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degree their differences of person and character to their food, or rather to their methods of obtaining it; yet fish constitutes an important element of inland subsistence as well. Few tribes live altogether without salmon, the great staple of the Northwest; since those dwelling on streams inaccessible to the salmon by reason of intervening falls, obtain their supply by annual migrations to the fishing-grounds, or by trade with other nations. The principal salmon fisheries of the Columbia are at the Dalles, the falls ten miles above, and at Kettle Falls. Other productive stations are on the Powder, Snake, Yakima, Okanagan, and Clarke rivers. On the Fraser, which has no falls in its lower course, fishing is carried on all along the banks of the river instead of at regular stations, as on the Columbia. Nets, weirs, hooks, spears, and all the implements and methods by which fish are taken and cured have been sufficiently described in treating of the coast region; in the interior I find no important variations except in the basket method in use at the Chaudières or Kettle Falls by the Quiarlpi tribe. Here an immense willow basket, often ten feet in diameter and twelve feet deep, is suspended at the falls from strong timbers fixed in crevices of the rocks, and above this is a frame so attached that the salmon in attempting to leap the fall strike the sticks of the frame and are thrown back into the basket, in the largest of which naked men armed with clubs await them. Five thousand pounds of salmon have thus been taken in a day by means of a single basket. During the fishing-season the Salmon Chief has full authority; his basket is the largest, and must be located a month before others are allowed to fish. The small nets used in the same region have also the peculiarity of a stick which keeps the mouth open when the net is empty, but is removed by the weight of the fish. Besides the salmon, sturgeon are extensively taken in the Fraser, and in the Arrow Lakes, while trout and other varieties of small fish abound in most of the streams. The fishing-season is the summer, between June and September, varying a month or more according to locality. This is also the season of trade and festivity, when tribes from all directions assemble to exchange commodities, gamble, dance, and in later times to drink and fight.
390
HUNTING BY SHUSHWAPS, SALISH, AND SAHAPTINS. The larger varieties of game are hunted by the natives on horseback wherever the nature of the country will permit. Buffalo are now never found west of the Rocky Mountains, and there are but few localities where large game has ever been abundant, at least since the country became known to white men. Consequently the Flatheads, Nez Percés, and Kootenais, the distinctively hunting nations, as well as bands from nearly every other tribe, cross the mountains once or twice each year, penetrating to the buffalo-plains between the Yellowstone and the Missouri, in the territory of hostile nations. The bow and arrow was the weapon with which buffalo and all other game were shot. No peculiar cunning seems to have been necessary to the native hunter of buffalo; he had only to ride into the immense herds on his well-trained horse, and select the fattest animals for his arrows. Various devices are mentioned as being practiced in the chase of deer, elk, and mountain sheep; such as driving them by a circle of fire on the prairie towards the concealed hunters, or approaching within arrow-shot by skillful manipulations of a decoy animal; or the frightened deer are driven into an ambush by converging lines of bright-colored rags so placed in the bushes as to represent men. Kane states that about the Arrow Lakes hunting dogs are trained to follow the deer and to bring back the game to their masters even from very long distances. Deer are also pursued in the winter on snow-shoes, and in deep snow often knocked down with clubs. Bear and beaver are trapped in some places; and, especially about the northern lakes and marshes, wild fowl are very abundant, and help materially to eke out the supply of native food.391
FOOD AND ITS PREPARATION. Their natural improvidence, or an occasional unlucky hunting or fishing season, often reduces them to want, and in such case the resort is to roots, berries, and mosses, several varieties of which are also gathered and laid up as a part of their regular winter supplies. Chief among the roots are the camass, a sweet, onion-like bulb, which grows in moist prairies, the couse, which flourishes in more sterile and rocky spots, and the bitter-root, which names a valley and mountain range. To obtain these roots the natives make regular migrations, as for game or fish. The varieties of roots and berries used for food are very numerous; and none seem to grow in the country which to the native taste are unpalatable or injurious, though many are both to the European.392
Towards obtaining food the men hunt and fish; all the other work of digging roots, picking berries, as well as dressing, preserving, and cooking all kinds of food is done by the women, with some exceptions among the Nez Percés and Pend d'Oreilles. Buffalo-meat is jerked by cutting in thin pieces and drying in the sun and over smouldering fires on scaffolds of poles. Fish is sun-dried on scaffolds, and by some tribes on the lower Columbia is also pulverized between two stones and packed in baskets lined with fish-skin. Here, as on the coast, the heads and offal only are eaten during the fishing-season. The Walla Wallas are said usually to eat fish without cooking. Roots, mosses, and such berries as are preserved, are usually kept in cakes, which for eating are moistened, mixed in various proportions and cooked, or eaten without preparation. To make the cakes simply drying, pulverizing, moistening, and sun-drying usually suffice; but camas and pine-moss are baked or fermented for several days in an underground kiln by means of hot stones, coming out in the form of a dark gluey paste of the proper consistency for moulding. Many of these powdered roots may be preserved for years without injury. Boiling by means of hot stones and roasting on sharp sticks fixed in the ground near the fire, are the universal methods of cooking. No mention is made of peculiar customs in eating; to eat often and much is the aim; the style of serving is a secondary consideration.393 Life with all these nations is but a struggle for food, and the poorer tribes are often reduced nearly to starvation; yet they never are known to kill dogs or horses for food. About the missions and on the reservations cattle have been introduced and the soil is cultivated by the natives to considerable extent.394
PERSONAL HABITS IN THE INTERIOR. In their personal habits, as well as the care of their lodges, the Cayuses, Nez Percés, and Kootenais, are mentioned as neat and cleanly; the rest, though filthy, are still somewhat superior to the dwellers on the coast. The Flatheads wash themselves daily, but their dishes and utensils never. De Smet represents the Pend d'Oreille women as untidy even for savages.395 Guns, knives and tomahawks have generally taken the place of such native weapons as these natives may have used against their foes originally. Only the bow and arrow have survived intercourse with white men, and no other native weapon is described, except one peculiar to the Okanagans, – a kind of Indian slung-shot. This is a small cylindrical ruler of hard wood, covered with raw hide, which at one end forms a small bag and holds a round stone as large as a goose-egg; the other end of the weapon is tied to the wrist. Arrow-shafts are of hard wood, carefully straightened by rolling between two blocks, fitted by means of sinews with stone or flint heads at one end, and pinnated with feathers at the other. The most elastic woods are chosen for the bow, and its force is augmented by tendons glued to its back.396
THE INLAND NATIONS AT WAR. The inland families cannot be called a warlike race. Resort to arms for the settlement of their intertribal disputes seems to have been very rare. Yet all are brave warriors when fighting becomes necessary for defense or vengeance against a foreign foe; notably so the Cayuses, Nez Percés, Flatheads and Kootenais. The two former waged both aggressive and defensive warfare against the Snakes of the south; while the latter joined their arms against their common foes, the eastern Blackfeet, who, though their inferiors in bravery, nearly exterminated the Flathead nation by superiority in numbers, and by being the first to obtain the white man's weapons. Departure on a warlike expedition is always preceded by ceremonious preparation, including councils of the wise, great, and old; smoking the pipe, harangues by the chiefs, dances, and a general review, or display of equestrian feats and the manœuvres of battle. The warriors are always mounted; in many tribes white or speckled war-horses are selected, and both rider and steed are gaily painted, and decked with feathers, trinkets, and bright-colored cloths. The war-party in most nations is under the command of a chief periodically elected by the tribe,
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<p>390</p>
Natives begin to assemble at Kettle Falls about three weeks before the salmon begin to run; feuds are laid by; horse-racing, gambling, love-making, etc., occupy the assembly; and the medicine-men are busy working charms for a successful season. The fish are cut open, dried on poles over a small fire, and packed in bales. On the Fraser each family or village fishes for itself; near the mouth large gaff-hooks are used, higher up a net managed between two canoes. All the principal Indian fishing-stations on the Fraser are below Fort Hope. For sturgeon a spear seventy to eighty feet long is used. Cut of sturgeon-fishing. Lord's Nat., vol. i., pp. 71-6, 181, 184-6. The Pend d'Oreilles 'annually construct a fence which reaches across the stream, and guides the fish into a weir or rack,' on Clarke River, just above the lake. The Walla Walla 'fisheries at the Dalles and the falls, ten miles above, are the finest on the river.' The Yakima weirs constructed 'upon horizontal spars, and supported by tripods of strong poles erected at short distances apart; two of the logs fronting up stream, and one supporting them below;' some fifty or sixty yards long. The salmon of the Okanagan were 'of a small species, which had assumed a uniform red color.' 'The fishery at the Kettle Falls is one of the most important on the river, and the arrangements of the Indians in the shape of drying-scaffolds and store-houses are on a corresponding scale.' Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, pp. 214, 223, 231, 233; Gibbs, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., pp. 407-8. The salmon chief at Kettle Falls distributes the fish among the people, every one, even the smallest child, getting an equal share. Kane's Wand., pp. 311-14. On Des Chutes River 'they spear the fish with barbed iron points, fitted loosely by sockets to the ends of poles about eight feet long,' to which they are fastened by a thong about twelve feet long. Abbott, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. vi., p. 90. On the upper Columbia an Indian 'cut off a bit of his leathern shirt, about the size of a small bean; then pulling out two or three hairs from his horse's tail for a line, tied the bit of leather to one end of it, in place of a hook or fly.' Ross' Adven., pp. 132-3. At the mouth of Flatbow River 'a dike of round stones, which runs up obliquely against the main stream, on the west side, for more than one hundred yards in length, resembling the foundation of a wall.' Similar range on the east side, supposed to be for taking fish at low water. Ross' Fur Hunters, vol. ii., pp. 165-6. West of the Rocky Mountains they fish 'with great success by means of a kind of large basket suspended from a long cord.' Domenech's Deserts, vol. ii., pp. 240-1. On Powder River they use the hook as a gaff. Coke's Rocky Mts., p. 283. A Wasco spears three or four salmon of twenty to thirty pounds each in ten minutes. Remy and Brenchley's Jour., vol. ii., p. 506. No salmon are taken above the upper falls of the Columbia. Thornton's Ogn. and Cal., vol. i., p. 392. Walla Walla fish-weirs 'formed of two curtains of small willow switches matted together with withes of the same plant, and extending across the river in two parallel lines, six feet asunder. These are supported by several parcels of poles, … and are either rolled up or let down at pleasure for a few feet… A seine of fifteen or eighteen feet in length is then dragged down the river by two persons, and the bottom drawn up against the curtain of willows.' Lewis and Clarke's Trav., p. 532. Make fishing-nets of flax. Parker's Explor. Tour, p. 90. 'The Inland, as well as the Coast, tribes, live to a great extent upon salmon.' Mayne's B. C., p. 242; Nicolay's Ogn. Ter., pp. 152-3. Palouse 'live solely by fishing.' Mullan's Rept., p. 49. Salmon cannot ascend to Coeur d'Alêne Lake. Hale's Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., pp. 209-10. Okanagan food 'consists principally of salmon and a small fish which they call carp.' Wilkes' Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. iv., p. 462. The Walla Wallas 'may well be termed the fishermen of the Skyuse camp.' Farnham's Trav., p. 82.
<p>391</p>
The Shushwaps formerly crossed the mountains to the Assinniboine territory. The Okanagans when hunting wear wolf or bear skin caps; there is no bird or beast whose voice they cannot imitate. War and hunting were the Nez Percé occupation; cross the mountains for buffalo. Ross' Fur Hunters, vol. i., pp. 148, 219, 297-8, 305. The chief game of the Nez Percés is the deer, 'and whenever the ground will permit, the favourite hunt is on horseback.' Lewis and Clarke's Trav., p. 555. The Salish live by the chase, on elk, moose, deer, big-horn and bears; make two trips annually, spring to fall, and fall to mid-winter, across the mountains, accompanied by other nations. The Pend d'Oreilles hunt deer in the snow with clubs; have distinct localities for hunting each kind of game. Nez Percés, Flatheads, Coeurs d'Alêne, Spokanes, Pend d'Oreilles, etc., hunt together. Yakimas formerly joined the Flatheads in eastern hunt. Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, pp. 207-8, 212-15, 218, 225-6. 'Two hunts annually across the mountains – one in April, for the bulls, from which they return in June and July; and another, after about a month's recruit, to kill cows, which have by that time become fat.' Stevens, Gibbs, and Suckley, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., pp. 415, 408, 296-7, vol. xii., p. 134. Kootenais live by the chase principally. Hutchins, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1863, p. 455. Spokanes rather indolent in hunting; hunting deer by fire. Cox's Adven., vol. i., pp. 197, vol. ii., pp. 46-7. The Kootenais 'seldom hunt;' there is not much to shoot except wild fowl in fall. Trap beaver and carriboeuf on a tributary of the Kootanie River. Palliser's Explor., pp. 10, 15, 73. Flatheads 'follow the buffalo upon the headwaters of Clarke and Salmon rivers.' Nez Percé women accompany the men to the buffalo-hunt. Parker's Explor. Tour, pp. 107, 311. Kootenais cross the mountains for buffalo. Mayne's B. C., p. 297. Coeurs d'Alêne ditto. Mullan's Rept., p. 49. Half of the Nez Percés 'usually make a trip to the buffalo country for three months.' Wilkes' Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. iv., p. 494. Shushwaps 'live by hunting the bighorns, mountain goats, and marmots.' Milton and Cheadle's N. W. Pass., p. 242. Buffalo never pass to west of the Rocky Mountains. Lord's Nat., vol. ii., p. 179; Kane's Wand., p. 328; De Smet, Voy., pp. 31, 45, 144-5; Ind. Life, pp. 23-4, 34-41; Franchère's Nar., pp. 268-9; Hunt, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., tom. x., 1821, pp. 77-82; Stuart, in Id., tom. xii., pp. 25, 35-6; Joset, in Id., tom. cxxiii., 1849, pp. 334-40.
<p>392</p>
The Kliketats gather and eat peahay, a bitter root boiled into a jelly; n'poolthla, ground into flour; mamum and seekywa, made into bitter white cakes; kamass; calz, a kind of wild sunflower. Tolmie, in Lord's Nat., vol. ii., p. 247. The Flatheads go every spring to Camass Prairie. De Smet, Voy., p. 183. The Kootenais eat kamash and an edible moss. Id., Missions de l'Orégon, pp. 75-6. 'The Cayooses, Nez Percés, and other warlike tribes assemble (in Yakima Valley) every spring to lay in a stock of the favourite kamass and pelua, or sweet potatoes.' Ross' Fur Hunters, vol. i., p. 19. Quamash, round, onion-shaped, and sweet, eaten by the Nez Percés. Lewis and Clarke's Trav., p. 330. Couse root dug in April or May; camas in June and July. Alvord, in Schoolcraft's Arch., vol. v., p. 656. The Skyuses 'main subsistence is however upon roots.' The Nez Percés eat kamash, cowish or biscuit root, jackap, aisish, quako, etc. Irving's Bonneville's Adven., p. 301, 388. Okanagans live extensively on moss made into bread. The Nez Percés also eat moss. Wilkes' Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. iv., pp. 462, 494. Pend d'Oreilles at the last extremity live on pine-tree moss; also collect camash, bitter-roots, and sugar pears. Stevens, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, p. 211, 214-15. 'I never saw any berry in the course of my travels which the Indians scruple to eat, nor have I seen any ill effect from their doing so.' Kane's Wand., p. 327. The Kootenai food in September 'appears to be almost entirely berries; namely, the "sasketoom" of the Crees, a delicious fruit, and a small species of cherry, also a sweet root which they obtain to the southward.' Blakiston, in Palliser's Explor., p. 73. Flatheads dig konah, 'bitter root' in May. It is very nutritious and very bitter. Pahseego, camas, or 'water seego,' is a sweet, gummy, bulbous root. Stuart's Montana, pp. 57-8. Colvilles cut down pines for their moss (alectoria?). Kamas also eaten. Pickering's Races, in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. ix., p. 34. The Shushwaps eat moss and lichens, chiefly the black lichen, or whyelkine. Mayne's B. C., p. 301; Parker's Explor. Tour, p. 127. The Salish in March and April eat popkah, an onion-like bulb; in May, spatlam, a root like vermicelli; in June and July, itwha, like roasted chestnuts; in August, wild fruits; in September, marani, a grain. Domenech's Deserts, vol. ii., p. 312.
<p>393</p>
At the Dalles 'during the fishing season, the Indians live entirely on the heads, hearts and offal of the salmon, which they string on sticks, and roast over a small fire.' Besides pine-moss, the Okanagans use the seed of the balsam oriza pounded into meal, called mielito. 'To this is added the siffleurs.' Berries made into cakes by the Nez Percés. Wilkes' Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. iv., pp. 410, 462, 494. Quamash, 'eaten either in its natural state, or boiled into a kind of soup, or made into a cake, which is then called pasheco.' Lewis and Clarke's Trav., pp. 330, 353, 365, 369. Women's head-dress serves the Flatheads for cooking, etc. De Smet, Voy., pp. 47, 193-9; Id., Missions de l'Orégon, pp. 75-6. 'The dog's tongue is the only dish-cloth known' to the Okanagans. Pine-moss cooked, or squill-ape, will keep for years. 'At their meals they generally eat separately and in succession – man, woman and child.' Ross' Adven., pp. 132-3, 295, 317-18. 'Most of their food is roasted, and they excel in roasting fish.' Parker's Explor. Tour, pp. 231, 107. 'Pine moss, which they boil till it is reduced to a sort of glue or black paste, of a sufficient consistence to take the form of biscuit.' Franchère's Nar., p. 279. Couse tastes like parsnips, is dried and pulverized, and sometimes boiled with meat. Alvord, in Schoolcraft's Arch., vol. v., p. 656. Root bread on the Clearwater tastes like that made of pumpkins. Gass' Jour., pp. 202-3. Kamas after coming from the kiln is 'made into large cakes, by being mashed, and pressed together, and slightly baked in the sun.' White-root, pulverized with stones, moistened and sun-baked, tastes not unlike stale biscuits. Townsend's Nar., pp. 126-7. Camas and sun-flower seed mixed with salmon-heads caused in the eater great distension of the stomach. Remy and Brenchley's Jour., vol. ii., pp. 509-11. Sowete, is the name of the mixture last named, among the Cayuses. Coke's Rocky Mts., p. 310; Ind. Life, p. 41; Stuart's Montana, pp. 57-8; Pickering's Races, in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. ix., p. 34; Kane's Wand., pp. 272-3; Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, pp. 214-15.
<p>394</p>
Additional notes and references on procuring food. The Okanagans break up winter quarters in February; wander about in small bands till June. Assemble on the river and divide into two parties of men and two of women for fishing and dressing fish, hunting and digging roots, until October; hunt in small parties in the mountains or the interior for four or six weeks; and then go into winter quarters on the small rivers. Ross' Adven., pp. 314-16. Further south on the Columbia plains the natives collect and dry roots until May; fish on the north bank of the river till September, burying the fish; dig camas on the plains till snow falls; and retire to the foot of the mountains to hunt deer and elk through the winter. The Nez Percés catch salmon and dig roots in summer; hunt deer on snow-shoes in winter; and cross the mountains for buffalo in spring. Sokulks live on fish, roots, and antelope. Eneeshur, Echeloots, and Chilluckittequaw, on fish, berries, roots and nuts. Lewis and Clarke's Trav., pp. 444-5, 340-1, 352, 365, 370. Spokanes live on deer, wild fowl, salmon, trout, carp, pine-moss, roots and wild fruit. They have no repugnance to horse-flesh, but never kill horses for food. The Sinapoils live on salmon, camas, and an occasional small deer. The Chaudiere country well stocked with game, fish and fruit. Cox's Adven., vol. i., p. 201, vol. ii., p. 145. The Kayuse live on fish, game, and camass bread. De Smet, Voy., pp. 30-1. 'Ils cultivent avec succès le blé, les patates, les pois et plusieurs autres légumes et fruits.' Id., Miss. de l'Orégon., p. 67. Pend d'Oreilles; fish, Kamash, and pine-tree moss. Id., West. Missions, p. 284. 'Whole time was occupied in providing for their bellies, which were rarely full.' Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, p. 211. Yakimas and Kliketats; Unis or fresh-water muscles, little game, sage-fowl and grouse, kamas, berries, salmon. The Okanagans raise some potatoes. Gibbs, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., pp. 404, 408, 413. Kootenais; fish and wild fowl, berries and pounded meat, have cows and oxen. Palliser's Explor., pp. 10, 72. Palouse; fish, birds, and small animals. Umatillas; fish, sage-cocks, prairie-hares. Lord's Nat., vol. ii., pp. 97, 105-6. Tushepaws would not permit horses or dogs to be eaten. Irving's Astoria, p. 316. Nez Percés; beaver, elk, deer, white bear, and mountain sheep, also steamed roots. Id., Bonneville's Adven., p. 301. Sahaptin; gather cherries and berries on Clarke River. Gass' Jour., p. 193; Nicolay's Ogn. Ter., p. 151; Hines' Voy., p. 167; Brownell's Ind. Races, pp. 533-5; Stanley's Portraits, pp. 63-71; Catlin's N. Am. Ind., vol. ii., p. 108; Kane's Wand., pp. 263-4; Parker's Explor. Tour, pp. 228-31, 309; Wilkes' Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. iv., p. 474; Hale's Ethnog., Ib., vol. vi., p. 206.
<p>395</p>
Lewis and Clarke's Trav., pp. 383, 548; Parker's Explor. Tour, pp. 230, 312; Townsend's Nar., p. 148; De Smet, Voy., pp. 46-7, 198; Cox's Adven., vol. i., pp. 197-9, 358, vol. ii., pp. 155, 373, 375; Coke's Rocky Mts., p. 295; Palmer's Jour., pp. 54, 58, 59.
<p>396</p>
The Okanagan weapon is called a Spampt. Ross' Adven., pp. 318-19; Id., Fur Hunters, vol. i., pp. 306-8. 'Ils … faire leurs arcs d'un bois très-élastique, ou de la corne du cerf.' De Smet, Voy., p. 48; Wilkes' Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. iv., p. 488; Stevens, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., p. 405; Townsend's Nar., p. 98; Irving's Astoria, p. 317; Lewis and Clarke's Trav., p. 351; Parker's Explor. Tour, pp. 106-7, 233; Cox's Adven., vol. i., p. 216.
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