joy over a victory. The Indians at Port Discovery spoke to Wilkes of scalping among their warlike exploits, but according to Kane the Classets do not practice that usage.325 Vancouver, finding sepulchres at Penn Cove, in which were large quantities of human bones but no limb-bones of adults, suspected that the latter were used by the Indians for pointing their arrows, and in the manufacture of other implements.326MANUFACTURES OF PUGET SOUND.
The Sound manufactures include only the weapons and utensils used by the natives. Their articles were made with the simplest tools of bone or shell. Blankets were made of dog's hair, – large numbers of dogs being raised for the purpose, – the wool of mountain sheep, or wild goats, found on the mountain slopes, the down of wild-fowl, cedar bark-fibre, ravellings of foreign blankets, or more commonly of a mixture of several of these materials. The fibre is twisted into yarn between the hand and thigh, and the strands arranged in perpendicular frames for weaving purposes. Willow and other twigs supply material for baskets of various forms, often neatly made and colored. Oil, both for domestic use and for barter, is extracted by boiling, except in the case of the candle-fish, when hanging in the hot sun suffices; it is preserved in bladders and skin-bottles.327
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 the hiaqua, 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 as property, 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 as succumb 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 the Nootka 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
<p>325</p>
Wilkes' Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. iv., p. 321; Kane's Wand., pp. 231-2; Vancouver's Voy., vol. i., p. 234. 'They have been nearly annihilated by the hordes of northern savages that have infested, and do now, even at the present day, infest our own shores' for slaves. They had fire-arms before our tribes, thus gaining an advantage.' Ind. Aff. Rept., 1857, p. 327; Clark's Lights and Shadows, p. 224.
<p>326</p>
Vancouver's Voy., vol. i., p. 287.
<p>327</p>
'A single thread is wound over rollers at the top and bottom of a square frame, so as to form a continuous woof through which an alternate thread is carried by the hand, and pressed closely together by a sort of wooden comb; by turning the rollers every part of the woof is brought within reach of the weaver; by this means a bag formed, open at each end, which being cut down makes a square blanket.' Kane's Wand., pp. 210-11. Cuts showing the loom and process of weaving among the Nootsaks, also house, canoes, and willow baskets. Coleman, in Harper's Mag., vol. xxxix., pp. 799-800. The Clallams 'have a kind of cur with soft and long white hair, which they shear and mix with a little wool or the ravelings of old blankets.' Stevens, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., p. 431. The Makahs have 'blankets and capes made of the inner bark of the cedar, and edged with fur.' Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, pp. 241-2; Wilkes' Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. iv., p. 32. The candle-fish 'furnishes the natives with their best oil, which is extracted by the very simple process of hanging it up, exposed to the sun, which in a few days seems to melt it away.' Thornton's Ogn. and Cal., vol. i., p. 388. They 'manufacture some of their blankets from the wool of the wild goat.' Dunn's Oregon, p. 231. The Queniults showed 'a blanket manufactured from the wool of mountain sheep, which are to be found on the precipitous slopes of the Olympian Mountains.' Alta California, Feb. 9, 1861, quoted in California Farmer, July 25, 1862; Cornwallis' New El Dorado, p. 97; Pickering's Races, in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. ix., p. 26.
<p>328</p>
'They present a model of which a white mechanic might well be proud.' Description of method of making, and cuts of Queniult, Clallam, and Cowlitz canoes, and a Queniult paddle. Swan's N. W. Coast, pp. 79-82. At Port Orchard they 'exactly corresponded with the canoes of Nootka,' while those of some visitors were 'cut off square at each end,' and like those seen below Cape Orford. At Gray Harbor the war canoes 'had a piece of wood rudely carved, perforated, and placed at each end, three feet above the gunwale; through these holes they are able to discharge their arrows.' Vancouver's Voy., vol. i., p. 264; vol. ii., p. 84. The Clallam boats were 'low and straight, and only adapted to the smoother interior waters.' Scammon, in Overland Monthly, vol. vii., p. 278. Cut showing Nootsak canoes in Harper's Mag., vol. xxxix., p. 799. 'The sides are exceedingly thin, seldom exceeding three-fourths of an inch.' To mend the canoe when cracks occur, 'holes are made in the sides, through which withes are passed, and pegged in such a way that the strain will draw it tighter; the withe is then crossed, and the end secured in the same manner. When the tying is finished, the whole is pitched with the gum of the pine.' Wilkes' Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. iv., pp. 320-1. The Clallams have 'a very large canoe of ruder shape and workmanship, being wide and shovel-nosed,' used for the transportation of baggage. Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, p. 243; Stevens, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., pp. 430-1; Seemann's Voy. Herald, vol. i., p. 108; Pickering's Races, in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. ix., pp. 25-6; Winthrop's Canoe and Saddle, p. 20; Clark's Lights and Shadows, pp. 224-6.
<p>329</p>
Kane's Wand., pp. 237-9; Ind. Aff. Rept., 1862, p. 409; Starling, in Schoolcraft's Arch., vol. iv., p. 601; Pickering's Races, in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. ix., p. 26.
<p>330</p>
'Ils obéissent à un chef, qui n'exerce son pouvoir qu'en temps de guerre.' Rossi, Souvenirs, p. 299. At Gray Harbor 'they appeared to be divided into three different tribes, or parties, each having one or two chiefs.' Vancouver's Voy., vol. ii., p. 84. Wilkes met a squaw chief at Nisqually, who 'seemed to exercise more authority than any that had been met with.' 'Little or no distinction of rank seems to exist among them; the authority of the chiefs is no longer recognized.' Wilkes' Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. iv., p. 444; vol. v., p. 131. Yellow-cum had become chief of the Makahs from his own personal prowess. Kane's Wand., pp. 237-9; Ind. Aff. Rept., 1857, pp. 327-8.
<p>331</p>
Sproat's Scenes, p. 92; Simpson's Overland Journ., vol. i., pp. 242-3; Kane's Wand., pp. 214-15. The Nooksaks 'have no slaves.' Ind. Aff. Rept., 1857, pp. 327-8; Schoolcraft's Arch., vol. iv., p. 601. It is said 'that the descendants of slaves obtain freedom at the expiration of three centuries.' Pickering's Races, in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. ix., p. 28.
<p>332</p>
The Makahs have some marriage ceremonies, 'such as going through the performance of taking the whale, manning a canoe, and throwing the harpoon into the bride's house.' Ind. Aff. Rept., p. 242. The Nooksak women 'are very industrious, and do most of the work, and procure the principal part of their sustenance.' Id., 1857, p. 327. 'The women have not the slightest pretension to virtue.' Id., 1858, p. 225; Siwash Nuptials, in Olympia Washington Standard, July 30, 1870. In matters of trade the opinion of the women is always called in, and their decision decides the bargain. Seemann's Voy. Herald, vol. i., p. 108. 'The whole burden of domestic occupation is thrown upon them.' Cut of the native baby-jumper. Wilkes' Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. iv., pp. 319-20, 361. At Gray Harbor they were not jealous. At Port Discovery they offered their children for sale. Vancouver's Voy., vol. i., p. 231; vol. ii., pp. 83-4. 'Rarely having more than three or four' children. Swan's N. W. Coast, p. 266; Clark's Lights and Shadows, pp. 224-6.
<p>333</p>
Wilkes' Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. iv., pp. 320, 444; Rossi, Souvenirs, pp. 298-9; San Francisco Bulletin, May 24, 1859.
<p>334</p>
Vancouver's Voy., vol. i., pp. 263, 270. The Lummi 'are a very superstitious tribe, and pretend to have traditions – legends handed down to them by their ancestors.' 'No persuasion or pay will induce them to kill an owl or eat a pheasant.' Ind. Aff. Rept., 1857, pp. 327-8; Kane's Wand., pp. 216-17, 229. No forms of salutation. Pickering's Races, in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. ix., pp. 23-4; Winthrop's Canoe and Saddle, pp. 21-2.
<p>335</p>
Among the Skagits 'Dr. Holmes saw an old man in the last stage of consumption, shivering from the effects of a cold bath at the temperature of 40° Fahrenheit. A favourite remedy in pulmonary consumption is to tie a rope tightly around the thorax, so as to force the diaphram to perform respiration without the aid of the thoracic muscles.' Wilkes' Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. iv., p. 512. Among the Clallams, to cure a girl of a disease of the side, after stripping the patient naked, the medicine-man, throwing off his blanket, 'commenced singing and gesticulating in the most violent manner, whilst the others kept time by beating with little sticks on hollow wooden bowls and drums, singing continually. After exercising himself in this manner for about half an hour, until the perspiration ran down his body, he darted suddenly upon the young woman, catching hold of her side with his teeth and shaking her for a few minutes, while the patient seemed to suffer great agony. He then relinquished his hold, and cried out that he had got it, at the same time holding his hands to his mouth; after which he plunged them in the water and pretended to hold down with great difficulty the disease which he had extracted.' Kane's Wand., pp. 225-6. Small-pox seemed very prevalent by which many had lost the sight of one eye. Vancouver's Voy., vol. i., p. 242. To cure a cold in the face the Queniults burned certain herbs to a cinder and mixing them with grease, anointed the face. Swan's N. W. Coast, p. 265. Among the Nooksaks mortality has not increased with civilization. 'As yet the only causes of any amount are consumption and the old diseases.' Ind. Aff. Rept., 1857, p. 327. At Neah Bay, 'a scrofulous affection pervades the whole tribe.' The old, sick and maimed are abandoned by their friends to die. Id., 1872, p. 350.
<p>336</p>
Slaves have no right to burial. Kane's Wand., p. 215. At a Queniult burial place 'the different colored blankets and calicoes hung round gave the place an appearance of clothes hung out to dry on a washing day.' Swan's N. W. Coast, p. 267. At Port Orchard bodies were 'wrapped firmly in matting, beneath which was a white blanket, closely fastened round the body, and under this a covering of blue cotton.' At Port Discovery bodies 'are wrapped in mats and placed upon the ground in a sitting posture, and surrounded with stakes and pieces of plank to protect them.' On the Cowlitz the burial canoes are painted with figures, and gifts are not deposited till several months after the funeral. Wilkes' Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. iv., pp. 323, 347-8, 509-10. Among the Nisquallies bodies of relatives are sometimes disinterred at different places, washed, re-wrapped and buried again in one grave. Lord's Nat., vol. ii., pp. 238-9. 'Ornés de rubans de diverses couleurs, de dents de poissons, de chapelets et d'autres brimborions du goût des sauvages.' Rossi, Souvenirs, pp. 74-5. On Penn Cove, in a deserted village, were found 'several sepulchres formed exactly like a centry box. Some of them were open, and contained the skeletons of many young children tied up in baskets.' Vancouver's Voy., vol. i., pp. 254-6, 287; Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, p. 242; Stevens, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., p. 429. A correspondent describes a flathead mummy from Puget Sound preserved in San Francisco. 'The eye-balls are still round under the lid; the teeth, the muscles, and tendons perfect, the veins injected with some preserving liquid, the bowels, stomach and liver dried up, but not decayed, all perfectly preserved. The very blanket that entwines him, made of some threads of bark and saturated with a pitchy substance, is entire.' Schoolcraft's Arch., vol. v., p. 693; Pickering's Races, in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. ix., p. 32.
<p>337</p>
'Their native bashfulness renders all squaws peculiarly sensitive to any public notice or ridicule.' Probably the laziest people in the world. The mails are intrusted with safety to Indian carriers, who are perfectly safe from interference on the part of any Indian they may meet. Kane's Wand., p. 209-16, 227-8, 234, 247-8. 'La mémoire locale et personelle du sauvage est admirable; il n'oublie jamais un endroit ni une personne.' Nature seems to have given him memory to supply the want of intelligence. 'Much inclined to vengeance. Those having means may avert vengeance by payments.' Rossi, Souvenirs, pp. 113, 295-9. 'Perfectly indifferent to exposure; decency has no meaning in their language.' Although always begging, they refuse to accept any article not in good condition, calling it Peeshaaak, a term of contempt. Seemann's Voy. Herald, vol. i., pp. 108-9. Murder of a Spanish boat's crew in latitude 47° 20´. Maurelle's Jour., pp. 29, 31. 'Cheerful and well disposed' at Port Orchard. At Strait of Fuca 'little more elevated in their moral qualities than the Fuegians.' At Nisqually, 'addicted to stealing.' 'Vicious and exceedingly lazy, sleeping all day.' The Skagits are catholics, and are more advanced than others in civilization. Wilkes' Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. iv., pp. 317, 444, 510-11, 517. Both at Gray Harbor and Puget Sound they were uniformly civil and friendly, fair and honest in trade. Each tribe claimed that 'the others were bad people and that the party questioned were the only good Indians in the harbor.' Vancouver's Voy., vol. i., p. 256; vol. ii., pp. 83-4. 'The Clallam tribe has always had a bad character, which their intercourse with shipping, and the introduction of whiskey, has by no means improved.' Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, p. 243. 'The superior courage of the Makahs, as well as their treachery, will make them more difficult of management than most other tribes.' Stevens, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., p. 429. The Lummis and other tribes at Bellingham Bay have already abandoned their ancient barbarous habits, and have adopted those of civilization. Coleman, in Harper's Mag., vol. xxxix., pp. 795-7; Simpson's Overland Journ., vol. i., pp. 240-2. 'The instincts of these people are of a very degraded character. They are filthy, cowardly, lazy, treacherous, drunken, avaricious, and much given to thieving. The women have not the slightest pretension to virtue.' The Makahs 'are the most independent Indians in my district – they and the Quilleyutes, their near neighbors.' Ind. Aff. Rept., 1858, pp. 225, 231; Id., 1862, p. 390; Id., 1870, p. 20; Schoolcraft's Arch., vol. iv., p. 601; Winthrop's Canoe and Saddle, p. 58; Cram's Top. Mem., p. 65.
![The Native Races [of the Pacific states], Volume 1, Wild Tribes - Hubert Howe Bancroft](limg_read206179.jpg "The Native Races [of the Pacific states], Volume 1, Wild Tribes - Hubert Howe Bancroft")