The Native Races [of the Pacific states], Volume 1, Wild Tribes. Hubert Howe Bancroft
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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 in common 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
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
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 the warmer 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 are snared 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
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
'These robes are in general, composed of the skins of a small animal, which we have supposed to be the brown mungo.' 'Sometimes they have a blanket woven with the fingers, from the wool of their native sheep.' Every part of the body but the back and shoulders is exposed to view. The Nechecolies had 'larger and longer robes, which are generally of deer skin dressed in the hair.'
'Their houses seemed to be more comfortable than those at Nootka, the roof having a greater inclination, and the planking being thatched over with the bark of trees. The entrance is through a hole, in a broad plank, covered in such a manner as to resemble the face of a man, the mouth serving the purpose of a door-way. The fire-place is sunk into the earth, and confined from spreading above by a wooden frame.'
'In the summer they resort to the principal rivers and the sea coast, … retiring to the smaller rivers of the interior during the cold season.'
For description of the various roots and berries used by the Chinooks as food, see
The Multnomahs 'are very fond of cold, hot, and vapour baths, which are used at all seasons, and for the purpose of health as well as pleasure. They, however, add a species of bath peculiar to themselves, by washing the whole body with urine every morning.'