The Native Races [of the Pacific states], Volume 1, Wild Tribes

302

'The women go to bed first, and are up first in the morning to prepare breakfast,' p. 52. 'The condition of the Aht women is not one of unseemly inferiority,' p. 93. 'Their female relations act as midwives. There is no separate place for lying-in. The child, on being born, is rolled up in a mat among feathers.' 'They suckle one child till another comes,' p. 94. 'A girl who was known to have lost her virtue, lost with it one of her chances of a favourable marriage, and a chief … would have put his daughter to death for such a lapse,' p. 95. In case of a separation, if the parties belong to different tribes, the children go with the mother, p. 96. 'No traces of the existence of polyandry among the Ahts,' p. 99. The personal modesty of the Aht women when young is much greater than that of the men, p. 315. Sproat's Scenes, pp. 28-30, 50-2, 93-102, 160, 264, 315. One of the chiefs said that three was the number of wives permitted: 'como número necesario para no comunicar con la que estuviese en cinta.' 'Muchos de ellos mueren sin casarse.' 'El Tays no puede hacer uso de sus mugeres sin ver enteramente iluminado el disco de la luna.' Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, pp. 141-6. Women treated with no particular respect in any situation. Cook's Voy. to Pac., vol. ii., p. 318. Persons of the same crest are not allowed to marry. 'The child again always takes the crest of the mother.' 'As a rule also, descent is traced from the mother, not from the father.' 'Intrigue with the wives of men of other tribes is one of the commonest causes of quarrel among the Indians.' Mayne's B. C., pp. 257-8, 276; Macfie's Vanc. Isl., pp. 444-7. The women are 'very reserved and chaste.' Meares' Voy., pp. 251, 258, 265, 268; Kane's Wand., pp. 239-40. The Indian woman, to sooth her child, makes use of a springy stick fixed obliquely in the ground to which the cradle is attached by a string, forming a convenient baby-jumper. Lord's Nat., vol. ii., p. 259; Pemberton's Vanc. Isl., p. 131; Mofras, Explor., tom. ii., pp. 346-7. 'Where there are no slaves in the tribe or family they perform all the drudgery of bringing firewood, water, &c.' Grant, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxvii., pp. 298-9, 304. No intercourse between the newly married pair for a period of ten days, p. 129. 'Perhaps in no part of the world is virtue more prized,' p. 74. Jewitt's Nar., pp. 59-60, 74, 127-9; Cornwallis' New El Dorado, p. 101.

303

'When relieved from the presence of strangers, they have much easy and social conversation among themselves.' 'The conversation is frequently coarse and indecent.' Sproat's Scenes, pp. 50-1. 'Cantando y baylando al rededor de las hogueras, abandonándose á todos los excesos de la liviandad.' Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, p. 133.

304

Sproat's Scenes, pp. 55-6; Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, p. 144.

305

Grant, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxvii., p. 299; Mayne's B. C., pp. 275-6; Pemberton's Vanc. Isl., p. 134; Macfie's Vanc. Isl., p. 444; Barrett-Lennard's Trav., p. 53.

306

Sproat's Scenes, p. 269. But Lord says 'nothing can be done without it.' Nat., vol. i., p. 168.

307

The Indian never invites any of the same crest as himself. Macfie's Vanc. Isl., 445. 'They are very particular about whom they invite to their feasts, and, on great occasions, men and women feast separately, the women always taking the precedence.' Duncan, in Mayne's B. C., pp. 263-6; Sproat's Scenes, pp. 59-63.

308

Lord's Nat., vol. i., pp. 259-60.

309

'I have never seen an Indian woman dance at a feast, and believe it is seldom if ever done.' Mayne's B. C., pp. 267-9. The women generally 'form a separate circle, and chaunt and jump by themselves.' Grant, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxvii., p. 306. 'As a rule, the men and women do not dance together; when the men are dancing the women sing and beat time,' but there is a dance performed by both sexes. Sproat's Scenes, pp. 66-7. 'On other occasions a male chief will invite a party of female guests to share his hospitality.' Macfie's Vanc. Isl., p. 431. 'Las mugeres baylan desayradisimamente; rara vez se prestan á esta diversion.' Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, p. 152.

310

'La decencia obliga á pasar en silencio los bayles obscenos de los Mischîmis (common people), especialmente el del impotente á causa de la edad, y el del pobre que no ha podido casarse.' Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, pp. 151-2, 18; Macfie's Vanc. Isl., pp. 432-7; Sproat's Scenes, pp. 65-71; Mayne's B. C., pp. 266-7; Jewitt's Nar., p. 389; Grant, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxvii., p. 306; Cornwallis' New El Dorado, pp. 99-103.

311

Jewitt's Nar., pp. 39, 60, 72-3; Vancouver's Voy., vol. iii., pp. 307-10; Cook's Voy. to Pac., vol. ii., pp. 310-11.

312

Their music is mostly grave and serious, and in exact concert, when sung by great numbers. 'Variations numerous and expressive, and the cadence or melody powerfully soothing.' Cook's Voy. to Pac., vol. ii., pp. 310-11, 283. Dislike European music. Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, pp. 151-2. 'Their tunes are generally soft and plaintive, and though not possessing great variety, are not deficient in harmony.' Jewitt thinks the words of the songs may be borrowed from other tribes. Jewitt's Nar., p. 72, and specimen of war song, p. 166. Airs consist of five or six bars, varying slightly, time being beaten in the middle of the bar. 'Melody they have none, there is nothing soft, pleasing, or touching in their airs; they are not, however, without some degree of rude harmony.' Grant, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xviii., p. 306. 'A certain beauty of natural expression in many of the native strains, if it were possible to relieve them from the monotony which is their fault.' There are old men, wandering minstrels, who sing war songs and beg. 'It is remarkable how aptly the natives catch and imitate songs heard from settlers or travelers.' Sproat's Scenes, pp. 63-5.

313

Macfie's Vanc. Isl., pp. 430-1; Jewitt's Nar., p. 39.

314

'I have seen the sorcerers at work a hundred times, but they use so many charms, which appear to me ridiculous, – they sing, howl, and gesticulate in so extravagant a manner, and surround their office with such dread and mystery, – that I am quite unable to describe their performances,' pp. 169-70. 'An unlucky dream will stop a sale, a treaty, a fishing, hunting, or war expedition,' p. 175. Sproat's Scenes, pp. 165-75. A chief, offered a piece of tobacco for allowing his portrait to be made, said it was a small reward for risking his life. Kane's Wand., p. 240. Shrewd individuals impose on their neighbors by pretending to receive a revelation, telling them where fish or berries are most abundant. Description of initiatory ceremonies of the sorcerers. Macfie's Vanc. Isl., pp. 446, 433-7, 451. Jewitt's Nar., pp. 98-9. A brave prince goes to a distant lake, jumps from a high rock into the water, and rubs all the skin off his face with pieces of rough bark, amid the applause of his attendants. Description of king's prayers, and ceremonies to bring rain. Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, pp. 145-6, 37. Candidates are thrown into a state of mesmerism before their initiation. 'Medicus', in Hutchings' Cal. Mag., vol. v., pp. 227-8; Barrett-Lennard's Trav., pp. 51-3; Californias, Noticias, pp. 61-85.

315

They brought for sale 'human skulls, and hands not yet quite stripped of the flesh, which they made our people plainly understand they had eaten; and, indeed, some of them had evident marks that they had been upon the fire.' Cook's Voy. to Pac., vol. ii., p. 271. Slaves are occasionally sacrificed and feasted upon. Meares' Voy., p. 255. 'No todos habian comido la carne humana, ni en todo tiempo, sino solamente los guerreros mas animosos quando se preparaban para salir á campaña.' 'Parece indudable que estos salvages han sido antropófagos.' Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, p. 130. 'At Nootka Sound, and at the Sandwich Islands, Ledyard witnessed instances of cannibalism. In both places he saw human flesh prepared for food.' Spark's Life of Ledyard, p. 74; Cornwallis' New El Dorado, pp. 104-6. 'Cannibalism, all-though unknown among the Indians of the Columbia, is practised by the savages on the coast to the northward.' Cox's Adven., vol. i., pp. 310-11. The cannibal ceremonies quoted by Macfie and referred to Vancouver Island, probably were intended for the Haidahs farther north. Vanc. Isl., p. 434. A slave as late as 1850 was drawn up and down a pole by a hook through the skin and tendons of the back, and afterwards devoured. Medicus, in Hutchings' Cal. Mag., vol. v., p. 223. 'L'anthropophagie á été longtemps en usage … et peut-être y existe-t-elle encore… Le chef Maquina … tuait un prisonnier à chaque lune nouvelle. Tous les chefs étaient invités à cette horrible fête.' Mofras, Explor., tom. ii., p. 345. 'It is not improbable that the suspicion that the Nootkans are cannibals may be traced to the practice of some custom analagous to the Tzeet-tzaiak of the Haeel tzuk.' Scouler, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., pp. 223-4. 'The horrid practice of sacrificing a victim is not annual, but only occurs either once in three years or else at uncertain intervals.' Sproat's Scenes, p. 156.

316

'Rheumatism and paralysis are rare maladies.' Syphilis is probably indigenous. Amputation, blood-letting, and metallic medicine not employed. Medicines to produce love are numerous. 'Young and old of both sexes are exposed when afflicted with lingering disease.' Sproat's Scenes, pp. 251-7, 282, 213-4. 'Headache is cured by striking the part affected with small branches of the spruce tree.' Doctors are generally chosen from men who have themselves suffered serious maladies. Macfie's Vanc. Isl., pp. 438-40. 'Their cure for rheumatism or similar pains … is by cutting or scarifying the part affected.' Jewitt's Nar., p. 142. They are sea sick on European vessels. Poole's Q. Char. Isl., p. 81. Description of ceremonies. Swan, in Mayne's B. C., pp. 261-3, 304. 'The patient is put to bed, and for the most part starved, lest the food should be consumed by his internal enemy.' 'The warm and steam bath is very frequently employed.' Medicus, in Hutchings' Cal. Mag., vol. v., pp. 226-8.

317

The custom of burning or burying property is wholly confined to chiefs. 'Night is their time for interring the dead.' Buffoon tricks, with a feast and dance, formed part of the ceremony. Jewitt's Nar., pp. 105, 111-2, 136. At Valdes Island, 'we saw two sepulchres built with plank about five feet in height, seven in length, and four in breadth. These boards were curiously perforated at the ends and sides, and the tops covered with loose pieces of plank;' inclosed evidently the relics of many different bodies. Vancouver's Voy., vol. i., pp. 338-9. 'The coffin is usually an old canoe, lashed round and round, like an Egyptian mummy-case.' Lord's Nat., vol. i., p. 170. 'There is generally some grotesque figure painted on the outside of the box, or roughly sculptured out of wood and placed by the side of it. For some days after death the relatives burn salmon or venison before the tomb.' 'They will never mention the name of a dead man.' Grant, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxvii., pp. 301-3. 'As a rule, the Indians burn their dead, and then bury the ashes.' 'It was at one time not uncommon for Indians to desert forever a lodge in which one of their family had died.' Mayne's B. C., pp. 271-2, with cut of graves. For thirty days after the funeral, dirges are chanted at sunrise and sunset. Macfie's Vanc. Isl., pp. 447-8. Children frequently, but grown persons never, were found hanging in trees. Meares' Voy., p. 268; Sproat's Scenes, pp. 258-63. The bodies of chiefs are hung in trees on high mountains, while those of the commons are buried, that their souls may have a shorter journey to their residence in a future life. Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, pp. 139-40. 'The Indians never inter their dead,' and rarely burn them. Barrett-Lennard's Trav., p. 51.

318

'As light-fingered as any of the Sandwich Islanders. Of a quiet, phlegmatic, and inactive disposition.' 'A docile, courteous, good-natured people … but quick in resenting what they look upon as an injury; and, like most other passionate people, as soon forgetting it.' Not curious; indolent; generally fair in trade, and would steal only such articles as they wanted for some purpose. Cook's Voy. to Pac., vol. ii., pp. 272, 308-12, etc. 'Exceedingly hospitable in their own homes, … lack neither courage nor intelligence.' Pemberton's Vanc. Isl., p. 131. The Kla-iz-zarts 'appear to be more civilized than any of the others.' The Cayuquets are thought to be deficient in courage; and the Kla-os-quates 'are a fierce, bold, and enterprizing people.' Jewitt's Nar., pp. 75-7. 'Civil and inoffensive' at Horse Sound. Vancouver's Voy., vol. i., p. 307. 'Their moral deformities are as great as their physical ones.' Domenech's Deserts, vol. i., p. 88. The Nittinahts given to aggressive war, and consequently 'bear a bad reputation.' Whymper's Alaska, p. 74. Not brave, and a slight repulse daunts them. 'Sincere in his friendship, kind to his wife and children, and devotedly loyal to his own tribe,' p. 51. 'In sickness and approaching death, the savage always becomes melancholy,' p. 162. Sproat's Scenes, pp. 30, 36, 52, 91, 119-24, 150-66, 187, 216. 'Comux and Yucletah fellows very savage and uncivilized dogs,' and the Nootkas not to be trusted. 'Cruel, bloodthirsty, treacherous and cowardly.' Grant, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxvii., pp. 294, 296, 298, 305, 307. Mayne's B. C., p. 246; Macfie's Vanc. Isl., pp. 190, 460-1, 472, 477, 484; Poole's Q. Char. Isl., pp. 294-6. The Spaniards gave the Nootkas a much better character than voyagers of other nations. Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, pp. 25, 31-2, 57-9, 63, 99, 107, 133, 149-51, 154-6; Forbes' Vanc. Isl., p. 25; Rattray's Vanc. Isl., pp. 172-3. The Ucultas 'are a band of lawless pirates and robbers, levying black-mail on all the surrounding tribes.' Barrett-Lennard's Trav., p. 43. 'Bold and ferocious, sly and reserved, not easily provoked, but revengeful.' Spark's Life of Ledyard, p. 72. The Teets have 'all the vices of the coast tribes' with 'none of the redeeming qualities of the interior nations.' Anderson, in Hist. Mag., vol. vii., p. 78.

319

'Those who came within our notice so nearly resembled the people of Nootka, that the best delineation I can offer is a reference to the description of those people' (by Cook), p. 252. At Cape Flattery they closely resembled those of Nootka and spoke the same language, p. 218. At Gray Harbor they seemed to vary in little or no respect 'from those on the sound, and understood the Nootka tongue', p. 83. 'The character and appearance of their several tribes here did not seem to differ in any material respect from each other,' p. 288. Evidence that the country was once much more thickly peopled, p. 254. Vancouver's Voy., vol. i., pp. 218, 252, 254, 288; vol. ii., p. 83. The Chehalis come down as far as Shoal-water Bay. A band of Klikatats (Sahaptins) is spoken of near the head of the Cowlitz. 'The Makahs resemble the northwestern Indians far more than their neighbors.' The Lummi are a branch of the Clallams. Rept. Ind. Aff., 1854, pp. 240-4. The Lummi 'traditions lead them to believe that they are descendants of a better race than common savages.' The Semianmas 'are intermarried with the north band of the Lummis, and Cowegans, and Quantlums.' The Neuk-wers and Siamanas are called Stick Indians, and in 1852 had never seen a white. 'The Neuk-sacks (Mountain Men) trace from the salt water Indians,' and 'are entirely different from the others.' 'The Loomis appear to be more of a wandering class than the others about Bellingham Bay.' Id., 1857, pp. 327-9. 'They can be divided into two classes – the salt-water and the Stick Indians.' Id., 1857, p. 224. Of the Nisquallies 'some live in the plains, and others on the banks of the Sound.' The Classets have been less affected than the Chinooks by fever and ague. Dunn's Oregon, pp. 231-5. The Clallams speak a kindred language to that of the Ahts. Sproat's Scenes, p. 270. 'El gobierno de estos naturales de la entrada y canales de Fuca, la disposicion interior de las habitaciones las manufacturas y vestidos que usan son muy parecidos á los de los habitantes de Nutka.' Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, p. 111. The Sound Indians live in great dread of the Northern tribes. Wilkes' Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. iv., p. 513. The Makahs deem themselves much superior to the tribes of the interior, because they go out on the ocean. Scammon, in Overland Monthly, vol. vii., pp. 277-8. The Nooksaks are entirely distinct from the Lummi, and some suppose them to have come from the Clallam country. Coleman, in Harper's Mag., vol. xxxix., p. 799. Stevens, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., p. 428.

320

At Port Discovery they 'seemed capable of enduring great fatigue.' 'Their cheek-bones were high.' 'The oblique eye of the Chinese was not uncommon.' 'Their countenances wore an expression of wildness, and they had, in the opinion of some of us, a melancholy cast of features.' Some of women would with difficulty be distinguished in colour from those of European race. The Classet women 'were much better looking than those of other tribes.' Portrait of a Tatouche chief. Wilkes' Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. iv., pp. 317-8, 320, 517-8. 'All are bow-legged.' 'All of a sad-colored, Caravaggio brown.' 'All have coarse, black hair, and are beardless.' Winthrop's Canoe and Saddle, p. 32. 'Tall and stout.' Maurelle's Jour., p. 28. Sproat mentions a Clallam slave who 'could see in the dark like a racoon.' Scenes, p. 52. The Classet 'cast of countenance is very different from that of the Nootkians … their complexion in also much fairer and their stature shorter.' Jewitt's Nar., p. 75. The Nisqually Indians 'are of very large stature; indeed, the largest I have met with on the continent. The women are particularly large and stout.' Kane's Wand., pp. 207, 228, 234. The Nisquallies are by no means a large race, being from five feet five inches to five feet nine inches in height, and weighing from one hundred and thirty to one hundred and eighty pounds. Anderson, in Lord's Nat., vol. ii., p. 227. 'De rostro hermoso y da gallarda figura.' Navarrete, in Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, p. xciv. The Queniults, 'the finest-looking Indians I had ever seen.' Swan's N. W. Coast, pp. 78-9. Neuksacks stronger and more athletic than other tribes. Many of the Lummi 'very fair and have light hair.' Rept. Ind. Aff., 1857, p. 328; Pickering's Races, in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. ix., p. 23; Morton's Crania, p. 215, with plate of Cowlitz skull; Cornwallis' New El Dorado, p. 97; Vancouver's Voy., vol. i., p. 252; Murphy and Harned, Puget Sound Directory, pp. 64-71; Clark's Lights and Shadows, pp. 214-15, 224-6.

321

'Less bedaubed with paint and less filthy' than the Nootkas. At Port Discovery 'they wore ornaments, though none were observed in their noses.' At Cape Flattery the nose ornament was straight, instead of crescent-shaped, as among the Nootkas. Vancouver supposed their garments to be composed of dog's hair mixed with the wool of some wild animal, which he did not see. Vancouver's Voy., vol. i., pp. 218, 230, 266. At Port Discovery some had small brass bells hung in the rim of the ears, p. 318. Some of the Skagits were tattooed with lines on the arms and face, and fond of brass rings, pp. 511-12. The Classets 'wore small pieces of an iridescent mussel-shell, attached to the cartilage of their nose, which was in some, of the size of a ten cents piece, and triangular in shape. It is generally kept in motion by their breathing,' p. 517. Wilkes' Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. iv., pp. 317-20, 334, 404, 444, 511-2, 517-8. The conical hats and stout bodies 'brought to mind representations of Siberian tribes.' Pickering's Races, in Idem., vol. ix., p. 23. The Clallams 'wear no clothing in summer.' Faces daubed with red and white mud. Illustration of head-flattening. Kane's Wand., pp. 180, 207, 210-11, 224. Seemann's Voy. Herald, vol. i., pp. 108-9; Rossi, Souvenirs, p. 299; Dunn's Oregon, pp. 232-3; San Francisco Bulletin, May 24, 1859; Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, p. 243; Id., 1857, p. 329; Stevens, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., p. 430. Above Gray Harbor they were dressed with red deer skins. Navarrete, in Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, p. xciv: Cornwallis' New El Dorado, p. 97; Winthrop's Canoe and Saddle, p. 32-3; Murphy and Harned, in Puget Sd. Direct., pp. 64-71.

322

The Skagit tribe being exposed to attacks from the north, combine dwellings and fort, and build themselves 'enclosures, four hundred feet long, and capable of containing many families, which are constructed of pickets made of thick planks, about thirty feet high. The pickets are firmly fixed into the ground, the spaces between them being only sufficient to point a musket through… The interior of the enclosure is divided into lodges,' p. 511. At Port Discovery the lodges were 'no more than a few rudely-cut slabs, covered in part by coarse mats,' p. 319. Wilkes' Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. iv., pp. 319-20, 511, 517. The Clallams also have a fort of pickets one hundred and fifty feet square, roofed over and divided into compartments for families. 'There were about two hundred of the tribe in the fort at the time of my arrival.' 'The lodges are built of cedar like the Chinook lodges, but much larger, some of them being sixty or seventy feet long.' Kane's Wand., pp. 210, 219, 227-9. 'Their houses are of considerable size, often fifty to one hundred feet in length, and strongly built.' Rept. Ind. Aff., 1854, pp. 242-3. 'The planks forming the roof run the whole length of the building, being guttered to carry off the water, and sloping slightly to one end.' Stevens, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., pp. 429-30. Well built lodges of timber and plank on Whidbey Island. Thornton's Ogn. and Cal., vol. i., p. 300. At New Dungeness, 'composed of nothing more than a few mats thrown over cross sticks;' and on Puget Sound 'constructed something after the fashion of a soldier's tent, by two cross sticks about five feet high, connected at each end by a ridge-pole from one to the other, over some of which was thrown a coarse kind of mat; over others a few loose branches of trees, shrubs or grass.' Vancouver's Voy., vol. i., pp. 225, 262. The Queniults sometimes, but not always, whitewash the interior of their lodges with pipe-clay, and then paint figures of fishes and animals in red and black on the white surface. See description and cuts of exterior and interior of Indian lodge in Swan's N. W. Coast, pp. 266-7, 330, 338; Crane's Top. Mem., p. 65; Cornwallis' New El Dorado, p. 98; Clark's Lights and Shadows, p. 225.