CHAPTER VI.
In August, 1816, we once more touched at the Columbia, unloaded, and refitted. We lived in tents on shore, within a fence erected to keep the Indians from stealing our tools. On the 3rd of September our cook died, after four months' illness. On the 9th, two canoes, belonging to the Northwest Company, arrived from the interior; they had left the brigade, consisting of nine canoes and about seventy men, encamped at Oak Point, sixty miles up the river. On the 1st of October, the whole brigade of canoes arrived with furs; and, on the 5th, they again sailed (well armed) with stores for the interior, under the direction of Mr. McKenzie. At this time, the season is wet; we therefore built sheds for the carpenters to work under; and, to the middle of November, all hands were working hard to get the vessel ready for sea before the winter set in.
November the 21st, we were much alarmed by a fire breaking out, about seven o'clock in the evening, at the fort; we lost no time in hastening to their assistance with our buckets, and in the course of half an hour got it completely under with the loss of only one house. Providentially, it was raining very hard, as, if there had been the least wind, the whole place must inevitably have been destroyed, with all our rigging, sails, stores, etc., and we should have been left at the mercy of barbarous Indians, without the means of helping ourselves. On the breaking out of the fire, the natives all fled from the village, making a dreadful noise.
December 1st, our hull being complete, we hauled off in the stream to take our masts in, after having lain on shore for nearly four months. The first month of our stay here, the weather was delightful, and we were well supplied with excellent salmon and sturgeon, and a variety of small fish. Latterly we had much rain, thunder and lightning, heavy gales of wind from S. W. to S. E. The N. W. winds prevailed here in summer, and, in the winter, from S. W. to S. E., with thick, rainy weather. While here, I employed an Indian hunter, who, with my finding powder and shot, supplied the ship with ducks, geese, and swans, for one blanket. He furnished me so largely, that I made him a present of the musket, when I left the river, for which he was most grateful, and made me many presents.
On the 6th, of January, 1817, Lewis Lapham, our armourer, died, truly regretted, as he was a very serviceable man. On the 10th, we crossed the bar and got safe to sea. And now, while the ship is making for the Sandwich Islands, I shall endeavour to give an account of the Columbia River, with the manners of the people.
Cape Disappointment forms the north point of the river; it is in the latitude of 46° 19′ north and longitude 123° 54′ west; it is high, bluff land, very remarkable, and covered with wood. On that part which faces the S. W., there are a great many dead trees; and the bluff, or face of the cape, is quite bare. Point Adams forms the south side of the river; it is a low point, about seven miles from Cape Disappointment, in a S. E. direction, with a number of trees scattered over it. There is a sand-bank which runs from Point Adams to within two miles of the cape, and also another which runs from point Disappointment, in a S. W. direction, about two miles; this bank, of course, lies considerably outside the other, and the two are formed by the sea heaving up the sand when the wind sets in strong from the S. W., when, for some days, the sea breaks from point to point without any channel, and after the wind abates, the channel is again opened by the tide, which strikes Cape Disappointment, turns off in a S. W. direction, and divides both sands. Ships going into the river, may stand in without fear in mid-channel, till they bring the easternmost bluff of the cape to bear N. E., then haul up for it immediately, and, if bound into Baker's Bay, keep close round the cape, and come too in five fathoms, the cape bearing south. Upon getting into the bay, you lose the tide; if bound up the river, run out of the bay, and bring Tongue Point open about a ship's length, with Chinook or Village Point, the former makes like an island, and is about seven miles above point Adams, on the south side of the river; the latter is a remarkable hill, about seven miles above Cape Disappointment, known by a large clear patch on the side, and the only clear piece of ground in sight. In mid-channel, you have from seven to nine fathoms sandy bottom. In beating up or down, come no nearer the shore than four fathoms, or farther off than thirteen fathoms, which you will have on the edge of the banks; there is good anchorage above Chinook Point, in eight fathoms. The river is full of sand banks, formed by the numerous small rivers that branch off in various directions from the main one. The country, on both sides, is formed of impenetrable woods, chiefly pine, elder, maple, and birch trees; further up, there are plenty of good oaks and ash. The first tribe of Indians we saw were called the Chickeloes, under a chief, named Calpo. They come from a place called Classet, to the northward of the river, on the sea coast, and bring otter and beaver skins to trade at the fort. They encamp in Baker's Bay, and continue, from June to October, curing salmon and sturgeon for the winter. They are a very warlike people, and extremely dangerous, taking every advantage if you are off your guard. So hostile and treacherous were they, that we never allowed the men of this tribe to come on board.
About five miles up the river, on the north side, stands the Chinook village. The king of this tribe is called Com Comly, or Madsaw, which, in the Chinook tongue, signifies Thunder. The village consists of about thirty houses, built of wood, and very large; they are formed of boards, with the edges resting on each other, and fastened with stripes of bark to upright posts, which are stuck in the ground on either side of them. Some have ridge-pole and rafters, but the chief part are nearly flat on the top; they have old mats spread inside and out, to keep out the wind and rain. In every house there are from five to fifteen families, and each family has a fire in the middle of the building. On the sides they have their bed places, raised about a foot from the earth, and covered with mats; where they pig in all together, men, women, and children. The houses are decorated with rude carved images, which they call clamas, or gods, but they do not seem to pay any kind of homage or attention to them. Their furniture consists of boxes or chests, hollowed from the solid wood, of all sizes, and curiously carved; and of a number of baskets, which they work so close as to hold water. In the boxes they keep their property and spare garments, and also their dry provision. When the Indians shift to their winter quarters, they carry all the planks and mats of their houses with them, leaving nothing but the rafters and frame standing. They are filthy to the extreme; allow whole piles of fish entrails and other uncleanness to lie in the middle of the houses, never attempting to clear it away. Even in their eating they are very nasty; I have frequently seen them with a piece of meat, half roasted, in the dirt and ashes, lying on the ground with their feet on it, and tearing like wild beasts with their teeth. After their fish is boiled, they turn it out on a mat, or, if they have not got one readily, on the ground, and collect round it like a pack of hounds, devouring dirt and all. Their mode of boiling fish, vegetables, etc., is rather singular, and deserves to be related. They put whatever is to be cooked into a basket, and, nearly filling it with water, place it on the ground; they then proceed to boil or sodden it, by putting in red-hot stones (of which they have a number for the purpose) in quick succession, until the victuals are done to their satisfaction.
The chief employment of the men is to hunt and fish; they are, however, generally speaking, very lazy, and their young men lie basking in the sun, on the sides of the river, for hours together. The women and girls are employed in making hats, mats, etc., and in collecting berries and wood. These people have not the least notion of tilling the ground; they trust to Providence for every thing, and derive their chief support from the river and sea. They collect plenty of berries and fish in summer to last them through the winter. The former they preserve by mixing them up with salmon or seal oil, and, making them into lumps, set them to dry in the sun. When sufficiently dry, they are laid by in boxes and baskets for winter. The salmon they cure by splitting it up into four slices, and running splinters of wood across them. These they also dry in the sun, and then hang them up in the houses, where they are soon smoked and laid by for use. They are cured without salt, which is never used. The Indian women are complete drudges, yet they seem to work cheerfully. They have a root here like the potato, called by the natives wapitoe; it grows chiefly in swampy ground, and is collected in September.
The men are very stout and hardy; their height from five feet to five feet eight inches, well proportioned, and with very little beard. They wear a dress made of the skins of the wood-rat, sewed neatly together and thrown over the shoulders; this garment is the same in both sexes (with the addition of a petticoat, which the women wear.) It goes under the right arm and above the left, where it fastens with a wooden skewer, being open down the side, so that it leaves both arms at liberty for the use of their weapons. Their ears are perforated in many parts, and small bits of leather fastened in, from which hang shells in shape not much dissimilar to a game cock's spur, and about one inch in length. These shells are called hiaqua. The nose is also perforated, from which beads are suspended; and sometimes a large goose or swan's quill is pushed through. They anoint their bodies with a sort of red ochre and seal oil; and are very expert in the use of the bow, bludgeon, and dagger. Their bows are made of pine, about four feet long, and, in the middle, two inches broad, tapering off towards each end. The sinew of the elk is laid on the back of the bow, which bends it the contrary way and strengthens it; the string is also made of the sinew of the elk, and it requires a man of some strength to string them. The Chinooks are very expert in the use of this weapon; they will stand on the deck and stick an arrow into the truck with ease. Their arrows are made of light wood, and pointed with stone, bone, glass, ivory, or iron. Those barbed with ivory I have seen pierce a three-quarter of an inch plank at twelve yards distance. One day some of our people were practising the bow on board; they stood aft, and endeavored to strike a small looking-glass placed on the bow of the vessel, but none of them could succeed. An Indian, who was standing by, laughed most heartily at them, and taking up his bow, stood on the stern, and shooting, broke the glass in pieces, at a distance of 95 feet, the mark being about three inches square. The bludgeon is made of bone or iron, about two feet long, and stout in proportion, and handsomely carved and ornamented; the daggers are made of flint-stone or iron, and are held by the middle, so that they use both ends. The natives have a kind of loop to the bludgeon and dagger, which goes over the wrist, to prevent their being wrenched out of their hands; and they never stir out without one of these weapons. Their original tools are chisels made out of the pine knot, axes of stone, and stone mallets. With these they split large cedar trees into planks, with which they build their houses. Their canoes are very simple; some are large enough to carry 30 people, being about 40 feet long, the middle nearly six feet broad, and becoming gradually narrower toward the end. They are about two feet deep, handsomely ornamented and painted; the ornamental parts are the teeth of the wolf and sea-otter, which navigators have taken for human teeth. The paddles are made light and small, the length generally 6 feet, of which 2½ feet forms the blade; the lower end is forked like a fish's tail, and the upper end is crutched very neatly. In the canoes they keep nets, hooks, harpoons, and fish-gigs, etc., also long spears for spearing salmon. The Chinook women are short and very stout, with thick and often bandy legs. Their hair, which is jet black, they allow to hang loose all round their heads and over their shoulders, never cutting it off unless at the death of some near relative. They wear, as I have noticed, a petticoat made of rushes twisted over a string, with ends hanging loosely down. This garment reaches the knee, and keeps them very warm. The war-dress of the men is made of the elk-skin, which is dressed in the interior; it is very thick and yet pliable; an arrow cannot penetrate it, and I have even tried with a pistol-ball at the distance of 12 yards without effect. It is worn exactly as the common dress, but is doubled about the body. The men also wear a hat in the shape of a cone, with a string that fastens under the chin. These people have a horrid custom of flattening the heads of infants. When a child is born, they lay it in a small canoe or cradle made for that purpose; they then fix a pad on the forehead and bind it tight down, and keep it so till it broadens the face and forces the eye out, giving them a most ferocious appearance. When the child screams with pain, they loosen the bandage and hold it to the breast; the flatter the head is, the greater the beauty in their estimation. Polygamy is allowed, and they keep three or four wives; they are not jealous, and so far from being at all delicate, they allow their women to go on board ship, and remain for weeks, taking care, however, to be well paid beforehand. Their mode of burying the dead is to fasten them in a small canoe with all their property, and hang the vessel up between two trees or stakes; they then cover them with mats.