WINTER LIFE.
Jan. 18, 1806.--We are all occupied in dressing skins, and preparing
clothes for our journey homewards. This morning, we sent out two parties
of hunters in different directions. We were visited by three Clatsops,
who came merely for the purpose of smoking and conversing with us.
Jan. 21.--Two of the hunters came back with three elks, which form a
timely addition to our stock of provision. The Indian visitors left us
at twelve o'clock.
The Clatsops and other nations have visited us with great freedom.
Having acquired much of their language, we are enabled, with the
assistance of gestures, to hold conversations with great ease. We find
them inquisitive and loquacious; by no means deficient in acuteness.
They are generally cheerful, but seldom gay. Every thing they see
excites their attention and inquiries.
Their treatment of women and old men depends very much on the usefulness
of these classes. Thus, among the Clatsops and Chinooks, who live upon
fish and roots, which the women are equally expert with the men in
procuring, the women have a rank and influence far greater than they
have among the hunting tribes. On many subjects their judgments and
opinions are respected; and, in matters of trade, their advice is
generally asked and followed. So with the old men: when one is unable to
pursue the chase, his counsels may compensate for his want of activity;
but in the next state of infirmity, when he can no longer travel from
camp to camp as the tribe roams about for subsistence, he is found to be
a burden. In this condition they are abandoned among the Sioux and other
hunting-tribes of the Missouri. As the tribe are setting out for some
new excursion where the old man is unable to follow, his children or
nearest relations place before him a piece of meat and some water; and
telling him that he has lived long enough, that it is now time for him
to go home to his relations, who can take better care of him than his
friends on earth, they leave him without remorse to perish, when his
little supply is exhausted.
Though this is doubtless true as a general rule, yet, in the villages of
the Minnetarees and Ricaras, we saw no want of kindness to old men: on
the contrary, probably because in villages the more abundant means of
subsistence renders such cruelty unnecessary, the old people appeared to
be treated with attention; and some of their feasts, particularly the
buffalo-dances, were intended chiefly as an occasion of contribution for
the old and infirm.
FLATHEAD INDIANS.
The custom of flattening the head by artificial pressure during infancy
prevails among all the nations we have seen west of the Rocky Mountains.
To the east of that barrier the fashion is so perfectly unused, that
they designate the western Indians, of whatever tribe, by the common
name of Flatheads. The practice is universal among the Killimucks,
Clatsops, Chinooks, and Cathlamahs,--the four nations with whom we have
had most intercourse. Soon after the birth of her child, the mother
places it in the compressing-frame, where it is kept for ten or twelve
months. The operation is so gradual, that it is not attended with pain.
The heads of the children, when they are released from the bandage, are
not more than two inches thick about the upper edge of the forehead:
nor, with all its efforts, can nature ever restore their shape; the
heads of grown persons being often in a straight line from the tip of
the nose to the top of the forehead.
TEMPERANCE.--GAMBLING.
Their houses usually contain several families, consisting of parents,
sons and daughters, daughters-in-law and grand-children, among whom the
provisions are in common, and harmony seldom interrupted. As these
families gradually expand into tribes, or nations, the paternal
authority is represented by the chief of each association. The
chieftainship is not hereditary: the chief's ability to render service
to his neighbors, and the popularity which follows it, is the foundation
of his authority, which does not extend beyond the measure of his
personal influence.
The harmony of their private life is protected by their ignorance of
spirituous liquors. Although the tribes near the coast have had so much
intercourse with the whites, they do not appear to possess any
knowledge of those dangerous luxuries; at least, they have never
inquired of us for them. Indeed, we have not observed any liquor of an
intoxicating quality used among any Indians west of the Rocky Mountains;
the universal beverage being pure water. They, however, almost
intoxicate themselves by smoking tobacco, of which they are excessively
fond. But the common vice of all these people is an attachment to games
of chance, which they pursue with a ruinous avidity. The game of the
pebble has already been described. Another game is something like the
play of ninepins. Two pins are placed on the floor, about the distance
of a foot from each other, and a small hole made in the earth behind
them. The players then go about ten feet from the hole, into which they
try to roll a small piece resembling the men used at checkers. If they
succeed in putting it into the hole, they win the stake. If the piece
rolls between the pins, but does not go into the hole, nothing is won or
lost; but the wager is lost if the checker rolls outside the pins.
Entire days are wasted at these games, which are often continued through
the night round the blaze of their fires, till the last article of
clothing or the last blue bead is lost and won.
TREES.
The whole neighborhood of the coast is supplied with great quantities of
excellent timber. The predominant growth is the fir, of which we have
seen several species. The first species grows to an immense size, and is
very commonly twenty-seven feet in circumference, six feet above the
earth's surface. They rise to the height of two hundred and thirty feet,
and one hundred and twenty of that height without a limb. We have often
found them thirty-six feet in circumference. One of our party measured
one, and found it to be forty-two feet in circumference at a point
beyond the reach of an ordinary man. This tree was perfectly sound; and,
at a moderate calculation, its height may be estimated at three hundred
feet.
The second is a much more common species, and constitutes at least
one-half of the timber in this neighborhood. It resembles the spruce,
rising from one hundred and sixty to one hundred and eighty feet; and is
from four to six feet in diameter, straight, round, and regularly
tapering.
The stem of the black alder arrives at a great size. It is sometimes
found growing to the height of sixty or seventy feet, and is from two to
four in diameter.
There is a tree, common on the Columbia River, much resembling the ash,
and another resembling the white maple, though much smaller.
The undergrowth consists of honeysuckle, alder, whortleberry, a plant
like the mountain-holly, green brier, and fern.
ANIMALS.
The beaver of this country is large and fat: the flesh is very
palatable, and, at our table, was a real luxury. On the 7th of January,
our hunter found a beaver in his trap, of which he made a bait for
taking others. This bait will entice the beaver to the trap as far as he
can smell it; and this may be fairly stated to be at the distance of a
mile, as their sense of smelling is very acute.
The sea-otter resides only on the sea-coast or in the neighborhood of
the salt water. When fully grown, he attains to the size of a large
mastiff dog. The ears, which are not an inch in length, are thick,
pointed, fleshy, and covered with short hair; the tail is ten inches
long, thick at the point of insertion, and partially covered with a deep
fur on the upper side; the legs are very short, covered with fur, and
the feet with short hair. The body of this animal is long, and of the
same thickness throughout. From the extremity of the tail to the nose,
they measure five feet. The color is a uniform dark brown, and when in
good condition, and in season, perfectly black. This animal is
unrivalled for the beauty, richness, and softness of his fur. The inner
part of the fur, when opened, is lighter than the surface in its natural
position. There are some black and shining hairs intermixed with the
fur, which are rather longer, and add much to its beauty.
HORSES AND DOGS.
The horse is confined chiefly to the nations inhabiting the great plains
of the Columbia, extending from latitude forty to fifty north, and
occupying the tract of country lying between the Rocky Mountains and a
range of mountains which crosses the Columbia River about the great
falls. In this region they are very numerous.
They appear to be of an excellent race, lofty, well formed, active, and
enduring. Many of them appear like fine English coursers. Some of them
are pied, with large spots of white irregularly scattered, and
intermixed with a dark-brown bay. The greater part, however, are of a
uniform color, marked with stars, and white feet. The natives suffer
them to run at large in the plains, the grass of which affords them
their only winter subsistence; their masters taking no trouble to lay in
a winter's store for them. They will, nevertheless, unless much
exercised, fatten on the dry grass afforded by the plains during the
winter. The plains are rarely moistened by rain, and the grass is
consequently short and thin.
Whether the horse was originally a native of this country or not, the
soil and climate appear to be perfectly well adapted to his nature.
Horses are said to be found wild in many parts of this country.
The dog is small, about the size of an ordinary cur. He is usually
party-colored; black, white, brown, and brindle being the colors most
predominant. The head is long, the nose pointed, the eyes small, the
ears erect and pointed like those of the wolf. The hair is short and
smooth, excepting on the tail, where it is long and straight, like that
of the ordinary cur-dog. The natives never eat the flesh of this animal,
and he appears to be in no other way serviceable to them but in hunting
the elk. To us, on the contrary, it has now become a favorite food; for
it is found to be a strong, healthy diet, preferable to lean deer or
elk, and much superior to horse-flesh in any state.
BURROWING SQUIRREL.
There are several species of squirrels not different from those found in
the Atlantic States. There is also a species of squirrel, evidently
distinct, which we denominate the burrowing squirrel. He measures one
foot five inches in length, of which the tail comprises two and a half
inches only. The neck and legs are short; the ears are likewise short,
obtusely pointed, and lie close to the head. The eyes are of a moderate
size, the pupil black, and the iris of a dark, sooty brown. The teeth,
and indeed the whole contour, resemble those of the squirrel.
These animals associate in large companies, occupying with their burrows
sometimes two hundred acres of land. The burrows are separate, and each
contains ten or twelve of these inhabitants. There is a little mound in
front of the hole, formed of the earth thrown out of the burrow; and
frequently there are three or four distinct holes, forming one burrow,
with their entrances around the base of a mound. These mounds, about two
feet in height and four in diameter, are occupied as watch-towers by the
inhabitants of these little communities. The squirrels are irregularly
distributed about the tract they thus occupy,--ten, twenty, or thirty
yards apart. When any person approaches, they make a shrill whistling
sound, somewhat resembling "tweet, tweet, tweet;" the signal for their
party to take the alarm, and to retire into their intrenchments. They
feed on the grass of their village, the limits of which they never
venture to exceed. As soon as the frost commences, they shut themselves
up in their caverns, and continue until the spring opens.
BIRDS.
THE GROUSE, OR PRAIRIE-HEN.--This is peculiarly the inhabitant
of the great plains of the Columbia, but does not differ from those of
the upper portion of the Missouri. In the winter season, this bird is
booted to the first joint of the toes. The toes are curiously bordered
on their lower edges with narrow, hard scales, which are placed very
close to each other, and extend horizontally about one-eighth of an inch
on each side of the toes, adding much to the broadness of the feet,--a
security which Nature has furnished them for passing over the snow with
more ease,--and, what is very remarkable, in the summer season these
scales drop from the feet. The color of this bird is a mixture of dark
brown, reddish, and yellowish brown, with white confusedly mixed. The
reddish-brown prevails most on the upper parts of the body, wings, and
tail; and the white, under the belly and the lower parts of the breast
and tail. They associate in large flocks in autumn and winter; and, even
in summer, are seen in companies of five or six. They feed on grass,
insects, leaves of various shrubs in the plains, and the seeds of
several species of plants which grow in richer soils. In winter, their
food consists of the buds of the willow and cottonwood, and native
berries.
The cock of the plains is found on the plains of the Columbia in great
abundance. The beak is large, short, covered, and convex; the upper
exceeding the lower chap. The nostrils are large, and the back black.
The color is a uniform mixture of a dark-brown, resembling the dove, and
a reddish or yellowish brown, with some small black specks. The habits
of this bird resemble those of the grouse, excepting that his food is
the leaf and buds of the pulpy-leaved thorn. The flesh is dark, and only
tolerable in point of flavor.
HORNED FROG.
The horned lizard, or horned frog, called, for what reason we never
could learn, the prairie buffalo, is a native of these plains as well
as of those of the Missouri. The color is generally brown, intermixed
with yellowish spots. The animal is covered with minute scales,
interspersed with small horny points, or prickles, on the upper surface
of the body. The belly and throat resemble those of the frog, and are of
a light yellowish-brown. The edge of the belly is likewise beset with
small horny projections. The eye is small and dark. Above and behind the
eyes there are several bony projections, which resemble horns sprouting
from the head.
These animals are found in greatest numbers in the sandy, open plains,
and appear most abundant after a shower of rain. They are sometimes
found basking in the sunshine, but generally conceal themselves in
little holes of the earth. This may account for their appearance in such
numbers after rain, as their holes may thus be rendered untenantable.