Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VII.djvu/269

FLATHEADS FLAVEL 261 shape of the head is so highly prized among the Ohinooks that their slaves are not allowed to practise artificial flattening. The internal capacity of the skull is not diminished by the flatness, and the intellect is not affected, as all travellers agree that these nations are remark- ably shrewd and intelligent ; but it is said that they are particularly subject to apoplexy. The Chinooks are the best known of the Flatheads ; they inhabit the S. shore of the straits of Fuca, and the deeply indented territory as far as the tide waters of the Columbia river. They are commonly diminutive, with ill-shaped limbs and unprepossessing features ; the oblique eye and arched nose are occasionally seen among them ; their complexion is darker than that of the more northern tribes who do not flatten the head. They have the filthy habits and the usual vices of the N. W. Indians, but are said to be superior to the hunting tribes of America in the useful and ornamental arts ; their climate is comparatively mild and moist from the prev- alence of westerly winds, and they are a fish- ing and maritime people. They differ from the northern tribes in language as well as in physical characters. Dr. Morton, in plates 42 to 50 of the Crania Americana, gives descrip- tive illustrations of several skulls of th% Co- lumbia river tribes. The custom of flattening the head is very ancient, but the modern Indians, except those of the N. W. coast, do not gener- ally practise it ; it was a custom in Peru before the arrival of the Incas, and was practised also by the Inca Peruvians to a comparatively re- cent date. It seems to have been principally employed by the Toltecan branch of the Ameri- can nations, including the semi-civilized race of Mexico, Peru, and Central America, and the ancient mound builders of the Ohio and Mis- sissippi valleys; the Natchez tribe of Florida and the southern states, the Choctaws, and the Caribs (both insular and continental) flattened the skulls of their children by various devices, either in a vertical direction (as in the Natchez) or longitudinal one (as in the ancient Peruvians). II* Properly SELISH, a small tribe of Indians, the most important and civilized branch of the Selish family. The origin of the name Flat- heads as applied to them is unknown, as they do not flatten the head. They were visited by Lewis and Clarke in 1806-'7, and are mentioned by the name of Hopilpo. They resided on the Bitter Root or St. Mary's river, the largest trib- utary of Clarke's river, and numbered about 600. In 1830 they, with other Oregon tribes, were greatly reduced by pestilential fevers. Al- though a peaceful, industrious tribe, they be- came warriors to defend themselves against the Bannacks, Crows, and Blackfeet, but have never made war upon the whites. Hearing of Christianity from an Iroquois of one of the Canada missions, they sent three deputa- tions to the Jesuits in St. Louis to obtain a missionary. Father P. J. De Smet went to the tribe in 1840, and began a mission which soon made the whole tribe Christians. They were poor, miserable, half starved, and nearly naked, living on fish and roots, and having no means of crossing rivers except their lodge skins ; but they were willing to work, made rapid progress in agriculture, and have adopted the habits and dress of whites. They are remarkably sober and honest, and good warriors, although pre- ferring peace. They were long governed by an excellent chief, Victor, regarded also as chief of the Pend d'Oreilles and Kootenays. The missionaries introduced agricultural im- plements, horses, and cattle, and the tribe pros- pered, being long without agents or traders. The treaty of Hellgate, July 16, 1855, approved by the senate on March 8, 1859, ceded all their lands without any consideration paid by gov- ernment; and though it seemed to secure them their lands on the Bitter Root, yet under an order issued by President Grant on Nov. 14, 1871, they were removed to the Jocko reser- vation, which comprises 1,433,600 acres in the N. W. part of Montana. Of this tract the por- tion assigned to them is the worst. Any head of a family who would renounce tribal relations was permitted to take up 160 acres in the Bit- ter Root valley, and congress appropriated (June 5, 1872) $50,000 to pay for their houses and improvements there. It was also stipulated that 60 houses should be built for them, but only 11 were begun. Chariot, the chief who succeeded Victor, refused to sign the contract for the removal to the Jocko reservation. They have recently been attacked by the Sioux and lost many warriors. In 1872 they were re- ported at 460, which is evidently too low* with a school directed by missionaries and sisters of charity, and containing 29 pupils ; they raised wheat, corn, oats, potatoes, and hay to the value of more than $7,000 ; had 1,200 horses, 800 cattle, and 250 swine. Their language is re- markably difficult. Its grammar has been published by Mengarini (New York, 1861). It is spoken with some dialectic differences by the Kalispels or Pend d'Oreilles, the Spokans, Cceurs d'Alenes, Kettlefall Indians, Okanagans, Clallams, Lummi, and Shewhapmuck. FLAUBERT, Gnstave, a French novelist, born in Rouen about 1821. He abandoned the study of medicine for literature, and published a li- centious novel, Madame de Bovary (2 vols., Paris, 1857), which met with considerable suc- cess, partly owing to legal proceedings which were instituted against him for its alleged im- morality, but which fell to the ground. Among his other works are Salammlo (1862), a novel embodying the results of his explorations about Carthage, and L> Education sentimentale, Ms- toire d'unjeune 7iomme(2 vols., 1869). FLAVEL, John, an English clergyman and author, born at Bromsgrove, "Worcestershire, about 1627, died in Exeter, June 26, 1691. He was educated at Oxford, became a curate at Diptford, and was called in 1656 to Dart- mouth. He was one of the 2,000 clergymen who refused to subscribe to the "Act of Con- formity " passed in 1662, and was therefore