Canoes are made by the Sound Indians in the same manner as by the Nootkas already described; being always dug out, formerly by fire, from a single cedar trunk, and the form improved afterwards by stretching when soaked in hot water. Of the most elegant proportions, they are modeled by the builder with no guide but the eye, and with most imperfect tools; three months' work is sufficient to produce a medium-sized boat. The form varies among different nations according as the canoe is intended for ocean, sound, or river navigation; being found with bow or stern, or both, in various forms, pointed, round, shovel-nosed, raised or level. The raised stern, head-piece, and stern-post are usually formed of separate pieces. Like the Nootkas, they char and polish the outside and paint the interior with red. The largest and finest specimen seen by Mr. Swan was forty-six feet long and six feet wide, and crossed the bar into Shoalwater Bay with thirty Queniult Indians from the north. The paddle used in deep water has a crutch-like handle and a sharp-pointed blade.[328]
TRADE AND GOVERNMENT OF THE SOUND INDIANS.
In their barter between the different tribes, and in estimating their wealth, the blanket is generally the unit of value, and thehiaqua, a long white shell obtained off Cape Flattery at a considerable depth, is also extensively used for money, its value increasing with its length. A kind of annual fair for trading purposes and festivities is held by the tribes of Puget Sound at Bajada Point, and here and in their other feasts they are fond of showing their wealth and liberality by disposing of their surplus property in gifts.[329]
The system of government seems to be of the simplest nature, each individual being entirely independent and master of his own actions. There is a nominal chief in each tribe, who sometimes acquires great influence and privileges by his wealth or personal prowess, but he has no authority, and only directs the movements of his band in warlike incursions. I find no evidence of hereditary rank or caste except as wealth is sometimes inherited.[330]Slaves are held by all the tribes, and are treated very much like their dogs, being looked upon asproperty, and not within the category of humanity. For a master to kill half a dozen slaves is no wrong or cruelty; it only tends to illustrate the owner's noble disposition in so freely sacrificing his property. Slaves are obtained by war and kidnapping, and are sold in large numbers to northern tribes. According to Sproat, the Classets, a rich and powerful tribe, encourage the slave-hunting incursions of the Nootkas against their weaker neighbors.[331]
Wives are bought by presents, and some performances or ceremonies, representative of hunting or fishing scenes, not particularly described by any visitor, take place at the wedding. Women have all the work to do except hunting and fishing, while their lords spend their time in idleness and gambling. Still the females are not ill-treated; they acquire great influence in the tribe, and are always consulted in matters of trade before a bargain is closed. They are not overburdened with modesty, nor are husbands noted for jealousy. Hiring out their women, chiefly however slaves, for prostitution, has been a prominent source of tribal revenue since the country was partially settled by whites. Women are not prolific, three or four being ordinarily the limit of their offspring. Infants, properly bound up with the necessary apparatus for head-flattening, are tied to their cradle or to a piece of bark, and hung by a cord to the end of a springy pole kept in motion by a string attached to the mother's great toe. Affection for children is by no means rare, but in few tribes can they resist the temptation to sell or gamble them away.[332]
AMUSEMENTS OF THE SOUND INDIANS.
Feasting, gambling, and smoking are the favorite amusements; all their property, slaves, children, and even their own freedom in some cases are risked in their games. Several plants are used as substitutes for tobacco when that article is not obtainable. If any important differences exist between their ceremonies, dances, songs and feasts, and those of Vancouver Island, such variations have not been recorded. In fact, many authors describe the manners and customs of 'North-west America' as if occupied by one people.[333]There is no evidence of cannibalism; indeed, during Vancouver's visit at Puget Sound, some meat offered to the natives was refused, because it was suspected to be human flesh. Since their acquaintance with the whites they have acquired a habit of assuming great names, as Duke of York, or Jenny Lind, and highly prize scraps of paper with writing purporting to substantiate their claims to such distinctions. Their superstitions are many, and they are continually on the watch in all the commonest acts of life against the swarm of evil influences, from which they may escape only by the greatest care.[334]
CHARACTER OF THE SOUND INDIANS.
Disorders of the throat and lungs, rheumatism and intermittent fevers, are among the most prevalent forms of disease, and in their methods of cure, as usual, the absurd ceremonies, exorcisms, and gesticulations of the medicine-men play the principal part; but hot and cold baths are also often resorted to without regard to the nature or stage of the malady.[335]The bodies of such assuccumb to their diseases, or to the means employed for cure, are disposed of in different ways according to locality, tribe, rank, or age. Skeletons are found by travelers buried in the ground or deposited in a sitting posture on its surface; in canoes or in boxes supported by posts, or, more commonly, suspended from the branches of trees. Corpses are wrapped in cloth or matting, and more or less richly decorated according to the wealth of the deceased. Several bodies are often put in one canoe or box, and the bodies of young children are found suspended in baskets. Property and implements, the latter always broken, are deposited with or near the remains, and these last resting-places of their people are religiously cared for and guarded from intrusion by all the tribes.[336]All the peculiarities and inconsistencies of theNootka character perhaps have been noted by travelers among the Indians of the Sound, but none of these peculiarities are so clearly marked in the latter people. In their character, as in other respects, they have little individuality, and both their virtues and vices are but faint reflections of the same qualities in the great families north and south of their territory. The Cape Flattery tribes are at once the most intelligent, bold, and treacherous of all, while some of the tribes east and north-east of the Sound proper have perhaps the best reputation. Since the partial settlement of their territory by the whites, the natives here as elsewhere have lost many of their original characteristics, chiefly the better ones. The remnants now for the most part are collected on government reservations, or live in the vicinity of towns, by begging and prostitution. Some tribes, especially in the region of Bellingham Bay, have been nominally converted to Christianity, have abandoned polygamy, slavery, head-flattening, gambling, and superstitious ceremonies, and pay considerable attention to a somewhat mixed version of church doctrine and ceremonies.[337]
THE CHINOOKS.
The Chinooksconstitute the fourth division of the Columbian group. Originally the name was restricted to a tribe on the north bank of the Columbia between Gray Bay and the ocean; afterwards, from a similarity in language and customs, it was applied to all the bands on both sides of the river, from its mouth to the Dalles.[338]It is employed in this work to designate all the Oregon tribes west of the Cascade Range, southward to the Rogue River or Umpqua Mountains. This family lies between the Sound Indians on the north and the Californian group on the south, including in addition to the tribes of the Columbia, those of the Willamette Valley and the Coast. All closely resemble each other in manners and customs, having also a general resemblance to the northern families already described, springing from their methods of obtaining food; and although probably without linguistic affinities, except along the Columbia River, they may be consistently treated as onefamily—the last of the great coast or fish-eating divisions of the Columbian group.
Among the prominent tribes, or nations of the Chinook family may be mentioned the following: theWatlalasor upper Chinooks, including the bands on the Columbia from the Cascades to the Cowlitz, and on the lower Willamette; the lower Chinooks from the Cowlitz to the Pacific comprising theWakiakumsandChinookson the north bank, and theCathlametsandClatsopson the south; theCalapooyasoccupying the Valley of the Willamette, and theClackamason one of its chief tributaries of the same name; with theKillamooksandUmpquaswho live between the Coast Range[339]and the ocean.
With respect to the present condition of these nations, authorities agree in speaking of them as a squalid and poverty-stricken race, once numerous and powerful, now few and weak. Their country has been settled by whites much more thickly than regions farther north, and they have rapidly disappeared before the influx of strangers. Whole tribes have been exterminated by war and disease, and in the few miserable remnants collected onreservations or straggling about the Oregon towns, no trace is apparent of the independent, easy-living bands of the remote past.[340]It is however to be noted that at no time since this region has been known to Europeans has the Indian population been at all in proportion to the supporting capacity of the land, while yet in a state of nature, with its fertile soil and well-stocked streams and forests.
CHINOOK PHYSIQUE.
In physique the Chinook can not be said to differ materially from the Nootka. In stature the men rarely exceed five feet six inches, and the women five feet. Both sexes are thick-set, but as a rule loosely built, although in this respect they had doubtless degenerated when described by most travelers. Their legs are bowed and otherwise deformed by a constant squatting position in and out of their canoes. Trained by constant exposure with slight clothing, they endure cold and hunger better than the white man, but to continued muscular exertion they soon succumb. Physically they improve in proportion to their distance from the Columbia and its fisheries; the Calapooyas on the upper Willamette, according to early visitors, presenting the finest specimens.[341]Descending from the north along the coast,Hyperboreans, Columbians, and Californians gradually assume a more dusky hue as we proceed southward. The complexion of the Chinooks may be called a trifle darker than the natives of the Sound, and of Vancouver; though nothing is more difficult than from the vague expressions of travelers to determine shades of color.[342]Points of resemblance have been noted by many observers between the Chinook and Mongolian physiognomy, consisting chiefly in the eyes turned obliquely upward at the outer corner. The face is broad and round, the nose flat and fat, with large nostrils, the mouth wide and thick-lipped, teeth irregular and much worn, eyes black, dull and expressionless; the hair generally black and worn long, and the beard carefully plucked out; nevertheless, their features are often regular.[343]
HEAD-FLATTENING PHENOMENON.
It is about the mouth of the Columbia that the custom of flattening the head seems to have originated. Radiating from this centre in all directions, and becoming less universal and important as the distance is increased, the usage terminates on the south with the nations which I have attached to the Chinook family, is rarely found east of the Cascade Range, but extends, as we have seen, northward through all the coast families, although it is far from being held in the same esteem in the far north as in its apparently original centre. The origin of this deformity is unknown. All we can do is to refer it to that strange infatuation incident to humanity which lies at the root of fashion and ornamentation, and which even in these later times civilization is not able to eradicate. As Alphonso the Wise regretted not having been present at the creation—for then he would have had the world to suit him—so different ages and nations strive in various ways to remodel and improve the human form. Thus the Chinese lady compresses the feet, the European the waist, and the Chinook the head. Slaves are not allowed to indulge in this extravagance,and as this class are generally of foreign tribes or families, the work of ethnologists in classifying skulls obtained by travelers, and thereby founding theories of race is somewhat complicated; but the difficulty is lessened by the fact that slaves receive no regular burial, and hence all skulls belonging to bodies from native cemeteries are known to be Chinook.[344]The Chinook ideal of facial beauty is a straight line from the end of the nose to the crown of the head. The flattening of the skull is effected by binding the infant to its cradle immediately after birth, and keeping it there from three months to a year. The simplest form of cradle is a piece of board or plank on which the child is laid upon its back with the head slightly raised by a block of wood. Another piece of wood, or bark, or leather, is then placed over the forehead and tied to the plank with strings which are tightened more and more each day until the skull is shaped to the required pattern. Space is left for lateral expansion; and under ordinary circumstances the child's head is not allowed to leave its position until the process is complete. The body and limbs are also bound to the cradle, but more loosely, by bandages, which are sometimes removed for cleansing purposes. Moss or soft bark is generally introduced between the skin and the wood, and in some tribes comfortable pads,cushions, or rabbit-skins are employed. The piece of wood which rests upon the forehead is in some cases attached to the cradle by leather hinges, and instances are mentioned where the pressure is created by a spring. A trough or canoe-shaped cradle, dug out from a log, often takes the place of the simple board, and among the rich this is elaborately worked, and ornamented with figures and shells. The child while undergoing this process, with its small black eyes jammed half out of their sockets, presents a revolting picture. Strangely enough, however, the little prisoner seems to feel scarcely any pain, and travelers almost universally state that no perceptible injury is done to the health or brain. As years advance the head partially but not altogether resumes its natural form, and among aged persons the effects are not very noticeable. As elsewhere, the personal appearance of the women is of more importance than that of the men, therefore the female child is subjected more rigorously and longer to the compressing process, than her brothers. Failure properly to mould the cranium of her offspring gives to the Chinook matron the reputation of a lazy and undutiful mother, and subjects the neglected children to the ridicule of their young companions;[345]so despotic is fashion. A practicewhich renders the Chinook more hideous than the compression of his skull is that of piercing or slitting the cartilage of the nose and ears, and inserting therein long strings of beads or hiaqua shells, the latter being prized above all other ornaments. Tattooing seems to have been practiced, but not extensively, taking usually the form of lines of dots pricked into the arms, legs, and cheeks with pulverized charcoal. Imitation tattooing, with the bright-colored juices of different berries, was a favorite pastime with the women, and neither sex could resist the charms of salmon-grease and red clay. In later times, however, according to Swan, the custom of greasing and daubing the body has been to a great extent abandoned. Great pains is taken in dressing the hair, which is combed, parted in the middle, and usually allowed to hang in long tresses down the back, but often tied up in a queue by the women and girls, or braided so as to hang in two tails tied with strings.[346]
CHINOOK DRESS.
For dress, skins were much more commonly used in this region than among other coast families; particularly the skins of the smaller animals, as the rabbit and woodrat. These skins, dressed and often painted, were sewed together so as to form a robe or blanket similar in form and use to the more northern blanket of wool, which, as well as a similar garment of goose-skin with the feathers on, was also made and worn by the Chinooks, though not incommon use among them. They prefer to go naked when the weather permits. Skins of larger animals, as the deer and elk, are also used for clothing, and of the latter is made a kind of arrow-proof armor for war; another coat of mail being made of sticks bound together. Females almost universally wear a skirt of cedar bark-fibre, fastened about the waist and hanging to the knees. This garment is woven for a few inches at the top, but the rest is simply a hanging fringe, not very effectually concealing the person. A substitute for this petticoat in some tribes is a square piece of leather attached to a belt in front; and in others a long strip of deer-skin passed between the thighs and wound about the waist. A fringed garment, like that described, is also sometimes worn about the shoulders; in cold weather a fur robe is wrapped about the body from the hips to the armpits, forming a close and warm vest; and over all is sometimes thrown a cape, or fur blanket, like that of the men, varying in quality and value with the wealth of the wearer. The best are made of strips of sea-otter skin, woven with grass or cedar bark, so that the fur shows on both sides. Chiefs and men of wealth wear rich robes of otter and other valuable furs. The conical hat woven of grass and bark, and painted in black and white checks or with rude figures, with or without a brim, and fastened under the chin, is the only covering for the head.[347]
DWELLINGS OF THE CHINOOKS.
The Chinooks moved about less for the purpose of obtaining a supply of food, than many others, even of the coast families, yet the accumulation of filth or—a much stronger motive—of fleas, generally forced them to take down their winter dwellings each spring, preserving the materials for re-erection on the same or another spot. The best houses were built of cedar planks attached by bark-fibre cords to a frame, which consisted of four corner, and two central posts and a ridge pole. The planks of the sides and ends were sometimes perpendicular, but oftener laid horizontally, overlapping here in clapboard fashion as on the roof. In some localities the roof and even the whole structure was of cedar bark. These dwellings closely resembled those farther north, but were somewhat inferior in size, twenty-five to seventy-five feet long, and fifteen to twenty-five feet wide, being the ordinary dimensions. On the Columbia they were only four or five feet high at the eaves, but an equal depth was excavated in the ground, while on the Willamette the structure was built on the surface. The door was only just large enough to admit the body, and it was a favorite fancy of the natives to make it represent the mouth of an immense head painted round it. Windows there were none, nor chimney; one or more fireplaces were sunk in the floor, and the smoke escaped by the cracks, a plank in the roof being sometimes moved for the purpose. Mats were spread on the floor and raised berths were placed on the sides, sometimes in several tiers. Partitions of plank or matting separated the apartments of the several families. Smaller temporary huts, and the permanent homes of the poorer Indians were built in various forms, of sticks, covered with bark, rushes, or skins. The interior and exterior of all dwellings were in a state of chronic filth.[348]
FISHERIES OF THE CHINOOKS.
The salmon fisheries of the Columbia are now famous throughout the world. Once every year innumerable multitudes of these noble fish enter the river from the ocean to deposit their spawn. Impelled by instinct, they struggle to reach the extreme limits of the stream, working their way in blind desperation to the very sources of every little branch, overcoming seeming impossibilities, and only to fulfill their destiny and die; for if they escape human enemies, they either kill themselves in their mad efforts to leap impassable falls, or if their efforts are crowned with success, they are supposed never to return to the ocean. This fishery has always been the chief and an inexhaustible source of food for the Chinooks, who, although skillful fishermen, have not been obliged to invent a great variety of methods or implements for the capture of the salmon, which rarely if ever have failed them. Certain ceremonies must, however, be observed with the first fish taken; his meat must be cut only with the grain, and the hearts of all caught must be burned or eaten, and on no account be thrown into the water or be devoured by a dog. With these precautions there is no reason to suppose that the Chinook would ever lack a supply of fish. The salmon begin to run in April, but remain several weeks in thewarmer waters near the mouth, and are there taken while in their best condition, by the Chinook tribe proper, with a straight net of bark or roots, sometimes five hundred feet long and fifteen feet deep, with floats and sinkers. One end of the net is carried out into the river at high water, and drawn in by the natives on the shore, who with a mallet quiet the fish and prevent them from jumping over the net and escaping. Farther up, especially at the Cascades and at the falls of the Willamette, salmon are speared by natives standing on the rocks or on planks placed for the purpose; scooped up in small dip-nets; or taken with a large unbaited hook attached by a socket and short line to a long pole. There is some account of artificial channels of rocks at these places, but such expedients were generally not needed, since, beside those caught by the Chinooks, such numbers were cast on the rocks by their own efforts to leap the falls, that the air for months was infected by the decaying mass; and many of these in a palatable state of decay were gathered by the natives for food. Hooks, spears, and nets were sometimes rubbed with the juice of certain plants supposed to be attractive to the fish. Once taken, the salmon were cleaned by the women, dried in the sun and smoked in the lodges; then they were sometimes powdered fine between two stones, before packing in skins or mats for winter use. The heads were always eaten as favorite portions during the fishing season. Next to the salmon the sturgeon was ranked as a source of food. This fish, weighing from two hundred to five hundred pounds, was taken by a baited hook, sunk about twenty feet, and allowed to float down the current; when hooked, the sturgeon rises suddenly and is dispatched by a spear, lifted into the canoe by a gaff-hook, or towed ashore. The Chinooks do not attack the whale, but when one is accidentally cast upon the shore, more or less decayed, a season of feasting ensues and the native heart is glad. Many smaller varieties of fish are taken by net, spear, hook, or rake, but no methods are employed meriting special description. Wild fowl aresnared or shot; elk and deer are shot with arrows or taken in a carefully covered pit, dug in their favorite haunts. As to the methods of taking rabbits and woodrats, whose skins are said to have been so extensively used for clothing, I find no information. Nuts, berries, wild fruits and roots are all used as food, and to some extent preserved for winter. The Wapato, a bulbous root, compared by some to the potatoe and turnip, was the aboriginal staple, and was gathered by women wading in shallow ponds, and separating the root with their toes.[349]Boiling in wooden kettles by means of hot stones, was the usual manner of cooking, but roasting on sticks stuck in the sand near the fire was also common. Clam-shells and a few rude platters and spoons of wood were in use, but the fingers, with the hair for a napkin,were found much more convenient table ware.[350]In all their personal habits the Chinooks are disgustingly filthy, although said to be fond of baths for health and pleasure. The Clatsops, as reported by one visitor, form a partial exception to this rule, as they occasionally wash the hands and face.[351]
WEAPONS OF THE CHINOOKS.
Their chief weapons are bows and arrows, the former of which is made of cedar, or occasionally, as it is said, of horn and bone; its elasticity is increased by a covering of sinew glued on. The arrow-head is of bone, flint, or copper, and the shaft consists of a short piece of some hard wood, and a longer one of a lighter material. The bows are from two and a half to four feet long; five styles, differing in form and curve, are pictured by Schoolcraft. Another weapon in common use was a double-edged wooden broad-sword, or sharp club, two and a half or three feet long; spears, tomahawks, and scalping knives are mentioned by many travelers, but not described, and it is doubtful if either were ever used by these aborigines.[352]I have already spoken of their thick arrow-proof elk-skin armor, and of a coat of short sticks bound together with grass; a bark helmet is also employed of sufficient strength to ward off arrows and light blows. Ross states that they also carry a circular elk-skin shield about eighteen inches in diameter. Although by no means a blood-thirsty race, the Chinook tribes were frequently involved in quarrels, resulting, it is said, from the abduction of women more frequently than from other causes. They, like almost all other American tribes,make a free use of war paint, laying it on grotesquely and in bright colors; but unlike most other nations, they never resorted to treachery, surprise, night attacks, or massacre of women and children. Fighting was generally done upon the water. When efforts to settle amicably their differences, always the first expedient, failed, a party of warriors, covered from head to foot with armor, and armed with bows, arrows, and bludgeons, was paddled by women to the enemies' village, where diplomatic efforts for peace were renewed. If still unsuccessful, the women were removed from danger, and the battle commenced, or, if the hour was late, fighting was postponed till the next morning. As their armor was arrow-proof and as they rarely came near enough for hand-to-hand conflict, the battles were of short duration and accompanied by little bloodshed; the fall of a few warriors decided the victory, the victors gained their point in the original dispute, the vanquished paid some damages, and the affair ended.[353]
IMPLEMENTS, MANUFACTURES, BOATS.
Troughs dug out of one piece of cedar, and woven baskets served this people for dishes, and were used for every purpose. The best baskets were of silk grass or fine fibre, of a conical form, woven in colors so closely as to hold liquids, and with a capacity of from one to six gallons. Coarser baskets were made of roots and rushes, rude spoons of ash-wood, and circular mats did duty as plates. Wapato diggers used a curved stick with handle of horn; fish-hooks and spears were made of wood and bone in a variety of forms; the wing-bone of the crane supplied a needle. With regard to their original cutting instruments, by which trees were felled for canoes or for planks which were split off by wedges, there is much uncertainty; since nearly all authoritiesstate that before their intercourse with Europeans, chisels made of 'old files,' were employed, and driven by an oblong stone or a spruce-knot mallet. Pipe-bowls were of hard wood fitted to an elder stem, but the best ones, of stone elegantly carved, were of Haidah manufacture and obtained from the north.[354]To kindle a fire the Chinook twirls rapidly between the palms a cedar stick, the point of which is pressed into a small hollow in a flat piece of the same material, the sparks falling on finely-frayed bark. Sticks are commonly carried for the purpose, improving with use. Besides woven baskets, matting is the chief article of Chinook manufacture. It is made by the women by placing side by side common bulrushes or flags about three feet long, tying the ends, and passing strings of twisted rushes through the whole length, sometimes twenty or thirty feet, about four inches apart, by means of a bone needle.[355]
Chinook boats do not differ essentially, either in material, form, or method of manufacture, from those already described as in use among the Sound family. Always dug out of a single log of the common white cedar, they vary in length from ten to fifty feet, and in form according to the waters they are intended to navigate or the freight they are to carry. In these canoes lightness, strength, and elegance combine to make them perfect models of water-craft. Lewis and Clarke describe four forms in use in this region, and their description of boats, as of most other matters connected with this people, has been taken with or without credit by nearly all who have treated of the subject. I cannot do better than to give their account of the largest and best boats used by the Killamooks andother tribes on the coast outside the river. "The sides are secured by cross-bars, or round sticks, two or three inches in thickness, which are inserted through holes just below the gunwale, and made fast with cords. The upper edge of the gunwale itself is about five-eighths of an inch thick, and four or five in breadth, and folds outwards, so as to form a kind of rim, which prevents the water from beating into the boat. The bow and stern are about the same height, and each provided with a comb, reaching to the bottom of the boat. At each end, also, are pedestals, formed of the same solid piece, on which are placed strange grotesque figures of men or animals, rising sometimes to the height of five feet, and composed of small pieces of wood, firmly united, with great ingenuity, by inlaying and mortising, without a spike of any kind. The paddle is usually from four feet and a half to five feet in length; the handle being thick for one-third of its length, when it widens, and is hollowed and thinned on each side of the centre, which forms a sort of rib. When they embark, one Indian sits in the stern, and steers with a paddle, the others kneel in pairs in the bottom of the canoe, and sitting on their heels, paddle over the gunwale next to them. In this way they ride with perfect safety the highest waves, and venture without the least concern in seas where other boats or seamen could not live an instant." The women are as expert as the men in the management of canoes.[356]
CHINOOK PROPERTY AND TRADE.
The Chinooks were always a commercial rather than a warlike people, and are excelled by none in theirshrewdness at bargaining. Before the arrival of the Europeans they repaired annually to the region of the Cascades and Dalles, where they met the tribes of the interior, with whom they exchanged their few articles of trade—fish, oil, shells, and Wapato—for the skins, roots, and grasses of their eastern neighbors. The coming of ships to the coast gave the Chinooks the advantage in this trade, since they controlled the traffic in beads, trinkets and weapons; they found also in the strangers ready buyers of the skins obtained from the interior in exchange for these articles. Their original currency or standard of value was the hiaqua shell from the northern coast, whose value was in proportion to its length, a fathom string of forty shells being worth nearly double a string of fifty to the fathom. Since the white men came, beaver-skins and blankets have been added to their currency. Individuals were protected in their rights to personal property, such as slaves, canoes, and implements, but they had no idea of personal property in lands, the title to which rested in the tribe for purposes of fishing and the chase.[357]
In decorative art this family cannot be said to hold a high place compared with more northern nations, their only superior work being the modeling of their canoes, and the weaving of ornamental baskets. In carving they are far inferior to the Haidahs; the Cathlamets, according to Lewis and Clarke, being somewhat superior to the others, or at least more fond of the art. Their attempts at painting are exceedingly rude.[358]
Little can be said of their system of government except that it was eminently successful in producing peaceful and well regulated communities. Each band or village was usually a sovereignty, nominally ruled by a chief, either hereditary or selected for his wealth and popularity, who exerted over his tribe influence rather than authority, but who was rarely opposed in his measures. Sometimes a league existed, more or less permanent, for warlike expeditions. Slight offenses against usage—the tribal common law—were expiated by the payment of an amount of property satisfactory to the party offended. Theft was an offense, but the return of the article stolen removed every trace of dishonor. Serious crimes, as the robbery of a burial-place, were sometimes punished with death by the people, but no special authorities or processes seem to have been employed, either for detection or punishment.[359]
Slavery, common to all the coast families, is also practiced by the Chinooks, but there is less difference here perhaps than elsewhere between the condition of the slaves and the free. Obtained from without the limits of the family, towards the south or east, by war, or more commonly by trade, the slaves are obliged to perform all the drudgery for their masters, and their children must remain in their parents' condition, their round heads serving as a distinguishing mark from freemen. But the amount of the work connected with the Chinook household is never great, and so long as the slaves are well and strong, they are liberally fed and well treated. True, many instances are known of slaves murdered by the whim of a cruel and rich master, and it was not very uncommon to kill slaves on the occasion of the death of prominent persons, but wives and friends are also known to have been sacrificed on similar occasions.No burial rights are accorded to slaves, and no care taken of them in serious illness; when unable to work they are left to die, and their bodies cast into the sea or forest as food for fish or beast. It was not a rare occurrence for a freeman to voluntarily subject himself to servitude in payment of a gambling-debt; nor for a slave to be adopted into the tribe, and the privilege of head-flattening accorded to his offspring.[360]
MARITAL RELATIONS OF THE CHINOOKS.
Not only were the Chinooks a peaceable people in their tribal intercourse, but eminently so in their family relations. The young men when they married brought their wives to their father's home, and thus several generations lived amicably in their large dwellings until forced to separate by numbers, the chief authority being exercised not by the oldest but by the most active and useful member of the household. Overtures for marriage were made by friends of the would-be bridegroom, who offered a certain price, and if accepted by the maiden's parents, the wedding ceremony was celebrated simply by an interchange and exhibition of presents with the congratulations of invited guests. A man might take as many wives as he could buy and support, and all lived together without jealousy; but practically few, and those among the rich and powerful, indulged in the luxury of more than one wife. It has been noticed that there was often great disparity in the ages of bride and groom, for, say the Chinooks, a very young or very aged couple lack either the experience or the activity necessary for fighting the battles of life. Divorce or separation is easily accomplished, but is not of frequent occurrence. A husband can repudiate his wife for infidelity, or any cause of dissatisfaction, and she can marry again. Some cases are known of infidelity punished withdeath. Barrenness is common, the birth of twins rare, and families do not usually exceed two children. Childbirth, as elsewhere among aboriginals, is accompanied with but little inconvenience, and children are often nursed until three or five years old. They are carried about on the mother's back until able to walk; at first in the head-flattening cradle, and later in wicker baskets. Unmarried women have not the slightest idea of chastity, and freely bestow their favors in return for a kindness, or for a very small consideration in property paid to themselves or parents. When married, all this is changed—female virtue acquires a marketable value, the possessorship being lodged in the man and not in the woman. Rarely are wives unfaithful to their husbands; but the chastity of the wife is the recognized property of the husband, who sells it whenever he pleases. Although attaching no honor to chastity, the Chinook woman feels something like shame at becoming the mother of an illegitimate child, and it is supposed to be partly from this instinct, that infanticide and abortion are of frequent occurrence. At her first menstruation a girl must perform a certain penance, much less severe, however, than among the northern nations. In some tribes she must bathe frequently for a moon, and rub the body with rotten hemlock, carefully abstaining from all fish and berries which are in season, and remaining closely in the house during a south wind. Did she partake of the forbidden food, the fish would leave the streams and the berries drop from the bushes; or did she go out in a south wind, the thunder-bird would come and shake his wings. All thunder-storms are thus caused. Both young children and the old and infirm are kindly treated. Work is equally divided between the sexes; the women prepare the food which the men provide; they also manufacture baskets and matting; they are nearly as skillful as the men with the canoe, and are consulted on all important matters. Their condition is by no means a hard one. It is among tribes that live by the chase or by other means in which women can beof little service, that we find the sex most oppressed and cruelly treated.[361]
CHINOOK FEASTS AND FESTIVITIES.
Like all Indians, the Chinooks are fond of feasting, but their feasts are simply the coming together of men and women during the fishing season with the determination to eat as much as possible, and this meeting is devoid of those complicated ceremonies of invitation, reception, and social etiquette, observed farther north; nor has any traveler noticed the distribution of property as a feature of these festivals. Fantastically dressed and gaudily decked with paint, they are wont to jump about on certain occasions in a hopping, jolting kind of dance, accompanied by songs, beating of sticks, clapping of hands, and occasional yells, the women usually dancing in a separate set. As few visitors mention their dances, it is probable that dancing was less prevalent than with others. Their songs were often soft and pleasing, differing in style for various occasions, the words extemporized, the tunes being often sung with meaningless sounds, like our tra-la-la. Swan gives examples of the music used under different circumstances. Smoking was universal, the leaves of the bear-berry being employed, mixed in later times with tobacco obtained from the whites. Smoke is swallowed and retained in the stomach and lungs until partial intoxication ensues. No intoxicating drink was known to them before the whites came, and after their coming for a little time they looked on strong drink with suspicion, and were averse to its use. They are sometimes sober even now, when no whisky is at hand. But the favorite amusement of all the Chinook nations is gambling, which occupies the larger part of their time whennot engaged in sleeping, eating, or absolutely necessary work. In their games they risk all their property, their wives and children, and in many instances their own freedom, losing all with composure, and nearly always accompanying the game with a song. Two persons, or two parties large or small, play one against the other; a banking game is also in vogue, in which one individual plays against all comers. A favorite method is to pass rapidly from hand to hand two small sticks, one of which is marked, the opponent meanwhile guessing at the hand containing the marked stick. The sticks sometimes take the form of discs of the size of a silver dollar, each player having ten; these are wrapped in a mass of fine bark-fibre, shuffled and separated in two portions; the winner naming the bunch containing the marked or trump piece. Differently marked sticks may also be shuffled or tossed in the air, and the lucky player correctly names the relative position in which they shall fall. A favorite game of females, calledahikia, is played with beaver-teeth, having figured sides, which are thrown like dice; the issue depends on the combinations of figures which are turned up. In all these games the players squat upon mats; sticks are used as counters; and an essential point for a successful gambler is to make as much noise as possible, in order to confuse the judgment of opponents. In still another game the players attempt to roll small pieces of wood between two pins set up a few inches apart, at a distance of ten feet, into a hole in the floor just beyond. The only sports of an athletic nature are shooting at targets with arrows and spears, and a game of ball in which two goals are placed a mile apart, and each party—sometimes a whole tribe—endeavors to force the ball past the other's goal, as in foot-ball, except that the ball is thrown with a stick, to one end of which is fixed a small hoop or ring.[362]Children's sports are describedonly by Swan, and as rag babies and imitated Catholic baptisms were the favorite pastimes mentioned, they may be supposed not altogether aboriginal.
CUSTOMS AND SUPERSTITIONS.
Personal names with the Chinooks are hereditary, but in many cases they either have no meaning or their original signification is soon forgotten. They are averse to telling their true name to strangers, for fear, as they sometimes say, that it may be stolen; the truth is, however, that with them the name assumes a personality; it is the shadow or spirit, or other self, of the flesh and blood person, and between the name and the individual there is a mysterious connection, and injury cannot be done to one without affecting the other; therefore, to give one's name to a friend is a high mark of Chinook favor. No account is kept of age. They are believers in sorcery and secret influences, and not without fear of their medicine-men or conjurers, but, except perhaps in their quality of physicians, the latter do not exert the influence which is theirs farther north; their ceremonies and tricks are consequently fewer and less ridiculous. Inventions of the whites not understood by the natives are looked on with great superstition. It was, for instance, very difficult at first to persuade them to risk their lives before a photographic apparatus, and this for the reason before mentioned; they fancied that their spirit thus passed into the keeping of others, who could torment it at pleasure.[363]Consumption, liver complaint and ophthalmia are the most prevalent Chinook maladies; to which, since the whites came, fever and ague have been added, and have killed eighty or ninety per cent. of thewhole people, utterly exterminating some tribes. The cause of this excessive mortality is supposed to be the native method of treatment, which allays a raging fever by plunging the patient in the river or sea. On the Columbia this alleviating plunge is preceded by violent perspiration in a vapor bath; consequently the treatment has been much more fatal there than on the coast where the vapor bath is not in use. For slight ills and pains, especially for external injuries, the Chinooks employ simple remedies obtained from various plants and trees. Many of these remedies have been found to be of actual value, while others are evidently quack nostrums, as when the ashes of the hair of particular animals are considered essential ingredients of certain ointments. Fasting and bathing serve to relieve many slight internal complaints. Strangely enough, they never suffer from diseases of the digestive organs, notwithstanding the greasy compounds used as food. When illness becomes serious or refuses to yield to simple treatment, the conclusion is that either the spirits of the dead are striving to remove the spirit of the sick person from the troubles of earth to a happier existence, or certain evil spirits prefer this world and the patient's body for their dwelling-place. Then the doctor is summoned. Medical celebrities are numerous, each with his favorite method of treatment, but all agree that singing, beating of sticks, indeed a noise, however made, accompanied by mysterious passes and motions, with violent pressure and kneading of the body are indispensable. The patient frequently survives the treatment. Several observers believe that mesmeric influences are exerted, sometimes with benefit, by the doctors in their mummeries.[364]
CHINOOK BURIAL RITES.
When the Chinook dies, relatives are careful to speak in whispers, and indulge in no loud manifestations of grief so long as the body remains in the house. The body is prepared for final disposition by wrapping it in blankets, together with ornaments and other property of a valuable but not bulky nature. For a burial place an elevated but retired spot near the river bank or on an island is almost always selected, but the methods of disposing of the dead in these cemeteries differ somewhat among the various tribes. In the region about the mouth of the Columbia, the body with its wrappings is placed in the best canoe of the deceased, which is washed for the purpose, covered with additional blankets, mats, and property, again covered, when the deceased is of the richer class, by another inverted canoe, the whole bound together with matting and cords, and deposited usually on a plank platform five or six feet high, but sometimes suspended from the branches of trees, or even left on the surface of the ground. The more bulky articles of property, such as utensils, and weapons, are deposited about or hung from the platform, being previously spoiled for use that they may not tempt desecrators among the whites or foreign tribes; or, it may be that the sacrifice or death of the implements is necessary before the spirits of the implements can accompany the spirit of the owner. For the same purpose, and to allow the water to pass off, holes are bored in the bottom of the canoe, the head of the corpse being raised a little higher than the feet. Some travelers have observed a uniformity in the position of the canoe, the head pointing towards the east, or down the current of the stream. After about a year, the bones are sometimes taken out and buried, but the canoe and platform are never removed. Chiefs' canoes are often repainted.Farther up both the Columbia and Willamette Rivers, excavations of little depth are often made, in which bodies are deposited on horizontal boards and covered over with a slightly inclining roof of heavy planks or poles. In these vaults several tiers of corpses are often placed one above another. At the Cascades, depositories of the dead have been noticed in the form of a roofed inclosure of planks, eight feet long, six feet wide, and five feet high, with a door in one end, and the whole exterior painted. The Calapooyas also buried their dead in regular graves, over which was erected a wooden head-board. Desecration of burial places is a great crime with the Chinook; he also attaches great importance to having his bones rest in his tribal cemetery wherever he may die. For a long time after a death, relatives repair daily at sunrise and sunset to the vicinity of the grave to sing songs of mourning and praise. Until the bones are finally disposed of, the name of the deceased must not be spoken, and for several years it is spoken only with great reluctance. Near relatives often change their name under the impression that spirits will be attracted back to earth if they hear familiar names often repeated. Chiefs are supposed to die through the evil influence of another person, and the suspected, though a dear friend, was formerly often sacrificed. The dead bodies of slaves are never touched save by other slaves.[365]
CHINOOK CHARACTER.
There is little difference of opinion concerning the character of the Chinooks. All agree that they are intelligent and very acute in trade; some travelers have found them at different points harmless and inoffensive; and in a few instances honesty has been detected. So much for their good qualities. As to the bad, there is unanimity nearly as great that they are thieves and liars, and for the rest each observer applies to them a selection of such adjectives as lazy, superstitious, cowardly, inquisitive, intrusive, libidinous, treacherous, turbulent, hypocritical, fickle, etc. The Clatsops, with some authors, have the reputation of being the most honest and moral; for the lowest position in the scale all the rest might present a claim. It should however be said in their favor that they are devotedly attached to their homes, and treat kindly both their young children and aged parents; also that not a few of their bad traits originated with or have been aggravated by contact with civilization.[366]
The Inland Families, constituting the fifth and last division of the Columbians, inhabit the region between the Cascade Range and the eastern limit of what I term the Pacific States, from 52° 30´ to 45° of north latitude. These bounds are tolerably distinct; though that on the south, separating the eastern portions of the Columbian and Californian groups, is irregular and marked by no great river, mountain chain, or other prominent physical feature. These inland natives of the Northwest occupy, in person, character, and customs, as well as in the location of their home, an intermediate position between the coast people already described—to whom they are pronounced superior in most respects—and the Rocky Mountain or eastern tribes. Travelers crossing the Rocky Mountains into this territory from the east, or entering it from the Pacific by way of the Columbia or Fraser, note contrasts on passing the limits, sufficient to justify me in regarding its inhabitants as one people for the purposes aimed at in this volume.[367]Instead, therefore,of treating each family separately, as has been done with the coast divisions of the group, I deem it more convenient, as well as less monotonous to the reader, to avoid repetition by describing the manners and customs of all the people within these limits together, taking care to note such variations as may be found to exist. The division into families and nations, made according to principles already sufficiently explained, is as follows, beginning again at the north:
THE SHUSHWAPS.
The Shushwaps, our first family division, live between 52° 30´ and 49° in the interior of British Columbia, occupying the valleys of the Fraser, Thompson, and Upper Columbia rivers with their tributary streams and lakes. They are bounded on the west by the Nootkas and on the north by the Carriers, from both of which families they seem to be distinct. As national divisions of this family may be mentioned the Shushwaps proper, orAtnahs,[368]who occupy the whole northern portion of the territory; theOkanagans,[369]in the valley of the lake and river of the same name; and theKootenais,[370]whoinhabit the triangle bounded by the Upper Columbia, the Rocky Mountains, and the 49th parallel, living chiefly on Flatbow river and lake. All three nations might probably be joined with quite as much reason to the Salish family farther south, as indeed has usually been done with the Okanagans; while the Kootenais are by some considered distinct from any of their adjoining nations.
The Salish Familydwells south of the Shushwaps, between 49° and 47°, altogether on the Columbia and its tributaries. Its nations, more clearly defined than in most other families, are theFlatheads,[371]or Salish proper, between the Bitter Root and Rocky Mountains on Flathead and Clarke rivers; thePend d'Oreilles,[372]who dwell about the lake of the same name and on Clarke River, for fifty to seventy-five miles above and below the lake; theCoeurs d'Alêne,[373]south of the Pend d'Oreilles, on Coeur d'Alêne Lake and the streams falling into it; theColvilles,[374]a term which may be used to designate the variously named bands about Kettle Falls, and northward along the Columbia to the Arrow Lakes; theSpokanes,[375]on the Spokane River and plateau along the Columbia below Kettle Falls, nearly to the mouth of theOkanagan; and thePisquouse,[376]on the west bank of the Columbia between the Okanagan and Priest Rapids.
THE SAHAPTIN FAMILY.
The Sahaptin Family, the last of the Columbian group, is immediately south of the Salish, between the Cascade and Bitter Root mountains, reaching southward, in general terms, to the forty-fifth parallel, but very irregularly bounded by the Shoshone tribes of the Californian group. Of its nations, theNez Percés,[377]or Sahaptins proper, dwell on the Clearwater and its branches, and on the Snake about the forks; thePalouse[378]occupy the region north of the Snake about the mouth of the Palouse; the south banks of the Columbia and Snake near their confluence, and the banks of the lower Walla Walla are occupied by theWalla Wallas;[379]theYakimasandKliketats[380]inhabit the region north of the Dalles,between the Cascade Range and the Columbia, the former in the valley of the Yakima, the latter in the mountains about Mt. Adams. Both nations extend in some bands across into the territory of the Sound family. The natives of Oregon east of the Cascade Range, who have not usually been included in the Sahaptin family, I will divide somewhat arbitrarily into theWascos, extending from the mountains eastward to John Day River, and theCayuse,[381]from this river across the Blue Mountains to the Grande Ronde.
PHYSIQUE OF THE INLAND TRIBES.
The inland Columbians are of medium stature, usually from five feet seven to five feet ten inches, but sometimes reaching a height of six feet; spare in flesh, but muscular and symmetrical; with well-formed limbs, the legs not being deformed as among the Chinooks by constant sitting in the canoe; feet and hands are in many tribes small and well made. In bodily strength they are inferior to whites, but superior, as might be expected from their habits, to the more indolent fish-eaters on the Pacific. The women, though never corpulent, are more inclined to rotundity than the men. The Nez Percés and Cayuses are considered the best specimens, while inthe north the Kootenais seem to be superior to the other Shushwap nations. The Salish are assigned by Wilkes and Hale an intermediate place in physical attributes between the coast and mountain tribes, being in stature and proportion superior to the Chinooks, but inferior to the Nez Percés.[382]Inland, a higher order of face is observed than on the coast. The cheek-bones are still high, the forehead is rather low, the face long, the eyes black, rarely oblique, the nose prominent and frequently aquiline, the lips thin, the teeth white and regular but generally much worn. The general expression of the features is stern, often melancholy, but not as a rule harsh or repulsive. Dignified, fine-looking men, and handsome young women have been remarked in nearly all the tribes, but here again the Sahaptins bear off the palm. The complexion is not darker than on the coast, but has more of a coppery hue. The hair is black, generally coarse, and worn long. The beard is very thin, and its growth is carefully prevented by plucking.[383]
HEAD-FLATTENING IN THE INTERIOR.
The custom of head-flattening, apparently of seaboard origin and growth, extends, nevertheless, across the Cascade barrier, and is practiced to a greater or less extent by all the tribes of the Sahaptin family. Among them all, however, with the exception perhaps of the Kliketats, the deformity consists only of a very slight compression of the forehead, which nearly or quite disappears at maturity. The practice also extends inland up the valley of the Fraser, and is found at least in nearly all the more western tribes of the Shushwaps. The Salish family do not flatten the skull.[384]Other methods ofdeforming the person, such as tattooing and perforating the features are as a rule not employed; the Yakimas and Kliketats, however, with some other lower Columbia tribes, pierce or cut away the septum of the nose,[385]and the Nez Percés probably derived their name from a similar custom formerly practiced by them. Paint, however, is used by all inland as well as coast tribes on occasions when decoration is desired, but applied in less profusion by the latter. The favorite color is vermilion, applied as a rule only to the face and hair.[386]Elaborate hair-dressing is not common, and both sexes usually wear the hair in the same style, soaked in grease, often painted, and hanging in a natural state, or in braids, plaits, or queues, over the shoulders. Some of the southern tribes cut the hair across the forehead, while others farther north tie it up in knots on the back of the head.[387]
The coast dress—robes or blankets of bark-fibre orsmall skins—is also used for some distance inland on the banks of the Columbia and Fraser, as among the Nicoutamuch, Kliketats, and Wascos; but the distinctive inland dress is of dressed skin of deer, antelope, or mountain sheep; made into a rude frock, or shirt, with loose sleeves; leggins reaching half-way up the thigh, and either bound to the leg or attached by strings to a belt about the waist; moccasins, and rarely a cap. Men's frocks descend half-way to the knees; women's nearly to the ankles. Over this dress, or to conceal the want of some part of it, a buffalo or elk robe is worn, especially in winter. All garments are profusely and often tastefully decorated with leather fringes, feathers, shells, and porcupine quills; beads, trinkets and various bright-colored cloths having been added to Indian ornamentation since the whites came. A new suit of this native skin clothing is not without beauty, but by most tribes the suit is worn without change till nearly ready to drop off, and becomes disgustingly filthy. Some tribes clean and whiten their clothing occasionally with white earth, or pipe-clay. The buffalo and most of the other large skins are obtained from the country east of the mountains.[388]
INLAND DWELLINGS.
The inland dwelling is a frame of poles, covered with rush matting, or with the skins of the buffalo or elk. As a rule the richest tribes and individuals use skins, although many of the finest Sahaptin houses are covered with mats only. Notwithstanding these nations are rich in horses, I find no mention that horse-hides are ever employed for this or any other purpose. The form of the lodge is that of a tent, conical or oblong, and usually sharp at the top, where an open space is left for light and air to enter, and smoke to escape. Their internal condition presents a marked contrast with that of the Chinook and Nootka habitations, since they are by many interior tribes kept free from vermin and filth. Their light material and the frequency with which their location is changed contributes to this result. The lodges are pitched by the women, who acquire great skill and celerity in the work. Holes are left along the sides for entrance, and within, a floor of sticks is laid, or more frequently the ground is spread with mats, and skins serve for beds. Dwellings are often built sufficiently large to accommodate many families, each of which in such case has its own fireplace on a central longitudinal line, a definite space being allotted for its goods, but no dividing partitions are ever used. The dwellings arearranged in small villages generally located in winter on the banks of small streams a little away from the main rivers. For a short distance up the Columbia, houses similar to those of the Chinooks are built of split cedar and bark. The Walla Wallas, living in summer in the ordinary mat lodge, often construct for winter a subterranean abode by digging a circular hole ten or twelve feet deep, roofing it with poles or split cedar covered with grass and mud, leaving a small opening at the top for exit and entrance by means of a notched-log ladder. The Atnahs on Fraser River spend the winter in similar structures, a simple slant roof of mats or bark sufficing for shade and shelter in summer. The Okanagans construct their lodges over an excavation in the ground several feet deep, and like many other nations, cover their matting in winter with grass and earth.[389]
FOOD OF THE INLAND NATIONS.
The inland families eat fish and game, with roots and fruit; no nation subsists without all these supplies; but the proportion of each consumed varies greatly according to locality. Some tribes divide their forces regularly into bands, of men to fish and hunt, of women to cure fish and flesh, and to gather roots and berries. I have spoken of the coast tribes as a fish-eating, and the interior tribes as a hunting people, attributing in great degree their differences of person and character to their food, or rather to their methods of obtaining it; yet fish constitutes an important element of inland subsistence as well. Few tribes live altogether without salmon, the great staple of the Northwest; since those dwelling on streams inaccessible to the salmon by reason of intervening falls, obtain their supply by annual migrations to the fishing-grounds, or by trade with other nations. The principal salmon fisheries of the Columbia are at the Dalles, the falls ten miles above, and at Kettle Falls. Other productive stations are on the Powder, Snake, Yakima, Okanagan, and Clarke rivers. On the Fraser, which has no falls in its lower course, fishing is carried on all along the banks of the river instead of at regular stations, as on the Columbia. Nets, weirs, hooks, spears, and all the implements and methods by which fish are taken and cured have been sufficiently described in treating of the coast region; in the interior I find no important variations except in the basket method in use at the Chaudières or Kettle Falls by the Quiarlpi tribe. Here an immense willow basket, often ten feet in diameter and twelve feet deep, is suspended at the falls fromstrong timbers fixed in crevices of the rocks, and above this is a frame so attached that the salmon in attempting to leap the fall strike the sticks of the frame and are thrown back into the basket, in the largest of which naked men armed with clubs await them. Five thousand pounds of salmon have thus been taken in a day by means of a single basket. During the fishing-season the Salmon Chief has full authority; his basket is the largest, and must be located a month before others are allowed to fish. The small nets used in the same region have also the peculiarity of a stick which keeps the mouth open when the net is empty, but is removed by the weight of the fish. Besides the salmon, sturgeon are extensively taken in the Fraser, and in the Arrow Lakes, while trout and other varieties of small fish abound in most of the streams. The fishing-season is the summer, between June and September, varying a month or more according to locality. This is also the season of trade and festivity, when tribes from all directions assemble to exchange commodities, gamble, dance, and in later times to drink and fight.[390]
HUNTING BY SHUSHWAPS, SALISH, AND SAHAPTINS.
The larger varieties of game are hunted by the natives on horseback wherever the nature of the country will permit. Buffalo are now never found west of the Rocky Mountains, and there are but few localities where large game has ever been abundant, at least since the country became known to white men. Consequently the Flatheads, Nez Percés, and Kootenais, the distinctively hunting nations, as well as bands from nearly every other tribe, cross the mountains once or twice each year, penetrating to the buffalo-plains between the Yellowstone and the Missouri, in the territory of hostile nations. The bow and arrow was the weapon with which buffalo and all other game were shot. No peculiar cunning seems to have been necessary to the native hunter of buffalo; he had only to ride into the immense herds on his well-trained horse, and select the fattest animals for his arrows. Various devices are mentioned as being practiced in the chase of deer, elk, and mountain sheep; such as driving them by a circle of fire on the prairie towards the concealed hunters, or approaching within arrow-shotby skillful manipulations of a decoy animal; or the frightened deer are driven into an ambush by converging lines of bright-colored rags so placed in the bushes as to represent men. Kane states that about the Arrow Lakes hunting dogs are trained to follow the deer and to bring back the game to their masters even from very long distances. Deer are also pursued in the winter on snow-shoes, and in deep snow often knocked down with clubs. Bear and beaver are trapped in some places; and, especially about the northern lakes and marshes, wild fowl are very abundant, and help materially to eke out the supply of native food.[391]