Here Was
A Quiet Basin, On The Margin Of Which Were Three Indian Huts.
The Journal Tells The Rest Of The Story:
-
"At the extremity of this basin stood a high black rock, which, rising
perpendicularly from the right shore, seemed to run wholly across the river:
so totally, indeed, did it appear to stop the passage, that we
could not see where the water escaped, except that the current was
seemingly drawn with more than usual velocity to the left of the rock,
where was heard a great roaring. We landed at the huts of the Indians,
who went with us to the top of the rock, from which we had a view
of all the difficulties of the channel. We were now no longer at a loss
to account for the rising of the river at the falls; for this tremendous
rock was seen stretching across the river, to meet the high hills
on the left shore, leaving a channel of only forty-five yards wide,
through which the whole body of the Columbia pressed its way.
The water, thus forced into so narrow a passage, was thrown into whirls,
and swelled and boiled in every part with the wildest agitation.
But the alternative of carrying the boats over this high rock was
almost impossible in our present situation; and as the chief danger
seemed to be, not from any obstructions in the channel, but from
the great waves and whirlpools, we resolved to attempt the passage,
in the hope of being able, by dexterous steering, to descend in safety.
This we undertook, and with great care were able to get through,
to the astonishment of the Indians in the huts we had just passed,
who now collected to see us from the top of the rock. The channel continued
thus confined for the space of about half a mile, when the rock ceased.
We passed a single Indian hut at the foot of it, where the river
again enlarges to the width of two hundred yards, and at the distance
of a mile and a half stopped to view a very bad rapid; this is formed
by two rocky islands which divide the channel, the lower and larger
of which is in the middle of the river. The appearance of this place
was so unpromising that we unloaded all the most valuable articles,
such as guns, ammunition, our papers,. etc., and sent them by land,
with all the men that could not swim, to the extremity of these rapids.
We then descended with the canoes, two at a time; though the canoes
took in some water, we all went through safely; after which we made
two miles, stopped in a deep bend of the river toward the right,
and camped a little above a large village of twenty-one houses.
Here we landed; and as it was late before all the canoes joined us,
we were obliged to remain this evening, the difficulties of the navigation
having permitted us to make only six miles."
They were then among the Echeloots, a tribe of the Upper Chinooks,
now nearly extinct. The white men were much interested in the houses
of these people, which, their journal set forth, were "the
first wooden buildings seen since leaving the Illinois country."
This is the manner of their construction: -
"A large hole, twenty feet wide and thirty in length, was dug
to the depth of six feet; the sides of which were lined with split
pieces of timber rising just above the surface of the ground,
and smoothed to the same width by burning, or by being shaved
with small iron axes. These timbers were secured in their erect
position by a pole stretched along the side of the building near
the eaves, and supported on a strong post fixed at each corner.
The timbers at the gable ends rose gradually higher, the middle pieces
being the broadest. At the top of these was a sort of semicircle,
made to receive a ridge-pole the whole length of the house, propped by
an additional post in the middle, and forming the top of the roof.
From this ridge-pole to the eaves of the house were placed a number
of small poles or rafters, secured at each end by fibres of the cedar.
On these poles, which were connected by small transverse bars of wood,
was laid a covering of white cedar, or arbor vitae, kept on by
strands of cedar fibres; but a small space along the whole length
of the ridge-pole was left uncovered, for the purpose of light,
and of permitting the smoke to pass out. The roof, thus formed,
had a descent about equal to that common among us, and near the eaves
it was perforated with a number of small holes, made, most probably,
for the discharge of arrows in case of an attack. The only entrance
was by a small door at the gable end, cut out of the middle piece
of timber, twenty-nine and a half inches high, fourteen inches broad,
and reaching only eighteen inches above the earth. Before this hole
is hung a mat; on pushing it aside and crawling through, the descent
is by a small wooden ladder, made in the form of those used among us.
One-half of the inside is used as a place of deposit for dried fish,
of which large quantities are stored away, and with a few baskets
of berries form the only family provisions; the other half,
adjoining the door, remains for the accommodation of the family.
On each side are arranged near the walls small beds of mats placed on
little scaffolds or bedsteads, raised from eighteen inches to three feet
from the ground; and in the middle of the vacant space is the fire,
or sometimes two or three fires, when, as is usually the case,
the house contains three families."
Houses very like these are built by the Ahts or Nootkas, a tribe of
Indians inhabiting parts of Vancouver Island and the adjacent mainland.
A Nootka calls his house an ourt.
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