Fish Is, Indeed, Their Chief Food,
Except Roots And Casual Supplies Of Antelope, Which Latter,
To Those Who Have Only
Bows and arrows, must be very scanty.
This diet may be the direct or the remote cause of the chief
Disorder which prevails among them, as well as among the Flatheads
on the Kooskooskee and Lewis' rivers. 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. We might suppose that when they actually
embarked upon the waters of the famous stream, variously known
as "The River of the North" and "The Oregon," the explorers
would be touched with a little of the enthusiasm with which they
straddled the headwaters of the Missouri and gazed upon the
snow-covered peaks of the Rocky Mountains. But no such kindling
of the imagination seems to have been noted in their journal.
In this commonplace way, according to their own account,
Captain Clark entered upon the mighty Columbia: -
"In the course of the day [October 17, 1805], Captain Clark,
in a small canoe with two men, ascended the Columbia. At the distance
of five miles he passed an island in the middle of the river,
at the head of which was a small but not dangerous rapid.
On the left bank, opposite to this island, was a fishing-place
consisting of three mat houses. Here were great quantities of salmon
drying on scaffolds; and, indeed, from the mouth of the river upward,
he saw immense numbers of dead salmon strewed along the shore,
or floating on the surface of the water, which is so clear that
the fish may be seen swimming at the depth of fifteen or twenty feet.
The Indians, who had collected on the banks to observe him,
now joined him in eighteen canoes, and accompanied him up the river.
A mile above the rapids he came to the lower point of an island,
where the course of the stream, which had been from its mouth
north eighty-three degrees west, now became due west.
He proceeded in that direction, until, observing three house's
of mats at a short distance, he landed to visit them.
On entering one of these houses, he found it crowded with men, women,
and children, who immediately provided a mat for him to sit on,
and one of the party undertook to prepare something to eat.
He began by bringing in a piece of pine wood that had drifted down
the river, which he split into small pieces with a wedge made of elkhorn,
by means of a mallet of stone curiously carved. The pieces of wood
were then laid on the fire, and several round stones placed upon them.
One of the squaws now brought a bucket of water, in which was a large
salmon about half dried, and, as the stones became heated, they were
put into the bucket till the salmon was sufficiently boiled for use.
It was then taken out, put on a platter of rushes neatly made, and laid
before Captain Clark, while another was boiled for each of his men.
During these preparations he smoked with such about him as would
accept of tobacco, but very few were desirous of smoking, a custom
which is not general among them, and chiefly used as a matter
of form in great ceremonies.
"After eating the fish, which was of an excellent flavor, Captain Clark
set out and, at the distance of four miles from the last island,
came to the lower point of another near the left shore, where he halted
at two large mat-houses. Here, as at the three houses below,
the inhabitants were occupied in splitting and drying salmon.
The multitudes of this fish are almost inconceivable.
The water is so clear that they can readily be seen at the depth
of fifteen or twenty feet; but at this season they float in such
quantities down the stream, and are drifted ashore, that the Indians
have only to collect, split, and dry them on the scaffolds.
Where they procure the timber of which these scaffolds are composed
he could not learn; but as there is nothing but willow-bushes
to be seen for a great distance from this place, it rendered
very probable what the Indians assured him by signs, that they
often used dried fish as fuel for the common occasions of cooking.
From this island they showed him the entrance of the western branch
of the Columbia, called the Tapteal, which, as far as could be seen,
bears nearly west and empties about eight miles above into the Columbia,
the general course of which is northwest."
The Tapteal, as the journal calls it, is now known as the Yakima, a stream
which has its source in the Cascade range of mountains, Washington.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 56 of 105
Words from 57724 to 58761
of 110166
