Captain Clark Was Received With Much Attention, Clean Mats Were Spread
For Him, And A Repast Of Fish, Roots, And
Berries was set before him.
He noticed that the Clatsops were well dressed and clean, and that they
frequently washed
Their faces and hands, a ceremony, he remarked, that is
by no means frequent among other Indians. A high wind now prevailed,
and as the evening was stormy, Captain Clark resolved to stay all night
with his hospitable Clatsops. The narrative proceeds: -
"The men of the village now collected and began to gamble.
The most common game was one in which one of the company was banker,
and played against all the rest. He had a piece of bone,
about the size of a large bean, and having agreed with any individual
as to the value of the stake, would pass the bone from one hand
to the other with great dexterity, singing at the same time to divert
the attention of his adversary; then holding it in his hands,
his antagonist was challenged to guess in which of them the bone was,
and lost or won as he pointed to the right or wrong hand.
To this game of hazard they abandoned themselves with great ardor;
sometimes everything they possess is sacrificed to it; and this evening
several of the Indians lost all the beads which they had with them.
This lasted for three hours; when, Captain Clark appearing disposed
to sleep, the man who had been most attentive, and whose name was Cuskalah,
spread two new mats near the fire, ordered his wife to retire to her
own bed, and the rest of the company dispersed at the same time.
Captain Clark then lay down, but the violence with which the fleas
attacked him did not leave his rest unbroken."
Next morning, Captain Clark walked along the seashore,
and he observed that the Indians were walking up and down,
examining the shore and the margin of a creek that emptied here.
The narrative says: -
"He was at a loss to understand their object till one of
them came to him, and explained that they were in search
of any fish which might have been thrown on shore and left
by the tide, adding in English, `sturgeon is very good.'
There is, indeed, every reason to believe that these Clatsops
depend for their subsistence, during the winter, chiefly on
the fish thus casually thrown on the coast. After amusing himself
for some time on the beach, he returned towards the village,
and shot on his way two brant. As he came near the village, one of
the Indians asked him to shoot a duck about thirty steps distant:
he did so, and, having accidentally shot off its head,
the bird was brought to the village, when all the Indians came
round in astonishment. They examined the duck, the musket,
and the very small bullets, which were a hundred to the pound,
and then exclaimed, Clouch musque, waket, commatax musquet:
Good musket; do not understand this kind of musket.
They now placed before him their best roots, fish, and syrup,
after which he attempted to purchase a sea-otter skin
with some red beads which he happened to have about him;
but they declined trading, as they valued none except blue
or white beads. He therefore bought nothing but a little
berry-bread and a few roots, in exchange for fish-hooks,
and then set out to return by the same route he had come.
He was accompanied by Cuskalah and his brother as far as the
third creek, and then proceeded to the camp through a heavy rain.
The whole party had been occupied during his absence in cutting
down trees to make huts, and in hunting."
This was the occupation of all hands for several days,
notwithstanding the discomfort of the continual downpour.
Many of the men were ill from the effects of sleeping and
living so constantly in water. Under date of December 12,
the journal has this entry: -
"We continued to work in the rain at our houses. In the evening there
arrived two canoes of Clatsops, among whom was a principal chief,
called Comowol. We gave him a medal and treated his companions with
great attention; after which we began to bargain for a small sea-otter skin,
some wappatoo-roots, and another species of root called shanataque.
We readily perceived that they were close dealers, stickled much for trifles,
and never closed the bargain until they thought they had the advantage.
The wappatoo is dear, as they themselves are obliged to give a high price
for it to the Indians above. Blue beads are the articles most in request;
the white occupy the next place in their estimation; but they do not value
much those of any other color. We succeeded at last in purchasing their
whole cargo for a few fish-hooks and a small sack of Indian tobacco,
which we had received from the Shoshonees."
The winter camp was made up of seven huts, and, although it was
not so carefully fortified as was the fort in the Mandan country
(during the previous winter), it was so arranged that
intruders could be kept out when necessary. For the roofs
of these shelters they were provided with "shakes" split
out from a species of pine which they called "balsam pine,"
and which gave them boards, or puncheons, or shakes, ten feet long
and two feet wide, and not more than an inch and a half thick.
By the sixteenth of December their meat-house was finished,
and their meat, so much of which had been spoiled for lack
of proper care, was cut up in small pieces and hung under cover.
They had been told by the Indians that very little snow
ever fell in that region, and the weather, although very,
very wet, was mild and usually free from frost.
They did have severe hailstorms and a few flurries of snow
in December but the rain was a continual cause of discomfort.
Of the trading habits of the Clatsops the journal has this to say:
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