The most important point in this region of the Columbia was named
Wappatoo Island by the explorers. This is a large extent of country
lying between the Willamette and an arm of the Columbia which they called
Wappatoo Inlet, but which is now known as Willamette Slough. It is twenty
miles long and from five to ten miles wide. Here is an interesting
description of the manner of gathering the roots of the wappatoo,
of which we have heard so much in this region of country: -
"The chief wealth of this island consists of the numerous ponds in
the interior, abounding with the common arrowhead (sagittaria sagittifolia)
to the root of which is attached a bulb growing beneath it in the mud.
This bulb, to which the Indians give the name of wappatoo,[1] is
the great article of food, and almost the staple article of commerce on
the Columbia. It is never out of season; so that at all times of the year
the valley is frequented by the neighboring Indians who come to gather it.
It is collected chiefly by the women, who employ for the purpose canoes from
ten to fourteen feet in length, about two feet wide and nine inches deep,
and tapering from the middle, where they are about twenty inches wide.
They are sufficient to contain a single person and several bushels
of roots, yet so very light that a woman can carry them with ease.
She takes one of these canoes into a pond where the water is as high
as the breast, and by means of her toes separates from the root this bulb,
which on being freed from the mud rises immediately to the surface
of the water, and is thrown into the canoe. In this manner these patient
females remain in the water for several hours, even in the depth of winter.
This plant is found through the whole extent of the valley in which we
now are, but does not grow on the Columbia farther eastward."
[1] In the Chinook jargon "Wappatoo" stands for potato.
The natives of this inland region, the explorers found,
were larger and better-shaped than those of the sea-coast,
but they were nearly all afflicted with sore eyes.
The loss of one eye was common, and not infrequently total
blindness was observed in men of mature years, while blindness
was almost universal among the old people. The white men made
good use of the eye-water which was among their supplies;
it was gratefully received by the natives and won them friends
among the people they met. On the fifth of April the journal
has this entry: -
"In the course of his chase yesterday, one of our men [Collins],
who had killed a bear, found the den of another with three cubs in it.
He returned to-day in hopes of finding her, but brought only the cubs,
without being able to see the dam; and on this occasion Drewyer,
our most experienced huntsman, assured us that he had never known
a single instance where a female bear, which had once been disturbed
by a hunter and obliged to leave her young, returned to them again.
The young bears were sold for wappatoo to some of the many Indians
who visited us in parties during the day and behaved very well."
And on the ninth is this entry:
