figures of aboriginal pattern; and on examination, it appeared, that the red, green, yellow, and blue yarn had been procured from traders; while the black yarn seemed to be the hair of their shaggy dogs, a material otherwise reported to be used for this purpose. The latter circumstance, together with the use of the dog as a beast of burden in the far North, is possibly connected with the aboriginal introduction of the animal into the American continent.

The Chinooks appear to be unacquainted with the art of dyeing, but they have some aboriginal paints; such as the black and the dull-red colours, used in ornamenting their hats, canoes, masks, and other implements. The other colours we observed, may have been obtained from traders.

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Sufficient has already been stated of the Chinooks, to show their greater advancement in the arts, over the hunting tribes of North America; but some of their ingenious devices for procuring fish and game may be here noticed. We observed tall masts set up in particular situations, intercept, by means of connecting nets, the flight of waterfowl at night." A sort of fish-rake was successfully employed; but we saw nothing of fish-nets or seines, and indeed the sudden deepening of the water is unfavourable to their use. A peculiar mode of "spearing" or rather of noosing sturgeon, at surprising depths, was repeatedly spoken of; together with a method of capturing the whale, an exploit never dreamed of by the islanders of the Pacific, who are otherwise by no means deficient in enterprise.

Specimens of ornamental carving in clay-stone, executed by the Chinooks, have become common in museums. Those now obtained, represent little else than the novel objects introduced through European intercourse; and the original patterns appear to have been abandoned. Specimens of anterior date are therefore more interesting, and they usually consist of figures of grotesque imaginary quadrupeds, strangely grouped together; to which it has been supposed "that some meaning, now lost, was formerly attached." Some stone saucers, obtained by the Expedition, although not free from the suspicion of borrowed ideas, serve to

remind us that genius is not the exclusive offspring of civilisation.

Chinook skulls are well known in museums, from the remarkable peculiarity of being artificially flattened. This is accomplished during infancy by the strange treatment already noticed. Children, in consequence, sometimes presented a very remarkable appearance; * but as they grow

up, the cranium tends to resume its natural shape, so that the majority of grown persons hardly manifest the existence of the practice. One effect, however, seemed to be permanently distinguishable, in the unusual breadth of face.

The personal appearance of the Chinooks differs so much from that of the aboriginal tribes of the United States, that it was difficult at first to recognise the affinity. Taking them collectively, they are even inferior in stature to the tribes of Interior Oregon; the general form is shorter and more squat, and the face is rounder and broader when viewed in front. Instances occurred of a fairness of complexion, which I have not seen in other parts of aboriginal America; and in young children, the colour was often not strikingly deeper than among Europeans. The oblique eye I have scarcely noticed in other parts of America; nor such frequent difficulty in distinguishing men from women, whether in youth or age. The arched nose was, however, very prevalent among the Chinooks. The beard was not always absolutely wanting, but it occasionally attained the length of an inch or more. One man had both beard and whiskers quite thin, but full two inches long; and in other respects he much resembled some representations I have seen of the Esquimaux. The portraits in the fourth and fifth volumes of the Narrative (the Tatouche chief, Ramsey, and George), give a very good idea of the usual appearance of the Chinooks.

Slavery exists among the Chinooks, though, from all accounts, in a somewhat milder form than among their Northern neighbours. It was reported, whether on sufficient authority I was unable to ascertain, "that the descendants of slaves obtain freedom at the expiration of three centuries, and that they have the means of keeping

* See the portrait in the Narrative of the Expedition, vol. iv. p. 388.

the reckoning; and further, that slaves may in general be distinguished by the head not being flattened, though they are careful to perform this process on their children."

The

practice of slavery is possibly connected with the first peopling of the American continent; and we are at the precise geographical position which may be regarded in many respects as the natural point of influx; but on this subject Mr. Hale's ethnographical map, considered in reference to the existence of a pass over the Snowy Range of mountains, affords further elucidation.

A surveying party having been despatched across the Straits, some canoes of the YoOKULTY made their appearance, a circumstance said to have produced a lively sensation among the accompanying Chinooks; but the operations of the survey were interrupted, without the opportunity of an interview. Some Nootka masks were procured through a different source; and they are ornamented with pieces of the Halyotis shell, which is likewise a favourite article with the coast tribes of California.

Such is the superior mildness of the winter in this region, that the H. B. Company's steamboat runs through the inland channels as far as latitude 58° N., throughout the year. Some marvellous accounts were related to us of the more NORTHERN TRIBES; of "their unwillingness to admit any superiority in the White man; and of their attempts to discover the motive power in the steamboat, after constructing various devices in imitation." Eye-witnesses agreed in their superior lightness of complexion over the Chinooks; and a tribe was spoken of, who apply "pressure to the cranium in such a manner that the top is elevated.' That mechanical skill and refinement increase on advancing North, is evident from the manufacture of another description of leather, from the richly embroidered cloaks, from the paintings, and from the canoes, which will be spoken of hereafter.

With respect to the future prospects of these maritime tribes, the greater density of a spirited population, and the scanty proportion of agricultural territory, seemed to promise a different fate from that which has hitherto befallen their continental brethren. They can only give place to a maritime people, like themselves. It is certain that the

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Chinooks are not altogether unaware of the threatening storm, and on one occasion they gave us to understand that we had no business there; the land belonged to them." In docility the tribes of North-west America are not to be compared with the Polynesians; and they are regarded by traders as the "most dangerous people in the Pacific, after the Feejeeans."

INTERIOR OREGON.

Preparations for a journey into the Interior having been completed, our party, under the charge of Lieutenant Johnson, left the head of Puget Sound, on the 20th of May, 1841. The natives selected to accompany us, chiefly belonged to the NISQUALLY tribe, a portion of which was encamped in the neighbourhood of the fort; and we obtained. the assistance of two Canadian interpreters.

Even among the Chinooks I had observed individuals who were not readily distinguishable from the aboriginals of the United States; but now such instances occurred more frequently, and I remarked taller forms, and, independent of the absence of artificial pressure, a more "hard-featured". countenance. Indeed, I could not make out any physical difference from our Eastern tribes, except in the inferiority of stature, everywhere observable in Oregon.

The country near the coast was interspersed with flowery prairies, and afforded some game, chiefly deer; but as we approached the mountains, the woods became continuous. In all this distance we saw no villages, and but three or four habitations; and these, with one exception, appeared to be deserted. Three or four individuals were fallen in with on the way, and they were persuaded to join our party. After some days, our natives became as jovial among themselves as so many Polynesians, and I once heard one of them humming a low plaintive tune. They combed their hair with a pronged stick somewhat resembling a clothes-pin. The Canadians on all occasions termed them " savages; and they had adopted the epithet, unsuspicious of the implied opprobrium.

The path we followed had been but once previously traversed by civilised man. It leads over the crest of the Snowy Range, which at a point about twenty miles north of

Mount Rainier, seems practicable for horses during four or five months of the year; and indeed the chief obstacle arises from young spruces, that prevent the snow from settling around them in a solid mass. The passage. was accomplished by transferring the luggage from the horses to the natives, an extra number having been engaged for this purpose. It did not appear to have been remarked at the time, that there were slaves in the party; and I afterwards had some reason to suspect that one man had been overloaded. However, they got through wonderfully well, and were admitted by general consent to have surpassed the Polynesians. The mode of carrying burdens was the same so general in America, by means of a strap around the forehead.

Most of the horses eventually got through in safety. But in the mean time Lachemere, a native, was sent forwards to find a chief, who resided at some distance below; and from whom we proposed to purchase additional horses. Lachemere, although, according to his own account, in part Wallawalla, considered himself as belonging to the Nisqually tribe. He bore a high character among the residents; and he accompanied us through the whole of our journey; and proved, with Pierre Charles, the Canadian, the main reliance of our party.

We now proceeded along the bank of the SPIPEN, and after two days fell in with the chief we were in search of, who awaited our approach. He was seated under a tree, in a pleasant spot of open ground, where some horses were grazing; and he received us with all the state and dignity attributed to the former "sachems" of New England. His features were of the aboriginal type strongly pronounced, and in fact were not unlike the portraits of Red-jacket, the Iroquois chief. He inquired, “who was the greatest man,” our leader or the principal of the Hudson Bay Company: and he said, that "his heart was good, and that his people did not kill anybody." On mentioning a theft committed by one of our natives then present, he at first assumed a severe look, but afterwards said, "that as he belonged to another tribe, he could do nothing with him." He traced on the sand a map of the country through which we were to pass; and he gave us news from Wallawalla, of the death of