University of Virginia Library

CHAPTER VI.

Tuesday, 21. Two of the hunters came back with three
elk, which form a timely addition to our stock of provisions.
The Indian visiters left us at twelve o'clock.

The Killamucks, Clatsops, Chinnooks, and Cathlamahs,
the four neighbouring nations with whom we have had most
intercourse, preserve a general resemblance in person, dress,
and manners. They are commonly of a diminutive stature,
badly shaped, and their appearance by no means prepossessing.
They have broad thick flat feet, thick ankles, and
crooked legs: the last of which deformities is to be ascribed,
in part, to the universal practice of squatting, or sitting
on the calves of their legs and heels, and also to the tight
bandages of beads and strings worn round the ankles, by the
women, which prevent the circulation of the blood, and render
the legs, of the females, particularly, ill shaped and
swollen. The complexion is the usual copper coloured
brown of the North American tribes, though the complexion
is rather lighter than that of the Indians of the Missouri,
and the frontier of the United States: the mouth is wide and

the lips thick; the nose of a moderate size, fleshy, wide at
the extremities, with large nostrils, and generally low between
the eyes, though there are rare instances of high acqueline
noses; the eyes are generally black, though we occasionally
see them of a dark yellowish brown, with a black
pupil. But the most distinguishing part of their physiognomy,
is the peculiar flatness and width of their forehead,
a peculiarity which they owe to one of these customs by
which nature is sacrificed to fantastic ideas of beauty. The
custom, indeed, 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 unknown, that there the western
Indians, with the exception of the Alliatan or Snake nation,
are designated by the common name of Flatheads. The singular
usage, which nature could scarcely seem to suggest to
remote nations, might perhaps incline us to believe in the
common and not very ancient origin of all the western
nations. Such an opinion might well accommodate itself
with the fact, that while on the lower parts of the Columbia,
both sexes are universally flatheads, the custom diminishes
in receding eastward, from the common centre of
the infection, till among the remoter tribes near the mountains,
nature recovers her rights, and the wasted folly is confined
to a few females. Such opinions, however, are corrected
or weakened by considering that the flattening of the
head is not, in fact, peculiar to that part of the continent,
since it was among the first objects which struck the attention
of Columbus.

But wherever it may have begun, the practice is now
universal among these nations. Soon after the birth of her
child, the mother, anxious to procure for her infant the recommendation
of a broad forehead, places it in the compressing
machine, where it is kept for ten or twelve months;
though the females remain longer than the boys. The operation
is so gradual, that it is not attended with pain; but the
impression is deep and permanent. 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,
and still thinner above: nor with all its efforts can nature
ever restore its shape; the heads of grown persons being often
in a straight line from the nose to the top of the forehead.

The hair of both sexes is parted at the top of the head,
and thence falls loosely behind the ears, over the back and
shoulders. They use combs, of which they are very fond,
and indeed, contrive without the aid of them, to keep their
hair in very good order. The dress of the man consists in a
small robe, reaching to the middle of the thigh, tied by a
string across the breast, with its corners hanging loosely
over their arms. These robes are, in general, composed of
the skins of a small animal, which we have supposed to be
the brown mungo. They have besides, those of the tiger, cat,
deer, panther, bear, and elk, which last is principally used
in war parties. Sometimes they have a blanket woven with
the fingers, from the wool of their native sheep; occasionally
a mat is thrown over them to keep off rain; but except
this robe, they have no other article of clothing during winter
or summer, so that every part of the body, but the back
and shoulders, is exposed to view. They are very fond of
the dress of the whites, whom they call pashisheooks or
clothmen; and whenever they can procure any clothes, wear
them in our manner: the only article, indeed, which we have
not seen among them is the shoe.

The robe of the women is like that worn by the men, except
that it does not reach below the waist. Those most
esteemed are made of strips of sea-otter skin, which being
twisted are interwoven with silk-grass, or the bark of the
white cedar, in such a manner that the fur appears equally
on both sides, so as to form a soft and warm covering. The
skin of the racoon or beaver are also employed in the same
way, though on other occasions these skins are simply dressed
in the hair, and worn without further preparation. The
garment which covers the body from the waist as low as the

knee before and the thigh behind, is the tissue already described,
and is made either of the bruised bark of white cedar,
the twisted cords of silk-grass, or of flags and rushes.
Neither leggings nor moccasins are ever used, the mildness
of the climate not requiring them as a security from the
weather, and their being so much in the water rendering
them an incumberance. The only covering for the head is
a hat made of bear-grass, and the bark of cedar, interwoven
in a conic form, with a knob of the same shape at the top.
It has no brim, but is held on the head by a string passing
under the chin, and tied to a small rim inside of the hat.
The colours are generally black and white only, and these
are made into squares, triangles, and sometimes rude figures
of canoes and seamen harpooning whales. This is all the
usual dress of females; but if the weather be unusually severe,
they add a vest formed of skins like the robe, tied behind,
without any shoulder-straps to keep it up. As this vest covers
the body from the armpits to the waist, it conceals the
breasts, but on all other occasions they are suffered to remain
loose and exposed, and present, in old women especially,
a most disgusting appearance.

Sometimes, though not often, they mark their skins by
puncturing and introducing some coloured matter: this ornament
is chiefly confined to the women, who imprint on
their legs and arms, circular or parallel dots. On the arm
of one of the squaws we read the name of J. Bowman, apparently
a trader who visits the mouth of the Columbia. The
favourite decoration however of both sexes, are the common
coarse blue or white beads, which are folded very tightly
round their wrists and ancles, to the width of three or four
inches, and worn in large loose rolls round the neck, or in the
shape of earrings, or hanging from the nose, which last mode
is peculiar to the men. There is also a species of wampum
very much in use, which seems to be worn in its natural
form without any preparation. Its shape is a cone somewhat
curved, about the size of a raven's quill at the base, and tapering

to a point, its whole length being from one to two and a
half inches, and white, smooth, hard and thin. A small thread
is passed through it, and the wampum is either suspended
from the nose, or passed through the cartilage horizontally,
and forms a ring, from which other ornaments hang. This
wampum is employed in the same way as the beads, but is
the favourite decoration for the noses of the men. The men
also use collars made of bears' claws, the women and children
those of elks' tusks, and both sexes are adorned with
bracelets of copper, iron, or brass, in various forms.

Yet all these decorations are unavailing to conceal the
deformities of nature and the extravagance of fashion; nor
have we seen any more disgusting object than a Chinnook
or Clatsop beauty in full attire. Their broad flat foreheads,
their falling breasts, their ill shaped limbs, the aukwardness
of their positions, and the filth which intrudes through
their finery; all these render a Chinnook or Clatsop beauty
in full attire, one of the most disgusting objects in nature.
Fortunately this circumstance conspired with the low diet
and laborious exercise of our men, to protect them from the
persevering gallantry of the fair sex, whose kindness always
exceeded the ordinary courtesies of hospitality. Among
these people, as indeed among all Indians, the prostitution
of unmarried women is so far from being considered criminal
or improper, that the females themselves solicit the favours
of the other sex, with the entire approbation of their
friends and connexions. The person is in fact often the only
property of a young female, and is therefore the medium of
trade, the return for presents, and the reward for services.
In most cases, however, the female is so much at the disposal
of her husband or parent, that she is farmed out for hire. The
Chinnook woman, who brought her six female relations to our
camp, had regular prices, proportioned to the beauty of each
female; and among all the tribes, a man will lend his wife
or daughter for a fish-hook or a strand of beads. To decline
an offer of this sort is indeed to disparage the charms of the

lady, and therefore gives such offence, that although we had
occasionally to treat the Indians with rigour, nothing seemed
to irritate both sexes more than our refusal to accept the
favours of the females. On one occasion we were amused
by a Clatsop, who having been cured of some disorder by
our medical skill, brought his sister as a reward for our
kindness. The young lady was quite anxious to join in this
expression of her brother's gratitude, and mortified that we
did not avail ourselves of it, she could not be prevailed
on to leave the fort, but remained with Chaboneau's wife,
in the next room to ours, for two or three days, declining
all the solicitations of the men, till finding, at last, that we
did not relent, she went away, regretting that her brother's
obligations were unpaid.

The little intercourse which the men have had with
these women is, however, sufficient to apprise us of the
prevalence of the venereal disease, with which one or two
of the party had been so much afflicted, as to render a salivation
necessary. The infection in these cases was communicated
by the Chinnook women. The others do not appear
to be afflicted with it to any extent: indeed, notwithstanding
this disorder is certainly known to the Indians on the Columbia,
yet the number of infected persons is very inconsiderable.
The existence of such a disorder is very easily
detected, particularly in the men, in their open style of dress;
yet in the whole route down the Columbia, we have not seen
more than two or three cases of gonorrhœa, and about double
that number of lues venerea. There does not seem to
be any simples which are used as specifics in this disorder,
nor is any complete cure ever effected. When once a
patient is seized, the disorder ends with his life only; though
from the simplicity of their diet, and the use of certain vegetables,
they support it for many years with but little inconvenience,
and even enjoy tolerable health; yet their life
is always abridged by decrepitude or premature old age.
The Indians, who are mostly successful in treating this

disorder, are the Chippeways. Their specifics are the root
of the lobelia, and that of a species of sumac, common to
the United States, the neighbourhood of the rocky mountains,
and to the countries westward, and which is readily
distinguished by being the smallest of its kind, and by
its winged rib, or common footstalk, supporting leaves oppositely
pinnate. Decoctions of the roots are used very
freely, without any limitation, and are said to soften the
violence of the lues, and even to be sovereign in the cure of
the gonorrhœa.

The Clatsops and other nations at the mouth of the Columbia,
have visited us with great freedom, and we have
endeavoured to cultivate their intimacy, as well for the purpose
of acquiring information, as to leave behind us impressions
favourable to our country. In their intercourse with
us they are very loquacious and inquisitive. 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, with understandings
by no means deficient in acuteness, and with very retentive
memories; and though fond of feasts, and generally cheerful,
they are never gay. Every thing they see excites their
attention and inquiries, but having been accustomed to see
the whites, nothing appeared to give them more astonishment
than the air-gun. To all our inquiries they answer
with great intelligence, and the conversation rarely slackens,
since there is a constant discussion of the events, and
trade, and politics, in the little but active circle of Killamucks,
Clatsops, Cathlamahs, Wahkiacums, and Chinnooks.
Among themselves, the conversation generally turns on the
subjects of trade, or smoking, or eating, or connexion with
females, before whom this last is spoken of with a familiarity
which would be in the highest degree indecent, if custom
had not rendered it inoffensive.

The treatment of women is often considered as the
standard by which the moral qualities of savages are to be

estimated. Our own observation, however, induced us to think
that the importance of the female in savage life, has no necessary
relation to the virtues of the men, but is regulated
wholly by their capacity to be useful. The Indians whose
treatment of the females is mildest, and who pay most deference
to their opinions, are by no means the most distinguished
for their virtues; nor is this deference attended by
any increase of attachment, since they are equally willing
with the most brutal husband, to prostitute their wives to
strangers. On the other hand, the tribes among whom the
women are very much debased, possess the loftiest sense of
honour, the greatest liberality, and all the good qualities
of which their situation demands the exercise. Where the
women can aid in procuring subsistence for the tribe, they
are treated with more equality, and their importance is proportioned
to the share which they take in that labour; while
in countries where subsistence is chiefly procured by the exertions
of the men, the women are considered and treated
as burdens. Thus, among the Clatsops and Chinnooks, who
live upon fish and roots, which the women are equally expert
with the men in procuring, the former have a rank
and influence very rarely found among Indians. The females
are permitted to speak freely before the men, to whom
indeed they sometimes address themselves in a tone of authority.
On many subjects their judgments and opinions
are respected, and in matters of trade, their advice is generally
asked and pursued. The labours of the family too,
are shared almost equally. The men collect wood and make
fires, assist in cleansing the fish, make the houses, canoes,
and wooden utensils; and whenever strangers are to be entertained,
or a great feast prepared, the meats are cooked
and served up by the men. The peculiar province of the
female is to collect roots, and to manufacture the various
articles which are formed of rushes, flags, cedar-bark, and
bear-grass; but the management of the canoes, and many of
the occupations, which elsewhere devolves wholly on the
female, are here common to both sexes.

The observation with regard to the importance of females,
applies with equal force to the treatment of old men.
Among tribes who subsist by hunting, the labours of the
chase, and the wandering existence to which that occupation
condemns them, necessarily throws the burden of procuring
provisions on the active young men. As soon, therefore,
as a man is unable to pursue the chase, he begins to
withdraw something from the precarious supplies of the
tribe. Still, however, his counsels may compensate his
want of activity; but in the next stage of infirmity, when
he can no longer travel from camp to camp, as the tribe
roams about for subsistence, he is then found to be a heavy
burden. In this situation they are abandoned among the Sioux,
Assiniboins, and the hunting tribes on the Missouri. As
they 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 could take better
care of him than his friends on earth, leave him, without
remorse, to perish, when his little supply is exhausted. The
same custom is said to prevail among the Minnetarees, Ahnahawas,
and Ricaras, when they are attended by old men on
their hunting excursions. Yet, in their villages, we saw
no want of kindness to old men. On the contrary, probably
because in villages, the means of more abundant subsistence
renders such cruelty unnecessary, the old people appeared
to be treated with attention, and some of their feasts,
particularly the buffaloe dances, were intended chiefly as a
contribution for the old and imfirm.

The dispositions of these people seem mild and inoffensive,
and they have uniformly behaved to us with great friendship.
They are addicted to begging and pilfering small articles,
when it can be done without danger of detection, but do not

rob wantonly, nor to any large amount; and some of them
having purloined some of our meat, which the hunters had
been obliged to leave in the woods, they voluntarily brought
some dogs a few days after, by way of compensation. Our
force and great superiority in the use of firearms, enable
us always to command, and such is the friendly deportment
of these people, that the men have been accustomed to treat
them with the greatest confidence. It is therefore with difficulty
that we can impress on our men a conviction of the necessity
of being always on our guard, since we are perfectly acquainted
with the treacherous character of Indians in general.
We are always prepared for an attack, and uniformly exclude
all large parties of Indians from the fort. Their large
houses usually contain several families, consisting of the parents,
their sons and daughters-in-law, and grand children,
among whom the provisions are common, and whose harmony
is scarcely ever interrupted by disputes. Although polygamy
is permitted by their customs, very few have more
than a single wife, and she is brought immediately after the
marriage into the husband's family, where she resides until
increasing numbers oblige them to seek another house. In
this state the old man is not considered as the head of the
family, since the active duties, as well as the responsibility,
fall on some of the younger members. As these families
gradually expand into bands or tribes or nations, the paterternal
authority is represented by the chief of each association.
This chieftain however is not hereditary; his ability
to render service to his neighbours, and the popularity which
follows it, is at once the foundation and the measure of his
authority, the exercise of which does not extend beyond a
reprimand for some improper action.

The harmony of their private life is indeed secured by
their ignorance of spirituous liquors, the earliest and most
dreadful present which civilization has given to the other
natives of the continent. Although they have had so much
intercourse with whites, they do not appear to possess any

knowledge of those dangerous luxuries; at least they have
never inquired after them; which they probably would have
done if once they had been introduced among them. Indeed
we have not observed any liquor of an intoxicating quality
used among these or any Indians west of the Rocky mountains,
the universal beverage being pure water. They however
sometimes almost intoxicate themselves by smoking tobacco
of which they are excessively fond, and the pleasures of
which they prolong as much as possible, by retaining vast
quantities at a time, till after circulating through the lungs
and stomach it issues in volumes from the mouth and nostrils.
But the natural vice of all these people is an attachment for
games of hazard which they pursue with a strange and ruinous
avidity. The games are of two kinds. In the first, one of the
company assumes the office of banker, and plays against the
rest. He takes a small stone, about the size of a bean, which
he shifts from one hand to the other with great dexterity,
repeating at the same time a song adapted to the game, and
which serves to divert the attention of the company, till
having agreed on the stake, he holds out his hands, and the
antagonist wins or loses as he succeeds or fails at guessing
in which hand the stone is. After the banker has lost his
money, or whenever he is tired, the stone is transferred to
another, who in turn challenges the rest of the company.
The other 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 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 draughts;
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 wholly lost if
the chequer rolls outside of 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 even the last blue bead is won from the desperate adventurer.

In traffic they are keen, acute and intelligent, and they
employ in all their bargains a dexterity and finesse, which, if
it be not learnt from their foreign visiters, may show how
nearly the cunning of savages is allied to the little arts of more
civilized trade. They begin by asking double or treble the
value of their merchandise, and lower the demand in propertion
to the ardor or experience in trade of the purchaser; and
if he expresses any anxiety, the smallest article, perhaps a
handfull of roots, will furnish a whole morning's negociation.
Being naturally suspicious, they of course conceive that you
are pursuing the same system. They, therefore, invariably
refuse the first offer, however high, fearful that they or
we have mistaken the value of the merchandise, and therefore
cautiously wait to draw us on to larger offers. In this
way, after rejecting the most extravagant prices, which we
have offered merely for experiment, they have afterwards
importuned us for a tenth part of what they had before refused.
In this respect, they differ from almost all Indians,
who will generally exchange in a thoughtless moment the
most valuable article they possess, for any bauble which
happens to please their fancy.

These habits of cunning, or prudence, have been formed
or increased by their being engaged in a large part of the
commerce of the Columbia; of that trade, however, the
great emporium is the falls, where all the neighbouring nations
assemble. The inhabitants of the Columbian plains,
after having passed the winter near the mountains, come
down as soon as the snow has left the valleys, and are occupied
in collecting and drying roots, till about the month
of May. They then crowd to the river, and fixing themselves
on its north side, to avoid the incursions of the Snake
Indians, continue fishing, till about the first of September,
when the salmon are no longer fit for use. They then bury
their fish and return to the plains, where they remain gathering
quamash, till the snow obliges them to desist. They
come back to the Columbia, and taking their store of fish,

retire to the foot of the mountains, and along the creeks,
which supply timber for houses, and pass the winter in hunting
deer or elk, which, with the aid of their fish, enables
them to subsist till in the spring they resume the circle of
their employments. During their residence on the river,
from May to September, or rather before they begin the regular
fishery, they go down to the falls, carrying with them
skins, mats, silk grass, rushes, and chappelell bread. They
are here overtaken by the Chopunnish, and other tribes of
the Rocky mountains, who descend the Kooskooskee and Lewis's
river for the purpose of selling bear-grass, horses, quamash,
and a few skins which they have obtained by hunting,
or in exchange for horses, with the Tushepaws.

At the falls, they find the Chilluckittequaws, Eneeshurs,
Echeloots, and Skilloots, which last serve as intermediate
traders or carriers between the inhabitants above and below
the falls. These tribes prepare pounded fish for the
market, and the nations below bring wappatoo roots, the
fish of the seacoast, berries, and a variety of trinkets and
small articles which they have procured from the whites.

The trade then begins. The Chopunnish, and Indians
of the Rocky mountains, exchange the articles which they
have brought for wappatoo, pounded fish, and beads. The
Indians of the plains being their own fishermen, take only
wappatoo, horses, beads, and other articles, procured from
Europeans. The Indians, however, from Lewis's river to
the falls, consume as food or fuel all the fish which they
take; so that the whole stock for exportation is prepared
by the nations between the Towahnahiooks and the falls,
and amounts, as nearly as we could estimate, to about thirty
thousand weight, chiefly salmon, above the quantity which
they use themselves, or barter with the more eastern Indians.
This is now carried down the river by the Indians at
the falls, and is consumed among the nations at the mouth of
the Columbia, who in return give the fish of the seacoast, and
the articles which they obtain from the whites. The neighbouring

people catch large quantities of salmon and dry them,
but they do not understand or practice the art of drying and
pounding it in the manner used at the falls, and being very fond
of it, are forced to purchase it at high prices. This article,
indeed, and the wappatoo, form the principle subjects of
trade with the people of our immediate vicinity. The traffic
is wholly carried on by water; there are even no roads or
paths through the country, except across the portages
which connect the creeks.

But the circumstance which forms the soul of this trade,
is the visit of the whites. They arrive generally about the
month of April, and either remain until October, or return
at that time; during which time, having no establishment
on shore, they anchor on the north side of the bay, at the
place already described, which is a spacious and commodious
harbour, perfectly secure from all except the south and
southeast winds; and as they leave it before winter, they do
not suffer from these winds, which, during that season, are
the most usual and the most violent. This situation is recommended
by its neighbourhood to fresh water and wood,
as well as to excellent timber for repairs. Here they are
immediately visited by the tribes along the seacoast, by the
Cathlamahs, and lastly by the Skilloots, that numerous
and active people, who skirt the river between the marshy
islands and the grand rapids, as well as the Coweliskee,
and who carry down the fish prepared by their
immediate neighbours the Chilluckittequaws, Eneeshurs,
and Echeeloots, residing from the grand rapids to the
falls, as well as all the articles which they have procured
in barter at the market in May. The accumulated
trade of the Columbia now consists of dressed and undressed
skins of elk, sea-otter, the common otter, beaver, common
fox, spuck, and tiger cat. The articles of less importance,
are a small quantity of dried or pounded salmon, the
biscuits made of the chapelell roots, and some of the manufactures
of the neighbourhood. In return they receive

guns (which are principally old British or American muskets)
powder, ball and shot, copper and brass kettles, brass
tea-kettles, and coffee-pots, blankets, from two to three
points, coarse scarlet and blue cloth, plates and strips of
sheet copper and brass, large brass wire, knives, tobacco,
fish-hooks, buttons, and a considerable quantity of sailors'
hats, trowsers, coats and shirts. But as we have had occasion
to remark more than once, the object of foreign trade
which is the most desired, are the common cheap, blue or
white beads, of about fifty or seventy to the penny weight,
which are strung on strands a fathom in length, and sold by
the yard, or the length of both arms: of these blue beads,
which are called tia commashuck, or chief beads, hold the
first rank in their ideas of relative value: the most inferior
kind, are esteemed beyond the finest wampum, and are
temptations which can always seduce them to part with
their most valuable effects. Indeed, if the example of civilized
life did not completely vindicate their choice, we might
wonder at their infatuated attachment to a bauble in itself
so worthless. Yet these beads are, perhaps, quite as reasonable
objects of research as the precious metals, since
they are at once beautiful ornaments for the person, and the
great circulating medium of trade with all the nations on
the Columbia.

These strangers who visit the Columbia for the purpose
of trade or hunting, must be either English or Americans.
The Indians inform us that they speak the same language
as we do, and indeed the few words which the Indians have
learnt from the sailors, such as musket, powder, shot, knife,
file, heave the lead, damned rascal, and other phrases of that
description, evidently show that the visiters speak the English
language. But as the greater part of them annually arrive
in April, and either remain till autumn, or revisit them at
that time, which we could not clearly understand, the trade
cannot be direct from either England or the United States,
since the ships could not return thither during the remainder

of the year. When the Indians are asked where these
traders go on leaving the Columbia, they always point to
the southwest, whence we presume that they do not belong
to any establishment at Nootka Sound. They do, however,
mention a trader by the name of Moore, who sometimes
touches at this place, and the last time he came, he had on
board three cows; and when he left them, continued along
the northwest coast, which renders it probable, that there
may be a settlement of whites in that direction. The names
and description of all these persons who visit them in the
spring and autumn are remembered with great accuracy,
and we took down, exactly as they were pronounced, the following
list: The favourite trader is

Mr. Haley, who visits them in a vessel with three masts,
and continues some time. The others are

Youens, who comes also in a three masted vessel, and is
a trader.

Tallamon, in a three masted vessel, but he is not a trader.

Callalamet in a ship of the same size, he is a trader,
and they say has a wooden leg.

               

Swipton	three masted vessel,		trader.
Moore	four	do.	do.
Mackey	three	do.	do.
Washington	three	do.	do.
Mesship	three	do.	do.
Davidson	three	do.	does not trade, but hunts elk.
Jackson	three	do.	trader.
Bolch	three	do.	do.

Skelley, also a trader, in a vessel with three masts, but
he has been gone for some years. He had only one eye.

It might be difficult to adjust the balance of the advantages
or the dangers of this trade to the nations of the Columbia,
against the sale of their furs, and the acquisition
of a few bad guns and household utensils.

The nations near the mouth of the Columbia enjoy great
tranquillity; none of the tribes being engaged in war. Not

long since, however, there was a war on the coast to the
southwest, in which the Killamucks took several prisoners.
These, as far as we could perceive, were treated very well,
and though nominally slaves, yet were adopted into the families
of their masters, and the young ones placed on the
same footing with the children of the purchaser.

The month of February and the greater part of March
were passed in the same manner. Every day, parties as
large as we could spare them from our other occupations
were sent out to hunt, and we were thus enabled to command
some days' provision in advance. It consisted chiefly of
deer and elk; the first is very lean, and the flesh by no means
as good as that of the elk, which, though poor, is getting
better: it is indeed our chief dependence. At this time of
the year it is in much better order in the prairies near the
point, where they feed on grass and rushes, considerable
quantities of which are yet green, than in the woody country
up the Netul. There, they subsist on huckleberry
bushes and fern, but chiefly on evergreen, called shallun,
resembling the laurel, which abounds through all the timbered
lands, particularly along the broken sides of hills.
Toward the latter end of the month, however, they left the
prairies near Point Adams, and retired back to the hills; but
fortunately, at the same time the sturgeon and anchovies
began to appear, and afforded us a delightful variety of food.
In the mean time, the party on the seacoast supplied us
with salt: but though the kettles were kept boiling all day
and night, the salt was made but slowly; nor was it till the
middle of this month that we succeeded in procuring twenty
gallons, of which twelve were put in kegs for our journey
as far as the deposits on the Missouri.

The neighbouring tribes continued to visit us, for the
purpose of trading, or merely to smoke with us. But on the
21st, a Chinnook chief, whom we had never seen, came
over with twenty-five of his men. His name was Taheum,
a man of about fifty years of age, with a larger figure and a

better carriage than most of his nation. We received him
with the usual ceremonies, gave the party something to eat,
smoked most copiously with them all, and presented the chief
with a small medal. They were all satisfied with their
treatment; and though we were willing to show the chief
every civility, could not dispense with our rule of not suffering
so many strangers to sleep in the fort. They, therefore,
left us at sunset. On the twenty-fourth, Comowool, who
is by far the most friendly and decent savage we have
seen in this neighbourhood, came with a large party of
Clatsops, bringing among other articles, sturgeon and a small
fish, which has just begun, within a day or two past, to make
their appearance in the Columbia.

From this time, as the elk became scarce and lean, we
made use of these fish whenever we could catch them, or
purchase them from the Indians. But as we were too poor
to indulge very largely in these luxuries, the diet was by no
means pleasant, and to the sick, especially, was unwholesome.
On the 15th of March we were visited by Delashilwilt,
the Chinnook chief, and his wife, accompanied by the
same six damsels, who in the autumn had encamped near us,
on the other side of the bay, and whose favours had been so
troublesome to several of the men. They formed a camp
close to the fort, and began to renew their addresses very
assiduously, but we warned the men of the dangers of intercourse
with this frail society, and they cautiously abstained
from connexion with them.

During the greater part of this month, five or six of the
men were sick; indeed, we have not had so many complaining
since we left Wood river; the general complaint is a bad
cold and fever, something in the nature of an influenza,
which, joined with a few cases of venereal, and accidental
injuries, complete our invalid corps. These disorders may
chiefly be imputed to the nature of the climate.