"He Then Directed His Wife To Hand Him His Medicine-Bag, From Which He Drew
Out Fourteen Forefingers, Which He
Told us had belonged to the same
number of his enemies, whom he had killed in fighting with the nations
To the southeast, in which direction he pointed; alluding, no doubt,
to the Snake Indians, the common enemy of the tribes on the Columbia.
This bag is usually about two feet in length, and contains roots,
pounded dirt, etc., which only the Indians know how to appreciate.
It is suspended in the middle of the lodge; and it is considered
as a species of sacrilege for any one but the owner to touch it.
It is an object of religious fear; and, from its supposed sanctity,
is the chief place for depositing their medals and more valuable articles.
They have likewise small bags, which they preserve in their great
medicine-bag, from whence they are taken, and worn around their
waists and necks as amulets against any real or imaginary evils.
This was the first time we had been apprised that the Indians
ever carried from the field any other trophy than the scalp.
These fingers were shown with great exultation; and, after an harangue,
which we were left to presume was in praise of his exploits,
the chief carefully replaced them among the valuable contents
of his red medicine-bag. The inhabitants of this village being part
of the same nation with those of the village we had passed above,
the language of the two was the same, and their houses were of similar
form and materials, and calculated to contain about thirty souls.
They were unusually hospitable and good-humored, so that we gave
to the place the name of the Friendly village. We breakfasted here;
and after purchasing twelve dogs, four sacks of fish, and a few
dried berries, proceeded on our journey. The hills as we passed
were high, with steep, rocky sides, with pine and white oak,
and an undergrowth of shrubs scattered over them."
Leaving the Friendly village, the party went on their way down the river.
Four miles below they came to a small and rapid river which they called
the Cataract River, but which is now known as the Klikitat. The rapids
of the stream, according to the Indians, were so numerous that salmon could
not ascend it, and the Indians who lived along its banks subsisted on what
game they could kill with their bows and arrows and on the berries which,
in certain seasons, were plentiful. Again we notice the purchase of dogs;
this time only four were bought, and the party proceeded on their way.
That night, having travelled thirty-two miles, they camped on the right
bank of the river in what is now Skamania County, Washington. Three huts
were inhabited by a considerable number of Indians, of whom the journal
has this to say: -
"On our first arrival they seemed surprised, but not alarmed,
and we soon became intimate by means of smoking and our favorite
entertainment for the Indians, the violin. They gave us fruit,
roots, and root-bread, and we purchased from them three dogs.
The houses of these people are similar to those of the Indians above,
and their language is the same; their dress also, consisting of robes
or skins of wolves, deer, elk, and wildcat, is made nearly after
the same model; their hair is worn in plaits down each shoulder,
and round their neck is put a strip of some skin with the tail
of the animal hanging down over the breast; like the Indians above,
they are fond of otter-skins, and give a great price for them.
We here saw the skin of a mountain sheep, which they say lives among
the rocks in the mountains; the skin was covered with white hair;
the wool was long, thick, and coarse, with long coarse hair on the top
of the neck and on the back, resembling somewhat the bristles of a goat.
Immediately behind the village is a pond, in which were great numbers
of small swan."
The "mountain sheep" mentioned here are not the bighorn of which we have
heard something in the earlier part of this narrative, but a species of wild
goat found among the Cascade Mountains. The "wildcat" above referred to is
probably that variety of lynx known in Canada and most of the Northern States
and the Pacific as the loup-cervier, or vulgarly, the "lucifee."
On the last day of October, the next of the more difficult rapids
being near, Captain Clark went ahead to examine the "shoot,"
as the explorers called the place which we know as the chute.
In the thick wood that bordered the river he found an ancient
burial-place which he thus describes: -
"It consists of eight vaults made of pine or cedar boards
closely connected, about eight feet square and six in height;
the top covered with wide boards sloping a little, so as to convey
off the rain. The direction of all of these vaults is east and west,
the door being on the eastern side, partially stopped with wide
boards decorated with rude pictures of men and other animals.
On entering he found in some of them four dead bodies, carefully wrapped
in skins, tied with cords of grass and bark, lying on a mat,
in a direction east and west. The other vaults contained only bones,
which were in some of them piled to the height of four feet.
On the tops of the vaults, and on poles attached to them,
bung brass kettles and frying-pans with holes in their bottoms,
baskets, bowls, sea-shells, skins, pieces of cloth, hair, bags of
trinkets and small bones - the offerings of friendship or affection,
which have been saved by a pious veneration from the ferocity
of war, or the more dangerous temptations of individual gain.
The whole of the walls as well as the door were decorated with strange
figures cut and painted on them; and besides were several wooden
images of men, some so old and decayed as to have almost lost
their shape, which were all placed against the sides of the vaults.
These images, as well as those in the houses we have lately seen,
do not appear to be at all the objects of adoration; in this place
they were most probably intended as resemblances of those whose
decease they indicate; when we observe them in houses, they occupy
the most conspicuous part, but are treated more like ornaments
than objects of worship."
The white men were visited at their camp by many Indians from the villages
farther up the stream.
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