Part 17 (1/2)
It happened fortunately for the travellers, in the prosecution of their journey by land, that the horses of the country were good, and that there was no difficulty in purchasing as many as were necessary, for the conveyance of thee They were thus enabled to set out about the end of August, under the guidance of an oldthe dissuasion of his countrymen, undertook to conduct them to the Indians who live ard of the , soon afterwards, in a district where no tract could be discovered, they were obliged to cut their way through thickets of trees and brushwood, along the sides of hills Here their horses suffered great fatigue; and the season was still so little advanced, that the ground was covered with snow On the 9th of September they reached the road or path co from the Coluht have lessened the hardshi+ps of the mountain journey, had they laid up their canoes and struck off to the west, before they navigated the latter river to its furthest-point A small creek at this station received the name of _Traveller's Rest-creek_
Fro the Indian path; but they still experienced considerable inconvenience, from a deficiency of provisions On soed to turn their horses loose at night to feed, thetheust, they reached the upper parts of the river _Koos-koos-kee_, which affords one of the most direct channels of communication with the Coluhbourhood, of size large enough for canoes; nor did its channel proation The travellers were consequently obliged to continue their journey by land; and on the 19th they were cheered with the prospect, towards the south-west, of an extensive plain, which, though still distant, assured theion which they were traversing By this tier, that horse-flesh was dee reached the plain, they found themselves once more in an inhabited country They explained their pacific intentions to the people, ere Indians of a tribe called _Chopunnish_ The removal, however, froe from scarcity to an abundance of food, proved very detrimental to the health of the men; and it was fortunate that the most laborious part of their task was now, for a ti navigable in the place which the party had now reached, it remained only to build the requisite canoes The as soon obtained; and such of the , worked at the canoes, during the intervals of cool weather, and were not very long in co the an easterly wind; exactly as, on the opposite side of the mountains, it had been in a westerly one Their horses, to the nuned to the care of three Indian chiefs, to be kept till their return; and the saddles, with a s for the purpose, near the river
On the 8th of October, the travellers once more proceeded by water; and they now occupied five canoes Exertion was still requisite, in the shoals and other difficult places; but the change was, on the whole, extreress down the current was proportionally rapid
This part of the country is inhabited by the _Shoshonees_, a tribe of _Snake Indians_, which, at present, consists of about a hundred warriors, and thrice as many women and children Within their own recollection these Indians had lived in the plains; but they had been driven thence by the Pawkees and other powerful tribes, and they now live a wandering and precarious life Fro of September they reside on the western waters; but, when the salmon, on which they chiefly subsist there, disappear, they cross the ridge and descend, slowly and cautiously, till they are joined, near the Three Forks, by other bands, either of their own nation, or of the Flat-heads, who make common cause with them They then venture to hunt buffaloes in the plains eastward; but such is their dread of the Pawkees, that, so long as they can obtain the scantiest subsistence, they do not leave the interior of the e stock of dried ain retreat: thus they alternately obtain food at the hazard of their lives, and hide themselves to consume it Two-thirds of the year they are forced to live in thewhole weeks with no other subsistence than a few fish and roots The sal scarce, they had not yet attained strength to hazard a inedtheir miseries they were cheerful, and, in many important points of character, were superior to any other tribes whoed: they were not teht of the treasures which their visitors displayed; and they were ready to share with their guests, the little which they theh-spirited people The Spaniards, the only white men hom they had hitherto had any intercourse, would not supply the that, if they were possessed of such weapons, they would only be the more induced to kill one another The Shoshonees, perhaps, do not perceive that policy is the real motive of the Spaniards; but they clearly see that the plea of humanity is fallacious, and they complain that they are thus left to thefire-arms, plunder theh many of their stock had lately been stolen, the Shoshonees possessed, at this tiorous, and patient of fatigue, as well as of hunger They had also a few mules, which had been purchased or stolen from the Spaniards, by the frontier Indians These were the finest animals of the kind, that Captain Clarke had ever seen; even the worst of them was considered worth the price of two horses
The horse is a favourite animal with this people His main and tail, which are never mutilated, they decorate with feathers, and his ears they cut into various patterns A favourite horse, also, is sometimes painted; and a warrior will suspend, at the breast of his horse, the finest ornaht on horseback They have a few bad guns a them, which are reserved, exclusively, for war; but their common weapons are bows and arrows The bows that are chiefly prized, are ali's horn, flat pieces of which are celue
They have also lances, and a for of a round stone, about two pounds in weight, fastened, by a short thong, to a wooden handle Their defensive armour is a shi+eld of buffalo's hide, enuity and superstition The skin must be the whole hide of a male buffalo, two years old, and never suffered to dry, since it was flayed off A feast is held, to which all the warriors, old lers, are invited After the repast, a hole is dug in the ground, about eighteen inches deep, and of the same diameter as the intended shi+eld Red hot stones are thrown into this hole; and water is poured upon the stearound; and stretched, in every direction, by as many persons as can take hold of it As it becomes heated, the hair separates, and is taken off; and the skin is, at last, contracted into the coned for the shi+eld It is then re the reuests This operation sometimes continues for several days The shi+eld is then actually proof against any arrow; and, if the old lers have been satisfied with the feast, they pronounce it impenetrable by bullets also, which many of the warriors believe It is ornae of dressed leather, and with paintings of strange figures This people have also a sort of arrow-proof mail, hich they cover themselves and their horses It is made of dressed antelope-skins, in lue and sand
The Shoshonees are a diminutive and ill-fors The hair of both sexes is usually worn loose over the face and shoulders; sos, into two equal queues, which they allow to hang over the ears Their tippet, or rheno, as it is called, is described to have been the ant article of Indian dress, that the travellers had ever seen It is of otter-skin, tasselled with ermine; and not fewer than an hundred ermine-skins are required for each
The inhabitants of the plains, to the west of the Rocky Mountains, appear to differ considerably frorounds The _Chopunnish_ or _Pierced Nose nation_, who reside on the Kooskooskee, and the river now called Lewis's river, are, in person, stout, portly, and, good-looking enerally handsoh dark Their chief ornaments are a buffalo or elk-skin robe, decorated with beads; and sea-shells, orin the hair, which falls in front in two queues They likewise ornament themselves with feathers and paints of different kinds; principally white, green, and light blue, all of which they find in their own country In winter, they wear a shi+rt of dressed skins, long painted leggings and rass round the neck
The dress of the woali-skin, which reaches down to the ankles, and is without a girdle: to this are tied shells, little pieces of brass, and other small articles; but their head is not at all ornamented
The Chopunnish Indians have very few ornaments; for their life is painful and laborious; and all their exertions are necessary to earn their subsistence During the su for sal their winter store of roots In the winter, with snow-shoes on their feet, they hunt deer over the plains; and, towards the spring, they cross thefor buffalo-robes
In descending the _Kooskooskee_, the travellers had e fish, particularly salmon, which are here very abundant In some places, especially in the Columbia, the water was so clear, that these fish were seen at the depth of fifteen or twenty feet During the autumn, they float down the stream in such numbers, that the Indians have only to collect, split, and dry theainst each other, for the purpose of fishi+ng, were frequently observed Indeed fish are here so abundant, that, in a scarcity of wood, dried salmon are often used as fuel
A considerable trade is carried on in dried fish, which is thus prepared The sal been opened, and exposed some time to the sun, is pounded between two stones; then packed in baskets, neatly rass and rushes, which are lined and covered with salmon-skins, stretched and dried for that purpose In these baskets, the pounded salmon is pressed down as hard as possible Each basket contains from ninety to one hundred pounds; seven baskets are placed side by side, and five on the top They are then covered witha stack In this manner the fish is kept sweet and sound for mented by the junction of Lewis's river fro a considerable distance, fall into the still larger flood of the Columbia At their junction, the width of the Columbia is nine hundred and sixty yards
The Indians, in this part of America, are called _Solkuks_; and seem to be of a mild and peaceable disposition, and to live in a state of cole wife, ho subsistence, es What ood disposition, is the great respect which is shown to old age
A other instances of it, the travellers observed, in one of the houses, an old woman perfectly blind; and who, as they were informed, had lived more than a hundred winters In this state of decrepitude she occupied the best position in the house, seereat kindness, and whatever was said by her, was listened to with much attention
The fisheries supply the _Solkuks_ with a competent, if not an abundant subsistence Fish is, indeed, their chief food; except roots, and the casual supplies of the antelope, which, to those who have only bows and arrows, must be very scanty Most of the Solkuks have sore eyes, and many of them are blind of one or both eyes; and decayed teeth are very co them
The party proceeded down the Colue, they counted no fewer than twenty stacks of dried salmon
They passed the falls of this river These are not great; but, at a little distance below them, a very remarkable scene is presented to the view At a place where the river is about four hundred yards wide, and where the stream floith a current e bend or basin, at the extre perpendicularly froht shore, seems to run wholly across
So coe, that the travellers could not, as they approached, see where the water escaped; except that the current appeared to be draith peculiar velocity towards the left of the rock, where there was a great roaring On landing, to survey it, they found that, for about half a mile, the river was confined within a channel only forty-five yards wide, whirling, swelling, and boiling, the whole ith the wildest agitation iinable Tremendous as the pass was, they attempted it; and, to the astonishment of the Indians, they accomplished it in safety
In the vicinity of this place, a tribe of Indians, called _Echeloots_, were settled Here the travellers, for the first time, since they had left the Illinois country, observed wooden buildings The floors were sunk about six feet in the ground, a custo at the sa on their way, they saw an Indian, dressed in a round hat and a sailor's jacket, with his hair tied Jackets, brass kettles, and other European or American articles, were observed to be co their boats and houses with rude sculptures and paintings One of the chiefs exhibited, froers, the trophies taken from as many enemies, whom he had killed in war This was the first time that the travellers had known any other trophy preserved than the scalp The greatthese Indians, is an useful invention; for, as it is deeious for any person, except the owner, to touch it, this bag serves the purpose of a strong-box, in which the most valuable articles may safely be deposited
The Echeloots in their enerality of North American Indians They have common cemeteries, where the dead, carefully wrapt in skins, are laid on mats, in a direction east and west The vaults, or rather chahty feet square, and six in height The whole of the sides are covered with strange figures, cut and painted; and wooden iainst them At the top of these sepulchral cha, old frying-pans, shells, skins, and baskets, pieces of cloth, hair, and other si some of the tribes, the body is laid in one canoe and covered with another Every where the dead are carefully deposited, and with like marks of respect Captain Clarke says it is obvious, from the different articles which are placed by the dead, that these people believe in a future state of existence