University of Virginia Library

Saturday March 29th. 1806.

We set out early this morning and proceeded along the side
of Deer Island; halted at 10 A.M. near its upper point and
breakfasted. here we were joined by three men of the Clan-nah-min-na-mun[25]
nation, the upper point of this island may
be esteemed the lower side or commencement of the Columbian
valley. after breakfast we proceeded on and at the distance
of 14 miles from our encampment of the last evening we passed
a large inlet 300 yds. in width. this inlet or arm of the river
extends itself to the South 10 or 12 M. to the hills on that
side of the river and receives the waters of a small creek which
heads with Killamucks river,[26] and that of a bayau which
passes out of the Columbia about 20 miles above, the large
Island thus formed we call wappetoe island. on this inlet and
Island the following nations reside, (viz) Clân-nah-min-na-mun,
Clacks-star, Cath-lah-cum-up, Clâh-m-na-ta, Cath-lah-nah-qui-ah,
and Cath-lah-cam-mah-tup.[27] the two first reside
on the inlet and the others on the bayau and island. observed
a speceies of small wild onion growing among the moss on the
rocks, they resemble the shives of our gardens and grow remarkably
close together forming a perfect turf; they are as

quite agreeably flavoured as the shives. on the North side of
the columbia a little above the entrance of this inlet a considerable
river discharges itself. this stream the natives call the
Cah-wâh-na-hi-ooks.[28] it is 150 yards wide and at present discharges
a large body of water, tho' from the information of the
same people it is not navigable but a short distance in consequence
of falls and rappids. a tribe called the Hul-lu-et-tell
reside on this river above it's entr. at the distance of three
miles above the entrance of the inlet on the N. side behind
the lower point of an island we arrived at the village of the
Cath (Quath)-lah-poh-tle w[h]ich consists of 14 large wooden
houses. here we arrived at 3 P.M. the language of these
people as well as those on the inlet and Wappetoe Island
differs in some measure from the nations on the lower part of
the river. tho' many of their words are the same, and a great
many others with the difference only of accent. the form of
their houses and dress of the men, manner of living habits
customs &c. as far as we could discover are the same. their
women wear their ornaments robes and hair as those do below
tho' (Indian women on Wappato Island & in that Valey) here
their hair is more frequently braded in two tresses and hang
over each ear in front of the body. in stead of the tissue of
bark woarn by the women below, they wear a kind of leather
breech clout about the width of a common pocket handkerchief
and reather longer. the two corners of this at one of the narrow
ends are confined in front just above the hips; the other
end is then brought between the legs, compressed into a narrow
foalding bundel is drawn tight and the corners a little spread
in front and tucked at the groin over and arround the part first
confined about the waist. the small robe which dose not reach
the waist is their usual and only garment commonly woarn beside
that just mentioned. when the weather is a litt[l]e warm
this robe is thrown aside and the leather truss or breech-clout
constitutes the whole of their apparel. this is a much more
indecent article than the tissue bark, and bearly covers the
mons ven[er]is, to which it is drawn so close that the whole
shape is plainly perceived. the floors of most of their houses
are on a level with the surface of the earth tho' some of them
are sunk two or 3 feet beneath. the internal arrangement of
their houses is the same with those of the nations below. they
are also fond of sculpture. various figures are carved and
painted on the peices which support the center of the roof,
about their doors and beads. they had large quantities of
dryed Anchovies strung on small sticks by the gills and others
which had been first dryed in this manner, were now arranged
in large sheets with strings of bark and hung suspended by
poles in the roofs of their houses; they had also an abundance
of sturgeon and wappetoe; the latter they take in great quantities
from the neighbouring ponds, which are numerous and
extensive in the river bottoms and islands. the wappetoe
furnishes the principal article of traffic with these people which
they dispose of to the nations below in exchange for beads
cloth and various articles. the natives of the sea coast and
lower part of the river will dispose of their most valuable articles
to obtain this root. they have a number of large symeters
of Iron from 3 to 4 feet long[29] which hang by the heads of their
beads [beds]; the blade of this weapon is thickest in the center
tho' thin even there. all it's edges are sharp and it's greatest
width which is about 9 inches from the point is about 4 inches.
the form is thus. [ILLUSTRATION] this is a formidable
weapon. they have heavy bludgeons
of wood made in the same form nearly
which I presume they used for the same purpose before they
obtained metal. we purchased a considerable quantity of wappetoes
12 dogs, and 2 Sea otter skins of these people. they
were very hospitable and gave us anchovies and wappetoe to
eat. notwithstanding their hospitality if it deserves that appellation,
they are great begers, for we had scarcely finished our
repast on the wappetoe and Anchovies which they voluntarily
set before us before they began to beg. we gave them some
small articles as is our custom on those occasions with which
they seemed perfectly satisfyed. we gave the 1st Cheif a small
medal, which he soon transfered to his wife. after remaining
at this place 2 hours we set out and continued our rout between
this [Bachelor's] island, which we now call Cath-lah-poh-tle
after the nation, and the Lard. shore. at the distance of 2 miles
we encamped in a small prarie on the main shore, having
traveled 19 miles by estimate. the river rising fast. great
numbers of both the large and small swans, gees and ducks
seen to day. the former are very abundant in the ponds where
the wappetoe is found, they feed much on this bulb. the
female of the duck which was described yesterday is of a uniform
dark brown with some yellowish brown intermixed in
small specks on the back neck and breast. the garter snakes
are innumerable & are seen entwined arround each other in
large bundles of forty or fifty lying about in different directions
through the praries. the frogs are croaking in the swam[p]s
and mar[s]hes; their notes do not differ from those of the
Atlantic States; they are not found in the salt marshes near
the entrance of the river. heared a large hooting owl hollowing
this evening. saw several of the crested fishers and some
of the large and small black-birds.