|
November 6, 1805
Wednesday, 6. The
morning was cool, wet, and rainy. We proceeded at an early hour
between the high hills on both sides of the river, till at the
distance of four miles we came to two tents of Indians in a
small plain on the left, where the hills on the right recede
a few miles from the river, and a long narrow island stretches
along the right shore. Behind this island is the mouth of a
large river a hundred and fifty yards wide, and called by the
Indians, Coweliske. We halted for dinner on the island, but
the red wood and green briars are so interwoven with the pine,
alder, ash, a species of beech, and other trees, that the woods
form a thicket, which our hunters could not penetrate. Below
the mouth of the Coweliske a very remarkable knob rises from
the water's edge to the height of eighty feet, being two hundred
paces round the base; and as it is in a low part of the island,
and some distance from the high grounds, the appearance of it
is very singular. On setting out after dinner we overtook two
canoes going down to trade: one of the Indians, who spoke a
few words of English, mentioned, that the principal person who
traded with them was a Mr. Haley, and he showed a bow of iron
and several other things which he said Mr. Haley had given him.
Nine miles below that river is a creek on the same; and between
them three smaller islands; one on the left shore, the other
about the middle of the river; and a third near the lower end
of the long narrow island, and opposite a high cliff of black
rocks on the left, sixteen miles from our camp. Here we were
overtaken by the Indians from the two tents we passed in the
morning, from whom we now purchased wappatoo roots, salmon,
trout, and two beaver skins, for which last we gave five small
fishhooks. At these cliffs the mountains, which had continued
high and rugged on the left, retired from the river, and as
the hills on the other side had left the water at the Coweliske,
a beautiful extensive plain now presented itself before us:
for a few miles we passed along side of an island a mile in
width and three miles long, below which is a smaller island,
where the high rugged hills, thickly covered with timber, border
the right bank of the river, and terminate the low grounds:
these were supplied with common rushes, grass, and nettles;
in the moister parts with bullrushes and flags, and along the
water's edge some willows. Here also were two ancient villages,
now abandoned by their inhabitants, of whom no vestige remains,
except two small dogs almost starved, and a prodigious quantity
of fleas. After crossing the plain and making five miles, we
proceeded through the hills for eight miles. The river is about
a mile in width, and the hills so steep that we could not for
several miles find a place sufficiently level to suffer us to
sleep in a level position: at length, by removing the large
stones, we cleared a place fit for our purpose above the reach
of the tide, and after a journey of twenty-nine miles slept
among the smaller stones under a mountain to the right. The
weather was rainy during the whole day; we therefore made large
fires to dry our bedding and to kill the fleas, who have accumulated
upon us at every old village we have passed.
November
7, 1805
Thursday 7. The morning
was rainy and the fog so thick that we could not see across
the river. We observed however, opposite to our camp, the upper
point of an island, between which and the steep hills on the
right we proceeded for five miles. Three miles lower is the
beginning of an island separated from the right shore by a narrow
channel; down this we proceeded under the direction of some
Indians whom we had just met going up the river, and who returned
in order to show us their village. It consists of four houses
only, situated on this channel behind several marshy islands
formed by two small creeks. On our arrival they gave us some
fish, and we afterwards purchased wappatoo roots, fish, three
dogs, and two otter skins, for which we gave fishhooks chiefly,
that being an article of which they are very fond.
These people seem to be of a different nation from those we
have just passed: they are low in stature, ill shaped, and all
have their heads flattened. They call themselves Wahkiacum,
and their language differs from that of the tribes above, with
whom they trade for wappatoo roots. The houses too are built
in a different style, being raised entirely above ground, with
the eaves about five feet high, and the door at the corner.
Near the end opposite to this door is a single fireplace, round
which are the beds, raised four feet from the floor of earth;
over the fire are hung the fresh fish, and when dried they are
stowed away with the wappatoo roots under the beds. The dress
of the men is like that of the people above, but the women are
clad in a peculiar manner, the robe not reaching lower than
the hip, and the body being covered in cold weather by a sort
of corset of fur, curiously plaited, and reaching from the arms
to the hip; added to this is a sort of petticoat, or rather
tissue of white cedar bark, bruised or broken into small strands,
and woven into a girdle by several cords of the same material.
Being tied round the middle, these strands hang down as low
as the knee in front, and to midleg behind, and are of sufficient
thickness to answer the purpose of concealment whilst the female
stands in an erect position, but in any other attitude is but
a very ineffectual defence. Sometimes the tissue is strings
of silk grass, twisted and knotted at the end.
After remaining with them about an hour, we proceeded down the
channel with an Indian dressed in a sailor's jacket for our
pilot, and on reaching the main channel were visited by some
Indians who have a temporary residence on a marshy island in
the middle of the river, where is a great abundance of water
fowl. Here the mountainous country again approaches the river
on the left, and a higher mountain is distinguished towards
the southwest. At a distance of twenty miles from our camp we
halted at a village of Wahkiacums, consisting of seven ill-looking
houses, built in the same form with those above, and situated
at the foot of the high hills on the right, behind two small
marshy islands. We merely stopped to purchase some food and
two beaver skins, and then proceeded. Opposite to these islands
the hills on the left retire, and the river widens into a kind
of bay crowded with low islands, subject to be overflowed occasionally
by the tide. We had not gone far from this village when the
fog cleared off, and we enjoyed the delightful prospect of the
ocean; that ocean, the object of all our labors, the reward
of all our anxieties. This cheering view exhilarated the spirits
of all the party, who were still more delighted on hearing the
distant roar of the breakers. We went on with great cheerfulness
under the high mountainous country which continued along the
right bank; the shore was however so bold and rocky, that we
could not, until after going fourteen miles from the last village,
find any spot fit for an encampment. At that distance, having
made during the day thirty-four miles, we spread our mats on
the ground, and passed the night in the rain. Here we were joined
by our small canoe, which had been separated from us during
the fog this morning. Two Indians from the last village also
accompanied us to the camp, but, having detected them in stealing
a knife, they were sent off.
Next Journal
Entry
|
