The Four Tribes Nearest To Astoria, And With Whom The
Traders Had Most Intercourse, Were, As Has Heretofore Been
Observed, The Chinooks, The Clatsops, The Wahkiacums, And The
Cathlamets.
The Chinooks reside chiefly along the banks of a
river of the same name, running parallel to the sea-
Coast,
through a low country studded with stagnant pools, and emptying
itself into Baker's Bay, a few miles from Cape Disappointment.
This was the tribe over which Comcomly, the one-eyed chieftain,
held sway; it boasted two hundred and fourteen fighting men.
Their chief subsistence was on fish, with an occasional regale of
the flesh of elk and deer, and of wild-fowl from the neighboring
ponds.
The Clatsops resided on both sides of Point Adams; they were the
mere relics of a tribe which had been nearly swept off by the
small-pox, and did not number more than one hundred and eighty
fighting men.
The Wahkiacums, or Waak-i-cums, inhabited the north side of the
Columbia, and numbered sixty-six warriors. They and the Chinooks
were originally the same; but a dispute arising about two
generations previous to the time of the settlement, between the
ruling chief and his brother Wahkiacum, the latter seceded, and
with his adherents formed the present horde which continues to go
by his name. In this way new tribes or clans are formed, and
lurking causes of hostility engendered.
The Cathlamets lived opposite to the lower village of the
Wahkiacums, and numbered ninety-four warriors.
These four tribes, or rather clans, have every appearance of
springing from the same origin, resembling each other in person,
dress, language, and manners. They are rather a diminutive race,
generally below five feet five inches, with crooked legs and
thick ankles - a deformity caused by their passing so much of
their time sitting or squatting upon the calves of their legs and
their heels, in the bottom of their canoes - a favorite position,
which they retain, even when on shore. The women increase the
deformity by wearing tight bandages round the ankles, which
prevent the circulation of the blood, and cause a swelling of the
muscles of the leg.
Neither sex can boast of personal beauty. Their faces are round,
with small but animated eyes. Their noses are broad and flat at
top, and fleshy at the end, with large nostrils. They have wide
mouths, thick lips, and short, irregular and dirty teeth. Indeed
good teeth are seldom to be seen among the tribes west of the
Rocky Mountains, who live simply on fish.
In the early stages of their intercourse with white men, these
savages were but scantily clad. In summer time the men went
entirely naked; in the winter and in bad weather the men wore a
small robe, reaching to the middle of the thigh, made of the
skins of animals, or of the wool of the mountain sheep.
Occasionally, they wore a kind of mantle of matting, to keep off
the rain but, having thus protected the back and shoulders, they
left the rest of the body naked.
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