With All These Indians
A Bad Soreness Of The Eyes Is A Very Common Disorder, Which Is
Suffered To Ripen
By neglect, till many are deprived of one
of their eyes, and some have totally lost the use of both.
This dreadful calamity may reasonably, we think, be imputed
to the constant reflection of the sun on the waters, where they
are constantly fishing in the spring, summer, and fall,
and during the rest of the year on the snows of a country
which affords no object to relieve the sight.
"Among the Sokulks, indeed among all the tribes whose chief subsistence
is fish, we have observed that bad teeth are very general; some have
the teeth, particularly those of the upper jaw, worn down to the gums,
and many of both sexes, even of middle age, have lost them almost entirely.
This decay of the teeth is a circumstance very unusual among Indians,
either of the mountains or the plains, and seems peculiar to the inhabitants
of the Columbia. We cannot avoid regarding as one principal cause
of it the manner in which they eat their food. The roots are swallowed
as they are dug from the ground, frequently covered with a gritty sand;
so little idea have they that this is offensive that all the roots they
offer us for sale are in the same condition."
The explorers were now at the entrance of the mighty
Columbia, - "The Great River" of which they had heard so much
from the Indians.
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