una especie de barniz
compuesto de la misma grasa ó aceyte, y de almagre en términos que
parece este su color natural.' Chiefs only may paint in varied colors,
plebeians being restricted to one.' _Id._, pp. 125-7. 'Many of the
females painting their faces on all occasions, but the men only at set
periods.' Vermilion is obtained by barter. Black, their war and mourning
color, is made by themselves. _Macfie's Vanc. Isl._, p. 442. 'Ces
Indiens enduisent leur corps d'huile de baleine, et se peignent avec des
ocres.' Chiefs only may wear different colors, and figures of animals.
_Mofras_, _Explor._, tom. ii., p. 344. 'Rub their bodies constantly with
a red paint, of a clayey or coarse ochry substance, mixed with oil....
Their faces are often stained with a black, a brighter red, or a white
colour, by way of ornament.... They also strew the brown martial mica
upon the paint, which makes it glitter.' _Cook's Voy. to Pac._, vol.
ii., p. 305. 'A line of vermilion extends from the centre of the
forehead to the tip of the nose, and from this "trunk line" others
radiate over and under the eyes and across the cheeks. Between these red
lines white and blue streaks alternately fill the interstices. A similar
pattern ornaments chest, arms, and back, the frescoing being
artistically arranged to give apparent width to the chest.' _Lord's
Nat._, vol. i., p. 143. 'They paint the face in hideous designs of black
and red (the only colours used), and the parting of the hair is also
coloured red.' _Mayne's B. C._, p. 277. 'At great feasts the faces of
the women are painted red with vermilion or berry-juice, and the men's
faces are blackened with burnt wood. About the age of twenty-five the
women cease to use paint.... Some of the young men streak their faces
with red, but grown-up men seldom now use paint, unless on particular
occasions.... The leader of a war expedition is distinguished by a
streaked visage from his black-faced followers.' _Sproat's Scenes_, p.
27-8. The manner of painting is often a matter of whim. 'The most usual
method is to paint the eye-brows black, in form of a half moon, and the
face red in small squares, with the arms and legs and part of the body
red; sometimes one half of the face is painted red in squares, and the
other black; at others, dotted with red spots, or red and black instead
of squares, with a variety of other devices, such as painting one half
of the face and body red, and the other black.' _Jewitt's Nar._, p. 64;
_Meares' Voy._, p. 252; _Barrett-Lennard's Trav._, p. 46; _Spark's Life
of Ledyard_, p. 71.
[287] 'The habit of tattooing the legs and arms is common to all the
women of Vancouver's Island; the men do not adopt it.' _Grant_, in
_Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour._, vol. xxvii., p. 307. 'No such practice as
tattooing exists among these natives.' _Sproat's Scenes_, p. 27. 'The
ornament on which they appear to set the most value, is the nose-jewel,
if such an appellation may be given to the wooden stick, which some of
them employ for this purpose.... I have seen them projecting not less
than eight or nine inches beyond the face on each side; this is made
fast or secured in its place by little wedges on each side of it.'
_Jewitt's Nar._, pp. 65-6, 75; _Mofras_, _Explor._, tom. ii., p. 344.
_Cook's Voy. to Pac._, vol. ii., pp. 304-8; _Sutil y Mexicana_, _Viage_,
pp. 30, 126-7; _Macfie's Vanc. Isl._, p. 442; _Whymper's Alaska_, pp.
37, 74, with cut of mask. _Mayne's B. C._, p. 268; _Kane's Wand._, pp.
221-2, and illustration of a hair medicine-cap.
[288] 'Their cloaks, which are circular capes with a hole in the centre,
edged with sea-otter skin, are constructed from the inner bark of the
cypress. It turns the rain, is very soft and pliable,' etc. _Belcher's
Voy._, vol. i., p. 112. The usual dress of the Newchemass 'is a
_kootsuck_ made of wolf skin, with a number of the tails attached to it
... hanging from the top to the bottom; though they sometimes wear a
similar mantle of bark cloth, of a much coarser texture than that of
Nootka.' _Jewitt's Nar._, pp. 77-8, 21-3, 56-8, 62-6. 'Their common
dress is a flaxen garment, or mantle, ornamented on the upper edge by a
narrow strip of fur, and at the lower edge, by fringes or tassels. It
passes under the left arm, and is tied over the right shoulder, by a
string before, and one behind, near its middle.... Over this, which
reaches below the knees, is worn a small cloak of the same substance,
likewise fringed at the lower part.... Their head is covered with a cap,
of the figure of a truncated cone, or like a flower-pot, made of fine
matting, having the top frequently ornamented with a round or pointed
knob, or bunch of leathern tassels.' _Cook's Voy. to Pac._, vol. ii., pp.
304-8, 270-1, 280. 'The men's dress is a blanket; the women's a strip of
cloth, or shift, and blanket. The old costume of the natives was the
same as at present, but the material was different.' _Sproat's Scenes_,
pp. 25, 315. 'Their clothing generally consists of skins,' but they have
two other garments of bark or dog's hair. 'Their garments of all kinds
are worn mantlewise, and the borders of them are fringed' with wampum.
_Spark's Life of Ledyard_, pp. 71-2; _Colyer_, in _Ind. Aff. Rept._,
1869, p. 533; _Sutil y Mexicana_, _Viage_, pp. 30-1, 38, 56-7, 126-8;
_Meares' Voy._, pp. 251-4; _Grant_, in _Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour._, vol.
xxvii., p. 297; _Lord's Nat._, vol. i., pp. 143-4; _Mofras_, _Explor._,
tom. ii., pp. 344-5; _Whymper's Alaska_, p. 37; _Greenhow's Hist. Ogn._,
p. 116; _Macfie's Van. Isl._, pp. 431, 443; _Barrett-Lennard's Trav._, p.
46. See portraits in _Cook's Atlas_, _Belcher's Voy._, _Sutil y
Mexicana, Atlas_, and _Whymper's Alaska._
[289] On the east side of Vancouver was a village of thirty-four houses,
arranged in regular streets. The house of the leader 'was distinguished
by three rafters of stout timber raised above the roof, according to the
architecture of Nootka, though much inferior to those I had there seen,
in point of size.' Bed-rooms were separated, and more decency observed
than at Nootka Sound. _Vancouver's Voy._, vol. i., pp. 346-7, with a
view of this village; also pp. 324-5, description of the village on
Desolation Sound; p. 338, on Valdes Island; p. 326, view of village on
Bute Canal; and vol. iii., pp. 310-11, a peculiarity not noticed by
Cook--'immense pieces of timber which are raised, and horizontally
placed on wooden pillars, about eighteen inches above the roof of the
largest houses in that village; one of which pieces of timber was of a
size sufficient to have made a lower mast for a third rate man of war.'
See _Cook's Voy. to Pac._, vol. ii., pp. 281, 313-19, and _Atlas_, plate
40. A sort of a duplicate inside building, with shorter posts, furnishes
on its roof a stage, where all kinds of property and supplies are
stored. _Sproat's Scenes_, pp. 37-43. 'The planks or boards which they
make use of for building their houses, and for other uses, they procure
of different lengths, as occasion requires, by splitting them out, with
hard wooden wedges from pine logs, and afterwards dubbing them down with
their chizzels.' _Jewitt's Nar._, pp. 52-4. Grant states that the Nootka
houses are palisade inclosures formed of stakes or young fir-trees, some
twelve or thirteen feet high, driven into the ground close together,
roofed in with slabs of fir or cedar. _Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour._, vol.
xxvii., p. 299. The Teets have palisaded enclosures. _Anderson_, in
_Hist. Mag._, vol. vii., p. 74. 'The chief resides at the upper end, the
proximity of his relatives to him being according to their degree of
kindred.' _Macfie's Vanc. Isl._, pp. 443-4; _Dunn's Oregon_, p. 243;
_Belcher's Voy._, vol. i., p. 112; _Lord's Nat._, vol. i., pp. 158,
164-5, 167, 320-21; _Seemann's Voy. of Herald_, vol. i., pp. 105-6. The
carved pillars are not regarded by the natives as idols in any sense.
_Sutil y Mexicana_, _Viage_, pp. 128-9, 102; _Barrett-Lennard's Trav._,
pp. 47, 73-4. Some houses eighty by two hundred feet. _Colyer_, in _Ind.
Aff. Rept._, 1869, p. 533; _Mayne's B. C._, p. 296; _Gordon's Hist. and
Geog. Mem._, pp. 120-1.
[290] 'Their heads and their garments swarm with vermin, which, ... we
used to see them pick off with great composure, and eat.' _Cook's Voy.
to Pac._, vol. ii., p. 305. See also pp. 279-80, 318-24. 'Their mode of
living is very simple--their food consisting almost wholly of fish, or
fish spawn fresh or dried, the blubber of the whale, seal, or sea-cow,
muscles, clams, and berries of various kinds; all of which are eaten
with a profusion of train oil.' _Jewitt's Nar._, pp. 58-60, 68-9, 86-8,
94-7, 103. _Sproat's Scenes_, pp. 52-7, 61, 87, 144-9, 216-70. 'The
common business of fishing for ordinary sustenance is carried on by
slaves, or the lower class of people;--While the more noble occupation
of killing the whale and hunting the sea-otter, is followed by none but
the chiefs and warriors.' _Meares' Voy._, p. 258. 'They make use of the
dried fucus giganteus, anointed with oil, for lines, in taking salmon
and sea-otters.' _Belcher's Voy._, vol. i., pp. 112-13. _Sutil y
Mexicana_, _Viage_, pp. 17, 26, 45-6, 59-60, 76, 129-30, 134-5; _Grant_,
in _Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour._, vol. xxvii., pp. 299-300; _Mayne's B. C._,
pp. 252-7; _Macfie's Vanc. Isl._, pp. 165-442; _Simpson's Overland
Journ._, vol. i., p. 239; _Pemberton's Vanc. Isl._, pp. 28-32; _Dunn's
Oregon_, p. 243; _Mofras_, _Explor._, tom. ii., p. 338. The
Sau-kau-lutuck tribe 'are said to live on the edge of a lake, and
subsist principally on deer and bear, and such fish as they can take in
the lake.' _Lord's Nat._, vol. i., pp. 158-9; _Barrett-Lennard's Trav._,
pp. 48, 74-5, 76-7, 85-6, 90-1, 144-50, 197-8; vol. ii., p. 111;
_Cornwallis' New El Dorado_, p. 100; _Forbes' Vanc. Isl._, pp. 54-5;
_Rattray's Vanc. Isl._, pp. 77-8, 82-3; _Hud. Bay Co., Rept. Spec. Com._,
1857, p. 114.
[291] _Sutil y Mexicana_, _Viage_, pp. 57, 63, 78; _Jewitt's Nar._, pp.
78-81; _Vancouver's Voy._, vol. i., p. 307; _Macfie's Vanc. Isl._, p.
443; _Cox's Adven._, vol. i., p. 100. 'The native bow, like the canoe
and paddle, is beautifully formed. It is generally made of yew or
crab-apple wood, and is three and a half feet long, with about two
inches at each end turned sharply backwards from the string. The string
is a piece of dried seal-gut, deer-sinew, or twisted bark. The arrows
are about thirty inches long, and are made of pine or cedar, tipped with
six inches of serrated bone, or with two unbarbed bone or iron prongs. I
have never seen an Aht arrow with a barbed head.' _Sproat's Scenes_, p.
82. 'Having now to a great extent discarded the use of the traditional
tomahawk and spear. Many of these weapons are, however, still preserved
as heirlooms among them.' _Barrett-Lennard's Trav._, p. 42. 'No bows and
arrows.' 'Generally fight hand to hand, and not with missiles.'
_Fitzwilliam's Evidence_, in _Hud. Bay Co. Rept._, 1857, p. 115.
[292] The Ahts 'do not take the scalp of the enemy, but cut off his
head, by three dexterous movements of the knife ... and the warrior who
has taken most heads is most praised and feared.' _Sproat's Scenes_, pp.
186-202. 'Scalp every one they kill.' _Macfie's Vanc. Isl._, p. 470,
443, 467. One of the Nootka princes assured the Spaniards that the
bravest captains ate human flesh before engaging in battle. _Sutil y
Mexicana_, _Viage_, p. 130. The Nittinahts consider the heads of enemies
slain in battle as _spolia opima_. _Whymper's Alaska_, pp. 54, 78;
_Jewitt's Nar._, pp. 120-1; _Lord's Nat._, vol. i., pp. 155-6, 158, 166,
171, vol. ii., p. 251-3. Women keep watch during the night, and tell the
exploits of their nation to keep awake. _Meares' Voy._, p. 267.
_Vancouver's Voy._, vol. i., p. 396; _Grant_, in _Lond. Geog. Soc.,
Jour._, vol. xxvii., p. 296; _Mayne's B. C._, p. 270; _Barrett-Lennard's
Trav._, pp. 41-2, 129-36.
[293] 'They have no seats.... The rowers generally sit on their hams,
but sometimes they make use of a kind of small stool.' _Meares' Voy._,
pp. 263-4. The larger canoes are used for sleeping and eating, being dry
and more comfortable than the houses. _Cook's Voy. to Pac._, vol. ii.,
pp. 319, 327, and _Atlas_, pl. 41. 'The most skillful canoe-makers among
the tribes are the Nitinahts and the Klah-oh-quahts. They make canoes
for sale to other tribes.' 'The baling-dish of the canoes, is always of
one shape--the shape of the gable-roof of a cottage.' _Sproat's Scenes_,
pp. 85, 87-8; _Mayne's B. C._, p. 283, and cut on title-page. Canoes not
in use are hauled up on the beach in front of their villages. _Grant_,
in _Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour._, vol. xxvii., p. 301. 'They keep time to the
stroke of the paddle with their songs.' _Jewitt's Nar._, pp. 69-71, 75;
_Sutil y Mexicana_, _Viage_, pp. 39, 133; _Lord's Nat._, vol. i., p.
144; _Vancouver's Voy._, vol. i., p. 338. Their canoes 'are believed to
supply the pattern after which clipper ships are built.' _Macfie's Vanc.
Isl._, pp. 484, 430. _Barrett-Lennard's Trav._, p. 50. _Colyer_, in
_Ind. Aff. Rept._, 1869, p. 533.
[294] _Cook's Voy. to Pac._, vol. ii., pp. 271, 308, 316, 326, 329-30.
_Sproat's Scenes_, pp. 86-9, 317; _Sutil y Mexicana_, _Viage_, p. 129;
_Lord's Nat._, vol. ii., pp. 257-8, which describes a painted and
ornamented plate of native copper some one and a half by two and a half
feet, kept with great care in a wooden case, also elaborately
ornamented. It was the property of the tribe at Fort Rupert, and was
highly prized, and only brought out on great occasions, though its use
was not discovered. _Macfie's Vanc. Isl._, p. 165.
[295] Woolen cloths of all degrees of fineness, made by hand and worked
in figures, by a method not known. _Cook's Voy. to Pac._, vol. ii., p.
325. _Sutil y Mexicana_, _Viage_, pp. 46, 136; _Lord's Nat._, vol. ii.,
p. 254; _Sproat's Scenes_, pp. 88-9; _Jewitt's Nar._, p. 55; _Macfie's
Vanc. Isl._, pp. 442, 451, 483-5; _Mofras_, _Explor._, tom. ii., p. 344;
_Pemberton's Vanc. Isl._, p. 131; _Cornwallis' New El Dorado_, pp.
99-100. 'The implement used for weaving, (by the Teets) differed in no
apparent respect from the rude loom of the days of the Pharaohs.'
_Anderson_, in _Hist. Mag._, vol. vii., p. 78.
[296] _Sproat's Scenes_, pp. 79-81, 89, 96, 111-13; _Kane's Wand._, pp.
220-1; _Macfie's Vanc. Isl._, pp. 429, 437; _Cook's Voy. to Pac._, vol.
ii., p. 284; _Sutil y Mexicana_, _Viage_, p. 147; _Lord's Nat._, vol.
i., pp. 165-6; _Mayne's B. C._, 263-5.
[297] _Jewitt's Nar._, pp. 78-80; _Sproat's Scenes_, pp. 19, 55, 78-9,
92. Before the adoption of blankets as a currency, they used small
shells from the coast bays for coin, and they are still used by some of
the more remote tribes. _Grant_, in _Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour._, vol.
xxvii., p. 307. 'Their acuteness in barter is remarkable.' _Forbes'
Vanc. Isl._, p. 25.
[298] The Ahts 'divide the year into thirteen months, or rather moons,
and begin with the one that pretty well answers to our November. At the
same time, as their names are applied to each actual new moon as it
appears, they are not, by half a month and more (sometimes), identical
with our calendar months.' _Sproat's Scenes_, pp. 121-4. 'Las personas
mas cultas dividen el año en catorce meses, y cada uno de estos en
veinte dias, agregando luego algunos dias intercalares al fin de cada
mes. El de Julio, que ellos llaman _Satz-tzi-mitl_, y es el primero de
su año, á mas de sus veinte dias ordinarios tiene tantos intercalares
quantos dura la abundancia de lenguados, atunes, etc.' _Sutil y
Mexicana_, _Viage_, pp. 153-4, 148; _Grant_, in _Lond. Geog. Soc.,
Jour._, vol. xxvii., pp. 295, 304; _Lord's Nat._, vol. ii., pp. 242-4.
[299] 'They shew themselves ingenious sculptors. They not only preserve,
with great exactness, the general character of their own faces, but
finish the more minute parts, with a degree of accuracy in proportion,
and neatness in execution.' _Cook's Voy. to Pac._, vol. ii., pp. 326-7,
and _Atlas_, pl. 40; _Lord's Nat._, vol. i., pp. 164-5, vol. ii., pp.
257-8, and cut, p. 103; _Macfie's Vanc. Isl._, pp. 444-7, 484; _Mayne's
B. C._, cut on p. 271.
[300] 'In an Aht tribe of two hundred men, perhaps fifty possess various
degrees of acquired or inherited rank; there may be about as many
slaves; the remainder are independent members.' Some of the
Klah-oh-quahts 'pay annually to their chief certain contributions,
consisting of blankets, skins, etc.' 'A chief's "blue blood" avails not
in a dispute with one of his own people; he must fight his battle like a
common man.' _Sproat's Scenes_, pp. 113-17, 18-20, 226. Cheslakees, a
chief on Johnson's Strait, was inferior but not subordinate in authority
to Maquinna, the famous king at Nootka Sound, but the chief at
Loughborough's Channel claimed to be under Maquinna. _Vancouver's Voy._,
vol. i., pp. 346, 331. 'La dignidad de Tays es hereditaria de padres á
hijos, y pasa regularmente á estos luego que estan en edad de gobernar,
si los padres por ancianidad ú otras causas no pueden seguir mandando.'
'El gobierno de estos naturales puede llamarse Patriarcal; pues el Xefe
de la nacion hace á un mismo tiempo los oficios de padre de familia, de
Rey y de Sumo Sacerdote.' 'Los nobles gozan de tanta consideracion en
Nutka, que ni aun de palabra se atreven los Tayses á reprehenderlos.'
'Todos consideraban á este (Maquinna) como Soberano de las costas, desde
la de Buena Esperanza hasta la punta de Arrecifes, con todos los Canales
interiores.' To steal, or to know carnally a girl nine years old, is
punished with death. _Sutil y Mexicana_, _Viage_, pp. 140, 136, 147, 19,
25. 'There are such men as Chiefs, who are distinguished by the name or
title of _Acweek_, and to whom the others are, in some measure,
subordinate. But, I should guess, the authority of each of these great
men extends no farther than the family to which he belongs.' _Cook's
Voy. to Pac._, vol. ii., pp. 333-4. 'La forme de leur gouvernement est
toute patriarcale, et la dignité de chef, héréditaire.' _Mofras_,
_Explor._, tom. ii., p. 346. Several very populous villages to the
northward, included in the territory of Maquilla, the head chief, were
entrusted to the government of the principal of his female relations.
The whole government formed a political bond of union similar to the
feudal system which formerly obtained in Europe. _Meares' Voy._, pp.
228-9. 'The king or head Tyee, is their leader in war, in the management
of which he is perfectly absolute. He is also president of their
councils, which are almost always regulated by his opinion. But he has
no kind of power over the property of his subjects.' _Jewitt's Nar._,
pp. 138-9, 47, 69, 73. _Kane's Wand._, pp. 220-1. 'There is no code of
laws, nor do the chiefs possess the power or means of maintaining a
regular government; but their personal influence is nevertheless very
great with their followers.' _Douglas_, in _Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour._,
vol. xxiv., p. 246.
[301] 'Usually kindly treated, eat of the same food, and live as well as
their masters.' 'None but the king and chiefs have slaves.' 'Maquinna
had nearly fifty, male and female, in his house.' _Jewitt's Nar._, pp.
73-4. Meares states that slaves are occasionally sacrificed and feasted
upon. _Voy._, p. 255. The Newettee tribe nearly exterminated by
kidnappers. _Dunn's Oregon_, p. 242. 'An owner might bring half a dozen
slaves out of his house and kill them publicly in a row without any
notice being taken of the atrocity. But the slave, as a rule, is not
harshly treated.' 'Some of the smaller tribes at the north of the Island
are practically regarded as slave-breeding tribes, and are attacked
periodically by stronger tribes.' The American shore of the strait is
also a fruitful source of slaves. _Sproat's Scenes_, pp. 89-92. 'They
say that one Flathead slave is worth more than two Roundheads.' _Rept.
Ind. Aff._, 1857, p. 327; _Mayne's B. C._, p. 284; _Grant_, in _Lond.
Geog. Soc., Jour._, vol. xxvii., p. 296; _Lord's Nat._, vol. i., pp.
154-5, 166; _Kane's Wand._, p. 220; _Sutil y Mexicana_, _Viage_, p. 131;
_Macfie's Vanc. Isl._, pp. 431, 442, 470-1.
[302] 'The women go to bed first, and are up first in the morning to
prepare breakfast,' p. 52. 'The condition of the Aht women is not one of
unseemly inferiority,' p. 93. 'Their female relations act as midwives.
There is no separate place for lying-in. The child, on being born, is
rolled up in a mat among feathers.' 'They suckle one child till another
comes,' p. 94. 'A girl who was known to have lost her virtue, lost with
it one of her chances of a favourable marriage, and a chief ... would
have put his daughter to death for such a lapse,' p. 95. In case of a
separation, if the parties belong to different tribes, the children go
with the mother, p. 96. 'No traces of the existence of polyandry among
the Ahts,' p. 99. The personal modesty of the Aht women when young is
much greater than that of the men, p. 315. _Sproat's Scenes_, pp. 28-30,
50-2, 93-102, 160, 264, 315. One of the chiefs said that three was the
number of wives permitted: 'como número necesario para no comunicar con
la que estuviese en cinta.' 'Muchos de ellos mueren sin casarse.' 'El
Tays no puede hacer uso de sus mugeres sin ver enteramente iluminado el
disco de la luna.' _Sutil y Mexicana_, _Viage_, pp. 141-6. Women treated
with no particular respect in any situation. _Cook's Voy. to Pac._, vol.
ii., p. 318. Persons of the same crest are not allowed to marry. 'The
child again always takes the crest of the mother.' 'As a rule also,
descent is traced from the mother, not from the father.' 'Intrigue with
the wives of men of other tribes is one of the commonest causes of
quarrel among the Indians.' _Mayne's B. C._, pp. 257-8, 276; _Macfie's
Vanc. Isl._, pp. 444-7. The women are 'very reserved and chaste.'
_Meares' Voy._, pp. 251, 258, 265, 268; _Kane's Wand._, pp. 239-40. The
Indian woman, to sooth her child, makes use of a springy stick fixed
obliquely in the ground to which the cradle is attached by a string,
forming a convenient baby-jumper. _Lord's Nat._, vol. ii., p. 259;
_Pemberton's Vanc. Isl._, p. 131; _Mofras_, _Explor._, tom. ii., pp.
346-7. 'Where there are no slaves in the tribe or family they perform
all the drudgery of bringing firewood, water, &c.' _Grant_, in _Lond.
Geog. Soc., Jour._, vol. xxvii., pp. 298-9, 304. No intercourse between
the newly married pair for a period of ten days, p. 129. 'Perhaps in no
part of the world is virtue more prized,' p. 74. _Jewitt's Nar._, pp.
59-60, 74, 127-9; _Cornwallis' New El Dorado_, p. 101.
[303] 'When relieved from the presence of strangers, they have much easy
and social conversation among themselves.' 'The conversation is
frequently coarse and indecent.' _Sproat's Scenes_, pp. 50-1. 'Cantando
y baylando al rededor de las hogueras, abandonándose á todos los excesos
de la liviandad.' _Sutil y Mexicana_, _Viage_, p. 133.
[304] _Sproat's Scenes_, pp. 55-6; _Sutil y Mexicana_, _Viage_, p. 144.
[305] _Grant_, in _Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour._, vol. xxvii., p. 299;
_Mayne's B. C._, pp. 275-6; _Pemberton's Vanc. Isl._, p. 134; _Macfie's
Vanc. Isl._, p. 444; _Barrett-Lennard's Trav._, p. 53.
[306] _Sproat's Scenes_, p. 269. But Lord says 'nothing can be done
without it.' _Nat._, vol. i., p. 168.
[307] The Indian never invites any of the same crest as himself.
_Macfie's Vanc. Isl._, 445. 'They are very particular about whom they
invite to their feasts, and, on great occasions, men and women feast
separately, the women always taking the precedence.' _Duncan_, in
_Mayne's B. C._, pp. 263-6; _Sproat's Scenes_, pp. 59-63.
[308] _Lord's Nat._, vol. i., pp. 259-60.
[309] 'I have never seen an Indian woman dance at a feast, and believe
it is seldom if ever done.' _Mayne's B. C._, pp. 267-9. The women
generally 'form a separate circle, and chaunt and jump by themselves.'
_Grant_, in _Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour._, vol. xxvii., p. 306. 'As a rule,
the men and women do not dance together; when the men are dancing the
women sing and beat time,' but there is a dance performed by both sexes.
_Sproat's Scenes_, pp. 66-7. 'On other occasions a male chief will
invite a party of female guests to share his hospitality.' _Macfie's
Vanc. Isl._, p. 431. 'Las mugeres baylan desayradisimamente; rara vez se
prestan á esta diversion.' _Sutil y Mexicana_, _Viage_, p. 152.
[310] 'La decencia obliga á pasar en silencio los bayles obscenos de los
Mischîmis (common people), especialmente el del impotente á causa de la
edad, y el del pobre que no ha podido casarse.' _Sutil y Mexicana_,
_Viage_, pp. 151-2, 18; _Macfie's Vanc. Isl._, pp. 432-7; _Sproat's
Scenes_, pp. 65-71; _Mayne's B. C._, pp. 266-7; _Jewitt's Nar._, p. 389;
_Grant_, in _Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour._, vol. xxvii., p. 306; _Cornwallis'
New El Dorado_, pp. 99-103.
[311] _Jewitt's Nar._, pp. 39, 60, 72-3; _Vancouver's Voy._, vol. iii.,
pp. 307-10; _Cook's Voy. to Pac._, vol. ii., pp. 310-11.
[312] Their music is mostly grave and serious, and in exact concert,
when sung by great numbers. 'Variations numerous and expressive, and the
cadence or melody powerfully soothing.' _Cook's Voy. to Pac._, vol. ii.,
pp. 310-11, 283. Dislike European music. _Sutil y Mexicana_, _Viage_,
pp. 151-2. 'Their tunes are generally soft and plaintive, and though not
possessing great variety, are not deficient in harmony.' Jewitt thinks
the words of the songs may be borrowed from other tribes. _Jewitt's
Nar._, p. 72, and specimen of war song, p. 166. Airs consist of five or
six bars, varying slightly, time being beaten in the middle of the bar.
'Melody they have none, there is nothing soft, pleasing, or touching in
their airs; they are not, however, without some degree of rude harmony.'
_Grant_, in _Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour._, vol. xviii., p. 306. 'A certain
beauty of natural expression in many of the native strains, if it were
possible to relieve them from the monotony which is their fault.' There
are old men, wandering minstrels, who sing war songs and beg. 'It is
remarkable how aptly the natives catch and imitate songs heard from
settlers or travelers.' _Sproat's Scenes_, pp. 63-5.
[313] _Macfie's Vanc. Isl._, pp. 430-1; _Jewitt's Nar._, p. 39.
[314] 'I have seen the sorcerers at work a hundred times, but they use
so many charms, which appear to me ridiculous,--they sing, howl, and
gesticulate in so extravagant a manner, and surround their office with
such dread and mystery,--that I am quite unable to describe their
performances,' pp. 169-70. 'An unlucky dream will stop a sale, a treaty,
a fishing, hunting, or war expedition,' p. 175. _Sproat's Scenes_, pp.
165-75. A chief, offered a piece of tobacco for allowing his portrait to
be made, said it was a small reward for risking his life. _Kane's
Wand._, p. 240. Shrewd individuals impose on their neighbors by
pretending to receive a revelation, telling them where fish or berries
are most abundant. Description of initiatory ceremonies of the
sorcerers. _Macfie's Vanc. Isl._, pp. 446, 433-7, 451. _Jewitt's Nar._,
pp. 98-9. A brave prince goes to a distant lake, jumps from a high rock
into the water, and rubs all the skin off his face with pieces of rough
bark, amid the applause of his attendants. Description of king's
prayers, and ceremonies to bring rain. _Sutil y Mexicana_, _Viage_, pp.
145-6, 37. Candidates are thrown into a state of _mesmerism_ before
their initiation. _'Medicus'_, in _Hutchings' Cal. Mag._, vol. v., pp.
227-8; _Barrett-Lennard's Trav._, pp. 51-3; _Californias, Noticias_, pp.
61-85.
[315] They brought for sale 'human skulls, and hands not yet quite
stripped of the flesh, which they made our people plainly understand
they had eaten; and, indeed, some of them had evident marks that they
had been upon the fire.' _Cook's Voy. to Pac._, vol. ii., p. 271. Slaves
are occasionally sacrificed and feasted upon. _Meares' Voy._, p. 255.
'No todos habian comido la carne humana, ni en todo tiempo, sino
solamente los guerreros mas animosos quando se preparaban para salir á
campaña.' 'Parece indudable que estos salvages han sido antropófagos.'
_Sutil y Mexicana_, _Viage_, p. 130. 'At Nootka Sound, and at the
Sandwich Islands, Ledyard witnessed instances of cannibalism. In both
places he saw human flesh prepared for food.' _Spark's Life of Ledyard_,
p. 74; _Cornwallis' New El Dorado_, pp. 104-6. 'Cannibalism, all-though
unknown among the Indians of the Columbia, is practised by the savages
on the coast to the northward.' _Cox's Adven._, vol. i., pp. 310-11. The
cannibal ceremonies quoted by Macfie and referred to Vancouver Island,
probably were intended for the Haidahs farther north. _Vanc. Isl._, p.
434. A slave as late as 1850 was drawn up and down a pole by a hook
through the skin and tendons of the back, and afterwards devoured.
_Medicus_, in _Hutchings' Cal. Mag._, vol. v., p. 223. 'L'anthropophagie
á été longtemps en usage ... et peut-être y existe-t-elle encore.... Le
chef Maquina ... tuait un prisonnier à chaque lune nouvelle. Tous les
chefs étaient invités à cette horrible fête.' _Mofras_, _Explor._, tom.
ii., p. 345. 'It is not improbable that the suspicion that the Nootkans
are cannibals may be traced to the practice of some custom analagous to
the _Tzeet-tzaiak_ of the Haeel tzuk.' _Scouler_, in _Lond. Geog. Soc.,
Jour._, vol. xi., pp. 223-4. 'The horrid practice of sacrificing a
victim is not annual, but only occurs either once in three years or else
at uncertain intervals.' _Sproat's Scenes_, p. 156.
[316] 'Rheumatism and paralysis are rare maladies.' Syphilis is probably
indigenous. Amputation, blood-letting, and metallic medicine not
employed. Medicines to produce love are numerous. 'Young and old of both
sexes are exposed when afflicted with lingering disease.' _Sproat's
Scenes_, pp. 251-7, 282, 213-4. 'Headache is cured by striking the part
affected with small branches of the spruce tree.' Doctors are generally
chosen from men who have themselves suffered serious maladies. _Macfie's
Vanc. Isl._, pp. 438-40. 'Their cure for rheumatism or similar pains ...
is by cutting or scarifying the part affected.' _Jewitt's Nar._, p. 142.
They are sea sick on European vessels. _Poole's Q. Char. Isl._, p. 81.
Description of ceremonies. _Swan_, in _Mayne's B. C._, pp. 261-3, 304.
'The patient is put to bed, and for the most part starved, lest the food
should be consumed by his internal enemy.' 'The warm and steam bath is
very frequently employed.' _Medicus_, in _Hutchings' Cal. Mag._, vol.
v., pp. 226-8.
[317] The custom of burning or burying property is wholly confined to
chiefs. 'Night is their time for interring the dead.' Buffoon tricks,
with a feast and dance, formed part of the ceremony. _Jewitt's Nar._,
pp. 105, 111-2, 136. At Valdes Island, 'we saw two sepulchres built with
plank about five feet in height, seven in length, and four in breadth.
These boards were curiously perforated at the ends and sides, and the
tops covered with loose pieces of plank;' inclosed evidently the relics
of many different bodies. _Vancouver's Voy._, vol. i., pp. 338-9. 'The
coffin is usually an old canoe, lashed round and round, like an Egyptian
mummy-case.' _Lord's Nat._, vol. i., p. 170. 'There is generally some
grotesque figure painted on the outside of the box, or roughly
sculptured out of wood and placed by the side of it. For some days after
death the relatives burn salmon or venison before the tomb.' 'They will
never mention the name of a dead man.' _Grant_, in _Lond. Geog. Soc.,
Jour._, vol. xxvii., pp. 301-3. 'As a rule, the Indians burn their dead,
and then bury the ashes.' 'It was at one time not uncommon for Indians
to desert forever a lodge in which one of their family had died.'
_Mayne's B. C._, pp. 271-2, with cut of graves. For thirty days after
the funeral, dirges are chanted at sunrise and sunset. _Macfie's Vanc.
Isl._, pp. 447-8. Children frequently, but grown persons never, were
found hanging in trees. _Meares' Voy._, p. 268; _Sproat's Scenes_, pp.
258-63. The bodies of chiefs are hung in trees on high mountains, while
those of the commons are buried, that their souls may have a shorter
journey to their residence in a future life. _Sutil y Mexicana_,
_Viage_, pp. 139-40. 'The Indians never inter their dead,' and rarely
burn them. _Barrett-Lennard's Trav._, p. 51.
[318] 'As light-fingered as any of the Sandwich Islanders. Of a quiet,
phlegmatic, and inactive disposition.' 'A docile, courteous,
good-natured people ... but quick in resenting what they look upon as an
injury; and, like most other passionate people, as soon forgetting it.'
Not curious; indolent; generally fair in trade, and would steal only
such articles as they wanted for some purpose. _Cook's Voy. to Pac._,
vol. ii., pp. 272, 308-12, etc. 'Exceedingly hospitable in their own
homes, ... lack neither courage nor intelligence.' _Pemberton's Vanc.
Isl._, p. 131. The Kla-iz-zarts 'appear to be more civilized than any of
the others.' The Cayuquets are thought to be deficient in courage; and
the Kla-os-quates 'are a fierce, bold, and enterprizing people.'
_Jewitt's Nar._, pp. 75-7. 'Civil and inoffensive' at Horse Sound.
_Vancouver's Voy._, vol. i., p. 307. 'Their moral deformities are as
great as their physical ones.' _Domenech's Deserts_, vol. i., p. 88. The
Nittinahts given to aggressive war, and consequently 'bear a bad
reputation.' _Whymper's Alaska_, p. 74. Not brave, and a slight repulse
daunts them. 'Sincere in his friendship, kind to his wife and children,
and devotedly loyal to his own tribe,' p. 51. 'In sickness and
approaching death, the savage always becomes melancholy,' p. 162.
_Sproat's Scenes_, pp. 30, 36, 52, 91, 119-24, 150-66, 187, 216. 'Comux
and Yucletah fellows very savage and uncivilized dogs,' and the Nootkas
not to be trusted. 'Cruel, bloodthirsty, treacherous and cowardly.'
_Grant_, in _Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour._, vol. xxvii., pp. 294, 296, 298,
305, 307. _Mayne's B. C._, p. 246; _Macfie's Vanc. Isl._, pp. 190,
460-1, 472, 477, 484; _Poole's Q. Char. Isl._, pp. 294-6. The Spaniards
gave the Nootkas a much better character than voyagers of other nations.
_Sutil y Mexicana_, _Viage_, pp. 25, 31-2, 57-9, 63, 99, 107, 133,
149-51, 154-6; _Forbes' Vanc. Isl._, p. 25; _Rattray's Vanc. Isl._, pp.
172-3. The Ucultas 'are a band of lawless pirates and robbers, levying
black-mail on all the surrounding tribes.' _Barrett-Lennard's Trav._, p.
43. 'Bold and ferocious, sly and reserved, not easily provoked, but
revengeful.' _Spark's Life of Ledyard_, p. 72. The Teets have 'all the
vices of the coast tribes' with 'none of the redeeming qualities of the
interior nations.' _Anderson_, in _Hist. Mag._, vol. vii., p. 78.
[319] 'Those who came within our notice so nearly resembled the people
of Nootka, that the best delineation I can offer is a reference to the
description of those people' (by Cook), p. 252. At Cape Flattery they
closely resembled those of Nootka and spoke the same language, p. 218.
At Gray Harbor they seemed to vary in little or no respect 'from those
on the sound, and understood the Nootka tongue', p. 83. 'The character
and appearance of their several tribes here did not seem to differ in
any material respect from each other,' p. 288. Evidence that the country
was once much more thickly peopled, p. 254. _Vancouver's Voy._, vol. i.,
pp. 218, 252, 254, 288; vol. ii., p. 83. The Chehalis come down as far
as Shoal-water Bay. A band of Klikatats (Sahaptins) is spoken of near
the head of the Cowlitz. 'The Makahs resemble the northwestern Indians
far more than their neighbors.' The Lummi are a branch of the Clallams.
_Rept. Ind. Aff._, 1854, pp. 240-4. The Lummi 'traditions lead them to
believe that they are descendants of a better race than common savages.'
The Semianmas 'are intermarried with the north band of the Lummis, and
Cowegans, and Quantlums.' The Neuk-wers and Siamanas are called Stick
Indians, and in 1852 had never seen a white. 'The Neuk-sacks (Mountain
Men) trace from the salt water Indians,' and 'are entirely different
from the others.' 'The Loomis appear to be more of a wandering class
than the others about Bellingham Bay.' _Id._, 1857, pp. 327-9. 'They can
be divided into two classes--the salt-water and the Stick Indians.'
_Id._, 1857, p. 224. Of the Nisquallies 'some live in the plains, and
others on the banks of the Sound.' The Classets have been less affected
than the Chinooks by fever and ague. _Dunn's Oregon_, pp. 231-5. The
Clallams speak a kindred language to that of the Ahts. _Sproat's
Scenes_, p. 270. 'El gobierno de estos naturales de la entrada y canales
de Fuca, la disposicion interior de las habitaciones las manufacturas y
vestidos que usan son muy parecidos á los de los habitantes de Nutka.'
_Sutil y Mexicana_, _Viage_, p. 111. The Sound Indians live in great
dread of the Northern tribes. _Wilkes' Nar._, in _U. S. Ex. Ex._, vol.
iv., p. 513. The Makahs deem themselves much superior to the tribes of
the interior, because they go out on the ocean. _Scammon_, in _Overland
Monthly_, vol. vii., pp. 277-8. The Nooksaks are entirely distinct from
the Lummi, and some suppose them to have come from the Clallam country.
_Coleman_, in _Harper's Mag._, vol. xxxix., p. 799. _Stevens_, in _Pac.
R. R. Rept._, vol. i., p. 428.
[320] At Port Discovery they 'seemed capable of enduring great fatigue.'
'Their cheek-bones were high.' 'The oblique eye of the Chinese was not
uncommon.' 'Their countenances wore an expression of wildness, and they
had, in the opinion of some of us, a melancholy cast of features.' Some
of women would with difficulty be distinguished in colour from those of
European race. The Classet women 'were much better looking than those of
other tribes.' Portrait of a Tatouche chief. _Wilkes' Nar._, in _U. S.
Ex. Ex._, vol. iv., pp. 317-8, 320, 517-8. 'All are bow-legged.' 'All of
a sad-colored, Caravaggio brown.' 'All have coarse, black hair, and are
beardless.' _Winthrop's Canoe and Saddle_, p. 32. 'Tall and stout.'
_Maurelle's Jour._, p. 28. Sproat mentions a Clallam slave who 'could
see in the dark like a racoon.' _Scenes_, p. 52. The Classet 'cast of
countenance is very different from that of the Nootkians ... their
complexion in also much fairer and their stature shorter.' _Jewitt's
Nar._, p. 75. The Nisqually Indians 'are of very large stature; indeed,
the largest I have met with on the continent. The women are particularly
large and stout.' _Kane's Wand._, pp. 207, 228, 234. The Nisquallies are
by no means a large race, being from five feet five inches to five feet
nine inches in height, and weighing from one hundred and thirty to one
hundred and eighty pounds. _Anderson_, in _Lord's Nat._, vol. ii., p.
227. 'De rostro hermoso y da gallarda figura.' _Navarrete_, in _Sutil y
Mexicana_, _Viage_, p. xciv. The Queniults, 'the finest-looking Indians
I had ever seen.' _Swan's N. W. Coast_, pp. 78-9. Neuksacks stronger and
more athletic than other tribes. Many of the Lummi 'very fair and have
light hair.' _Rept. Ind. Aff._, 1857, p. 328; _Pickering's Races_, in
_U. S. Ex. Ex._, vol. ix., p. 23; _Morton's Crania_, p. 215, with plate
of Cowlitz skull; _Cornwallis' New El Dorado_, p. 97; _Vancouver's
Voy._, vol. i., p. 252; _Murphy and Harned_, _Puget Sound Directory_,
pp. 64-71; _Clark's Lights and Shadows_, pp. 214-15, 224-6.
[321] 'Less bedaubed with paint and less filthy' than the Nootkas. At
Port Discovery 'they wore ornaments, though none were observed in their
noses.' At Cape Flattery the nose ornament was straight, instead of
crescent-shaped, as among the Nootkas. Vancouver supposed their garments
to be composed of dog's hair mixed with the wool of some wild animal,
which he did not see. _Vancouver's Voy._, vol. i., pp. 218, 230, 266. At
Port Discovery some had small brass bells hung in the rim of the ears,
p. 318. Some of the Skagits were tattooed with lines on the arms and
face, and fond of brass rings, pp. 511-12. The Classets 'wore small
pieces of an iridescent mussel-shell, attached to the cartilage of their
nose, which was in some, of the size of a ten cents piece, and
triangular in shape. It is generally kept in motion by their breathing,'
p. 517. _Wilkes' Nar._, in _U. S. Ex. Ex._, vol. iv., pp. 317-20, 334,
404, 444, 511-2, 517-8. The conical hats and stout bodies 'brought to
mind representations of Siberian tribes.' _Pickering's Races_, in
_Idem._, vol. ix., p. 23. The Clallams 'wear no clothing in summer.'
Faces daubed with red and white mud. Illustration of head-flattening.
_Kane's Wand._, pp. 180, 207, 210-11, 224. _Seemann's Voy. Herald_, vol.
i., pp. 108-9; _Rossi_, _Souvenirs_, p. 299; _Dunn's Oregon_, pp. 232-3;
_San Francisco Bulletin_, _May 24, 1859_; _Ind. Aff. Rept._, 1854, p.
243; _Id._, 1857, p. 329; _Stevens_, in _Pac. R. R. Rept._, vol. i., p.
430. Above Gray Harbor they were dressed with red deer skins.
_Navarrete_, in _Sutil y Mexicana_, _Viage_, p. xciv: _Cornwallis' New
El Dorado_, p. 97; _Winthrop's Canoe and Saddle_, p. 32-3; _Murphy and
Harned_, in _Puget Sd. Direct._, pp. 64-71.
[322] The Skagit tribe being exposed to attacks from the north, combine
dwellings and fort, and build themselves 'enclosures, four hundred feet
long, and capable of containing many families, which are constructed of
pickets made of thick planks, about thirty feet high. The pickets are
firmly fixed into the ground, the spaces between them being only
sufficient to point a musket through.... The interior of the enclosure
is divided into lodges,' p. 511. At Port Discovery the lodges were 'no
more than a few rudely-cut slabs, covered in part by coarse mats,' p.
319. _Wilkes' Nar._, in _U. S. Ex. Ex._, vol. iv., pp. 319-20, 511, 517.
The Clallams also have a fort of pickets one hundred and fifty feet
square, roofed over and divided into compartments for families. 'There
were about two hundred of the tribe in the fort at the time of my
arrival.' 'The lodges are built of cedar like the Chinook lodges, but
much larger, some of them being sixty or seventy feet long.' _Kane's
Wand._, pp. 210, 219, 227-9. 'Their houses are of considerable size,
often fifty to one hundred feet in length, and strongly built.' _Rept.
Ind. Aff._, 1854, pp. 242-3. 'The planks forming the roof run the whole
length of the building, being guttered to carry off the water, and
sloping slightly to one end.' _Stevens_, in _Pac. R. R. Rept._, vol. i.,
pp. 429-30. Well built lodges of timber and plank on Whidbey Island.
_Thornton's Ogn. and Cal._, vol. i., p. 300. At New Dungeness, 'composed
of nothing more than a few mats thrown over cross sticks;' and on Puget
Sound 'constructed something after the fashion of a soldier's tent, by
two cross sticks about five feet high, connected at each end by a
ridge-pole from one to the other, over some of which was thrown a coarse
kind of mat; over others a few loose branches of trees, shrubs or
grass.' _Vancouver's Voy._, vol. i., pp. 225, 262. The Queniults
sometimes, but not always, whitewash the interior of their lodges with
pipe-clay, and then paint figures of fishes and animals in red and black
on the white surface. See description and cuts of exterior and interior
of Indian lodge in _Swan's N. W. Coast_, pp. 266-7, 330, 338; _Crane's
Top. Mem._, p. 65; _Cornwallis' New El Dorado_, p. 98; _Clark's Lights
and Shadows_, p. 225.
[323] The Nootsaks, 'like all inland tribes, they subsist principally by
the chase.' _Coleman_, in _Harper's Mag._, vol. xxxix., pp. 795, 799,
815; _Ind. Aff. Rept._, 1857, p. 328. Sturgeon abound weighing 400 to
600 pounds, and are taken by the Clallams by means of a spear with a
handle seventy to eighty feet long, while lying on the bottom of the
river in spawning time. Fish-hooks are made of cedar root with bone
barbs. Their only vegetables are the camas, wappatoo, and fern roots.
_Kane's Wand._, pp. 213-14, 230-4, 289. At Puget Sound, 'men, women and
children were busily engaged like swine, rooting up this beautiful
verdant meadow in quest of a species of wild onion, and two other roots,
which in appearance and taste greatly resembled the saranne.'
_Vancouver's Voy._, vol. i., pp. 225, 234, 262. In fishing for salmon at
Port Discovery 'they have two nets, the drawing and casting net, made of
a silky grass,' 'or of the fibres of the roots of trees, or of the inner
bark of the white cedar.' _Nicolay's Ogn. Ter._, p. 147. 'The line is
made either of kelp or the fibre of the cypress, and to it is attached
an inflated bladder.' _Seemann's Voy. Herald_, vol. i., p. 109. At Port
Townsend, 'leurs provisions, consistaient en poisson séché au soleil ou
boucané; ... tout rempli de sable.' _Rossi_, _Souvenirs_, pp. 182-3,
299. The Clallams 'live by fishing and hunting around their homes, and
never pursue the whale and seal as do the sea-coast tribes.' _Scammon_,
in _Overland Monthly_, vol. vii., p. 278. The Uthlecan or candle-fish is
used on Fuca Strait for food as well as candles. _Domenech's Deserts_,
vol. ii., p. 241. Lamprey eels are dried for food and light by the
Nisquallies and Chehalis. 'Cammass root, ... stored in baskets. It is a
kind of sweet squills, and about the size of a small onion. It is
extremely abundant on the open prairies, and particularly on those which
are overflowed by the small streams.' Cut of salmon fishery, p. 335.
'Hooks are made in an ingenious manner of the yew tree.' 'They are
chiefly employed in trailing for fish.' Cut of hooks, pp. 444-5. The
Classets make a cut in the nose when a whale is taken. Each seal-skin
float has a different pattern painted on it, p. 517. _Wilkes' Nar._, in
_U. S. Ex. Ex._, vol. iv., pp. 318-19, 335, 444-5, 517-18. The Chehalis
live chiefly on salmon. _Id._, vol. v., p. 140. According to Swan the
Puget Sound Indians sometimes wander as far as Shoalwater Bay in Chinook
territory, in the spring. The Queniult Indians are fond of large
barnacles, not eaten by the Chinooks of Shoalwater Bay. Cut of a
sea-otter hunt. The Indians never catch salmon with a _baited_ hook, but
always use the hook as a _gaff_. _N. W. Coast_, pp. 59, 87, 92, 163,
264, 271; _Thornton's Ogn. and Cal._, vol. i., pp. 293-4, 301, 388-9;
_Ind. Aff. Rept._, 1854, p. 241; _Dunn's Oregon_, pp. 732-5; _Stevens_,
in _Pac. R. R. Rept._, vol. i., p. 429. 'They all depend upon fish,
berries, and roots for a subsistence, and get their living with great
ease.' _Starling_, in _Schoolcraft's Arch._, vol. iv., pp. 600-2. The
Makahs live 'by catching cod and halibut on the banks north and east of
Cape Flattery.' _Ind. Aff. Rept._ 1858, p. 231. 'When in a state of
semi-starvation the beast shows very plainly in them (Stick Indians):
they are generally foul feeders, but at such a time they eat anything,
and are disgusting in the extreme.' _Id._, 1858, p. 225; _Id._, 1860, p.
195; _Cornwallis' New El Dorado_, p. 97; _Lord's Nat._, vol. i., pp.
102-5; _Hittell_, in _Hesperian_, vol. iii., p. 408; _Winthrop's Canoe
and Saddle_, pp. 33-7; _Maurelle's Jour._, p. 28.
[324] _Vancouver's Voy._, vol. i., p. 253. At Gray Harbor the bows were
somewhat more circular than elsewhere. _Id._, vol. ii., p. 84; _Wilkes'
Nar._, in _U. S. Ex. Ex._, vol. iv., p. 319; _Kane's Wand._, pp. 209-10.
[325] _Wilkes' Nar._, in _U. S. Ex. Ex._, vol. iv., p. 321; _Kane's
Wand._, pp. 231-2; _Vancouver's Voy._, vol. i., p. 234. 'They have been
nearly annihilated by the hordes of northern savages that have infested,
and do now, even at the present day, infest our own shores' for slaves.
They had fire-arms before our tribes, thus gaining an advantage.' _Ind.
Aff. Rept._, 1857, p. 327; _Clark's Lights and Shadows_, p. 224.
[326] _Vancouver's Voy._, vol. i., p. 287.
[327] 'A single thread is wound over rollers at the top and bottom of a
square frame, so as to form a continuous woof through which an alternate
thread is carried by the hand, and pressed closely together by a sort of
wooden comb; by turning the rollers every part of the woof is brought
within reach of the weaver; by this means a bag formed, open at each
end, which being cut down makes a square blanket.' _Kane's Wand._, pp.
210-11. Cuts showing the loom and process of weaving among the Nootsaks,
also house, canoes, and willow baskets. _Coleman_, in _Harper's Mag._,
vol. xxxix., pp. 799-800. The Clallams 'have a kind of cur with soft and
long white hair, which they shear and mix with a little wool or the
ravelings of old blankets.' _Stevens_, in _Pac. R. R. Rept._, vol. i.,
p. 431. The Makahs have 'blankets and capes made of the inner bark of
the cedar, and edged with fur.' _Ind. Aff. Rept._, 1854, pp. 241-2;
_Wilkes' Nar._, in _U. S. Ex. Ex._, vol. iv., p. 32. The candle-fish
'furnishes the natives with their best oil, which is extracted by the
very simple process of hanging it up, exposed to the sun, which in a few
days seems to melt it away.' _Thornton's Ogn. and Cal._, vol. i., p.
388. They 'manufacture some of their blankets from the wool of the wild
goat.' _Dunn's Oregon_, p. 231. The Queniults showed 'a blanket
manufactured from the wool of mountain sheep, which are to be found on
the precipitous slopes of the Olympian Mountains.' _Alta California_,
_Feb. 9, 1861_, quoted in _California Farmer_, _July 25, 1862_;
_Cornwallis' New El Dorado_, p. 97; _Pickering's Races_, in _U. S. Ex.
Ex._, vol. ix., p. 26.
[328] 'They present a model of which a white mechanic might well be
proud.' Description of method of making, and cuts of Queniult, Clallam,
and Cowlitz canoes, and a Queniult paddle. _Swan's N. W. Coast_, pp.
79-82. At Port Orchard they 'exactly corresponded with the canoes of
Nootka,' while those of some visitors were 'cut off square at each end,'
and like those seen below Cape Orford. At Gray Harbor the war canoes
'had a piece of wood rudely carved, perforated, and placed at each end,
three feet above the gunwale; through these holes they are able to
discharge their arrows.' _Vancouver's Voy._, vol. i., p. 264; vol. ii.,
p. 84. The Clallam boats were 'low and straight, and only adapted to the
smoother interior waters.' _Scammon_, in _Overland Monthly_, vol. vii.,
p. 278. Cut showing Nootsak canoes in _Harper's Mag._, vol. xxxix., p.
799. 'The sides are exceedingly thin, seldom exceeding three-fourths of
an inch.' To mend the canoe when cracks occur, 'holes are made in the
sides, through which withes are passed, and pegged in such a way that
the strain will draw it tighter; the withe is then crossed, and the end
secured in the same manner. When the tying is finished, the whole is
pitched with the gum of the pine.' _Wilkes' Nar._, in _U. S. Ex. Ex._,
vol. iv., pp. 320-1. The Clallams have 'a very large canoe of ruder
shape and workmanship, being wide and shovel-nosed,' used for the
transportation of baggage. _Ind. Aff. Rept._, 1854, p. 243; _Stevens_,
in _Pac. R. R. Rept._, vol. i., pp. 430-1; _Seemann's Voy. Herald_, vol.
i., p. 108; _Pickering's Races_, in _U. S. Ex. Ex._, vol. ix., pp. 25-6;
_Winthrop's Canoe and Saddle_, p. 20; _Clark's Lights and Shadows_, pp.
224-6.
[329] _Kane's Wand._, pp. 237-9; _Ind. Aff. Rept._, 1862, p. 409;
_Starling_, in _Schoolcraft's Arch._, vol. iv., p. 601; _Pickering's
Races_, in _U. S. Ex. Ex._, vol. ix., p. 26.
[330] 'Ils obéissent à un chef, qui n'exerce son pouvoir qu'en temps de
guerre.' _Rossi_, _Souvenirs_, p. 299. At Gray Harbor 'they appeared to
be divided into three different tribes, or parties, each having one or
two chiefs.' _Vancouver's Voy._, vol. ii., p. 84. Wilkes met a squaw
chief at Nisqually, who 'seemed to exercise more authority than any that
had been met with.' 'Little or no distinction of rank seems to exist
among them; the authority of the chiefs is no longer recognized.'
_Wilkes' Nar._, in _U. S. Ex. Ex._, vol. iv., p. 444; vol. v., p. 131.
Yellow-cum had become chief of the Makahs from his own personal prowess.
_Kane's Wand._, pp. 237-9; _Ind. Aff. Rept._, 1857, pp. 327-8.
[331] _Sproat's Scenes_, p. 92; _Simpson's Overland Journ._, vol. i.,
pp. 242-3; _Kane's Wand._, pp. 214-15. The Nooksaks 'have no slaves.'
_Ind. Aff. Rept._, 1857, pp. 327-8; _Schoolcraft's Arch._, vol. iv., p.
601. It is said 'that the descendants of slaves obtain freedom at the
expiration of three centuries.' _Pickering's Races_, in _U. S. Ex. Ex._,
vol. ix., p. 28.
[332] The Makahs have some marriage ceremonies, 'such as going through
the performance of taking the whale, manning a canoe, and throwing the
harpoon into the bride's house.' _Ind. Aff. Rept._, p. 242. The Nooksak
women 'are very industrious, and do most of the work, and procure the
principal part of their sustenance.' _Id._, 1857, p. 327. 'The women
have not the slightest pretension to virtue.' _Id._, 1858, p. 225;
_Siwash Nuptials_, in _Olympia Washington Standard, July 30, 1870_. In
matters of trade the opinion of the women is always called in, and their
decision decides the bargain. _Seemann's Voy. Herald_, vol. i., p. 108.
'The whole burden of domestic occupation is thrown upon them.' Cut of
the native baby-jumper. _Wilkes' Nar._, in _U. S. Ex. Ex._, vol. iv.,
pp. 319-20, 361. At Gray Harbor they were not jealous. At Port Discovery
they offered their children for sale. _Vancouver's Voy._, vol. i., p.
231; vol. ii., pp. 83-4. 'Rarely having more than three or four'
children. _Swan's N. W. Coast_, p. 266; _Clark's Lights and Shadows_,
pp. 224-6.
[333] _Wilkes' Nar._, in _U. S. Ex. Ex._, vol. iv., pp. 320, 444;
_Rossi_, _Souvenirs_, pp. 298-9; _San Francisco Bulletin_, _May 24,
1859._
[334] _Vancouver's Voy._, vol. i., pp. 263, 270. The Lummi 'are a very
superstitious tribe, and pretend to have traditions--legends handed down
to them by their ancestors.' 'No persuasion or pay will induce them to
kill an owl or eat a pheasant.' _Ind. Aff. Rept._, 1857, pp. 327-8;
_Kane's Wand._, pp. 216-17, 229. No forms of salutation. _Pickering's
Races_, in _U. S. Ex. Ex._, vol. ix., pp. 23-4; _Winthrop's Canoe and
Saddle_, pp. 21-2.
[335] Among the Skagits 'Dr. Holmes saw an old man in the last stage of
consumption, shivering from the effects of a cold bath at the
temperature of 40° Fahrenheit. A favourite remedy in pulmonary
consumption is to tie a rope tightly around the thorax, so as to force
the diaphram to perform respiration without the aid of the thoracic
muscles.' _Wilkes' Nar._, in _U. S. Ex. Ex._, vol. iv., p. 512. Among
the Clallams, to cure a girl of a disease of the side, after stripping
the patient naked, the medicine-man, throwing off his blanket,
'commenced singing and gesticulating in the most violent manner, whilst
the others kept time by beating with little sticks on hollow wooden
bowls and drums, singing continually. After exercising himself in this
manner for about half an hour, until the perspiration ran down his body,
he darted suddenly upon the young woman, catching hold of her side with
his teeth and shaking her for a few minutes, while the patient seemed to
suffer great agony. He then relinquished his hold, and cried out that he
had got it, at the same time holding his hands to his mouth; after which
he plunged them in the water and pretended to hold down with great
difficulty the disease which he had extracted.' _Kane's Wand._, pp.
225-6. Small-pox seemed very prevalent by which many had lost the sight
of one eye. _Vancouver's Voy._, vol. i., p. 242. To cure a cold in the
face the Queniults burned certain herbs to a cinder and mixing them with
grease, anointed the face. _Swan's N. W. Coast_, p. 265. Among the
Nooksaks mortality has not increased with civilization. 'As yet the only
causes of any amount are consumption and the old diseases.' _Ind. Aff.
Rept._, 1857, p. 327. At Neah Bay, 'a scrofulous affection pervades the
whole tribe.' The old, sick and maimed are abandoned by their friends to
die. _Id._, 1872, p. 350.
[336] Slaves have no right to burial. _Kane's Wand._, p. 215. At a
Queniult burial place 'the different colored blankets and calicoes hung
round gave the place an appearance of clothes hung out to dry on a
washing day.' _Swan's N. W. Coast_, p. 267. At Port Orchard bodies were
'wrapped firmly in matting, beneath which was a white blanket, closely
fastened round the body, and under this a covering of blue cotton.' At
Port Discovery bodies 'are wrapped in mats and placed upon the ground in
a sitting posture, and surrounded with stakes and pieces of plank to
protect them.' On the Cowlitz the burial canoes are painted with
figures, and gifts are not deposited till several months after the
funeral. _Wilkes' Nar._, in _U. S. Ex. Ex._, vol. iv., pp. 323, 347-8,
509-10. Among the Nisquallies bodies of relatives are sometimes
disinterred at different places, washed, re-wrapped and buried again in
one grave. _Lord's Nat._, vol. ii., pp. 238-9. 'Ornés de rubans de
diverses couleurs, de dents de poissons, de chapelets et d'autres
brimborions du goût des sauvages.' _Rossi_, _Souvenirs_, pp. 74-5. On
Penn Cove, in a deserted village, were found 'several sepulchres formed
exactly like a centry box. Some of them were open, and contained the
skeletons of many young children tied up in baskets.' _Vancouver's
Voy._, vol. i., pp. 254-6, 287; _Ind. Aff. Rept._, 1854, p. 242;
_Stevens_, in _Pac. R. R. Rept._, vol. i., p. 429. A correspondent
describes a flathead mummy from Puget Sound preserved in San Francisco.
'The eye-balls are still round under the lid; the teeth, the muscles,
and tendons perfect, the veins injected with some preserving liquid, the
bowels, stomach and liver dried up, but not decayed, all perfectly
preserved. The very blanket that entwines him, made of some threads of
bark and saturated with a pitchy substance, is entire.' _Schoolcraft's
Arch._, vol. v., p. 693; _Pickering's Races_, in _U. S. Ex. Ex._, vol.
ix., p. 32.
[337] 'Their native bashfulness renders all squaws peculiarly sensitive
to any public notice or ridicule.' Probably the laziest people in the
world. The mails are intrusted with safety to Indian carriers, who are
perfectly safe from interference on the part of any Indian they may
meet. _Kane's Wand._, p. 209-16, 227-8, 234, 247-8. 'La mémoire locale
et personelle du sauvage est admirable; il n'oublie jamais un endroit ni
une personne.' Nature seems to have given him memory to supply the want
of intelligence. 'Much inclined to vengeance. Those having means may
avert vengeance by payments.' _Rossi_, _Souvenirs_, pp. 113, 295-9.
'Perfectly indifferent to exposure; decency has no meaning in their
language.' Although always begging, they refuse to accept any article
not in good condition, calling it _Peeshaaak_, a term of contempt.
_Seemann's Voy. Herald_, vol. i., pp. 108-9. Murder of a Spanish boat's
crew in latitude 47° 20´. _Maurelle's Jour._, pp. 29, 31. 'Cheerful and
well disposed' at Port Orchard. At Strait of Fuca 'little more elevated
in their moral qualities than the Fuegians.' At Nisqually, 'addicted to
stealing.' 'Vicious and exceedingly lazy, sleeping all day.' The Skagits
are catholics, and are more advanced than others in civilization.
_Wilkes' Nar._, in _U. S. Ex. Ex._, vol. iv., pp. 317, 444, 510-11, 517.
Both at Gray Harbor and Puget Sound they were uniformly civil and
friendly, fair and honest in trade. Each tribe claimed that 'the others
were bad people and that the party questioned were the only good Indians
in the harbor.' _Vancouver's Voy._, vol. i., p. 256; vol. ii., pp. 83-4.
'The Clallam tribe has always had a bad character, which their
intercourse with shipping, and the introduction of whiskey, has by no
means improved.' _Ind. Aff. Rept._, 1854, p. 243. 'The superior courage
of the Makahs, as well as their treachery, will make them more difficult
of management than most other tribes.' _Stevens_, in _Pac. R. R. Rept._,
vol. i., p. 429. The Lummis and other tribes at Bellingham Bay have
already abandoned their ancient barbarous habits, and have adopted those
of civilization. _Coleman_, in _Harper's Mag._, vol. xxxix., pp. 795-7;
_Simpson's Overland Journ._, vol. i., pp. 240-2. 'The instincts of these
people are of a very degraded character. They are filthy, cowardly,
lazy, treacherous, drunken, avaricious, and much given to thieving. The
women have not the slightest pretension to virtue.' The Makahs 'are the
most independent Indians in my district--they and the Quilleyutes, their
near neighbors.' _Ind. Aff. Rept._, 1858, pp. 225, 231; _Id._, 1862, p.
390; _Id._, 1870, p. 20; _Schoolcraft's Arch._, vol. iv., p. 601;
_Winthrop's Canoe and Saddle_, p. 58; _Cram's Top. Mem._, p. 65.
[338] Perhaps the Cascades might more properly be named as the boundary,
since the region of the Dalles, from the earliest records, has been the
rendezvous for fishing, trading, and gambling purposes, of tribes from
every part of the surrounding country, rather than the home of any
particular nation.
[339] For details see TRIBAL BOUNDARIES at the end of this chapter. The
Chinooks, Clatsops, Wakiakums and Cathlamets, 'resembling each other in
person, dress, language, and manners.' The Chinooks and Wakiakums were
originally one tribe, and Wakiakum was the name of the chief who seceded
with his adherents. _Irving's Astoria_, pp. 335-6. 'They may be regarded
as the distinctive type of the tribes to the north of the Oregon, for it
is in them that the peculiarities of the population of these regions are
seen in the most striking manner.' _Domenech's Deserts_, vol. ii., pp.
15-6, 36. All the tribes about the mouth of the Columbia 'appear to be
descended from the same stock ... and resemble one another in language,
dress, and habits.' _Ross' Adven._, pp. 87-8. The Cathleyacheyachs at the
Cascades differ but little from the Chinooks. _Id._, p. 111. Scouler
calls the Columbia tribes _Cathlascons_, and considers them 'intimately
related to the Kalapooiah Family.' _Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour._, vol. xi.,
p. 225. The Willamette tribes 'differ very little in their habits and
modes of life, from those on the Columbia River.' _Hunter's Cap._, p.
72. Mofras makes _Killimous_ a general name for all Indians south of the
Columbia. _Explor._, tom. ii., p. 357; _Dunn's Oregon_, pp. 114-18;
_Cox's Adven._, vol. ii., p. 133. The Nechecolees on the Willamette
claimed an affinity with the Eloots at the Narrows of the Columbia. The
Killamucks 'resemble in almost every particular the Clatsops and
Chinnooks. _Lewis and Clarke's Trav._, pp. 427, 504. 'Of the Coast
Indians that I have seen there seems to be so little difference in their
style of living that a description of one family will answer for the
whole.' _Swan's N. W. Coast_, pp. 153-4. 'All the natives inhabiting the
southern shore of the Straits, and the deeply indented territory as far
and including the tide-waters of the Columbia, may be comprehended under
the general term of Chinooks.' _Pickering's Races_, in _U. S. Ex. Ex._,
vol. ix., p. 25.
[340] 'The race of the Chenooks is nearly run. From a large and powerful
tribe ... they have dwindled down to about a hundred individuals, ...
and these are a depraved, licentious, drunken set.' _Swan's N. W.
Coast_, pp. 108-10. The Willopahs 'may be considered as extinct, a few
women only remaining.' _Stevens_, in _Pac. R. R. Rept._, vol. i., p.
428; _Mofras_, _Explor._, tom. ii., p. 351; _Ind. Aff. Rept._, 1854, pp.
239-40; _Lord's Nat._, vol. i., p. 354; vol. ii., p. 217; _De Smet_,
_Missions de l'Orégon_, pp. 163-4; _Kane's Wand._, pp. 173-6, 196-7;
_Irving's Astoria_, pp. 335-6; _Fitzgerald's Hud. B. Co._, pp. 170-2;
_Hines' Oregon_, pp. 103-19, 236; _Thornton's Ogn. and Cal._, vol. ii.,
pp. 52-3; _Domenech's Deserts_, vol. ii., p. 36; _Palmer's Jour._, pp.
84, 87; _Parker's Explor. Tour_, pp. 191-2. 'In the Wallamette valley,
their favorite country, ... there are but few remnants left, and they
are dispirited and broken-hearted.' _Robertson's Oregon_, p. 130.