|
THE CHINOOKAN TRIBES
The Chinookan stock comprised a considerable number of
tribes whose permanent villages of cedar-board houses dotted
the banks of the Columbia and its tributaries from the
rapids known as the Dalles to the sea. With four unimportant
exceptions the land bordering the Columbia for this entire distance -
about one hundred and seventy-five miles -was occupied by these
tribes. The exceptions were: the vicinity of Klickitat river, where
some Klickitat had come down from the interior and intermarried
with the Chinookans; Lewis river, which also was held by the
Klickitat; Cowlitz river, the valley of which was occupied by the
Cowlitz, a Salishan tribe; and the sites of Westport and Clatskanie,
Oregon, where a band of Athapascans from Willapa river had settled.
In all cases these alien tribes were late comers: in other words,
the Chinookan stock once held unbroken a strip of territory from the
ocean to the Dalles of the Columbia in Washington and Oregon.
Fish, especially salmon, were plentiful far beyond their needs, and were
so easily taken that the people were indolent and inert, lacking the initiative,
the energetic force, the manliness characteristic of tribes whose livelihood
must be gained largely by hunting. In common with most of the other tribes
of the north Pacific coast, they were so unusually licentious that chastity
was practically unknown; and to a remarkable degree they lacked the tribal
instinct, so that killing by hired assassins and by supposedly magical
means became a recognized practice of frequent occurrence. Numerous instances
have been recorded of chiefs who ruthlessly killed the men and sold the
women of their families in order to insure their own wealth and power.
In 1811 the trading post of Astoria was established at the mouth of the
river, and in 1825 the Northwest Company built Fort Vancouver opposite
the mouth of the Willamette. The men then engaged in the fur trade on
the frontiers were as a class rough and lawless, and on occasion barbarous
and almost inhuman. Memoirs of men active in the trade prove this. Living
in permanent villages, unable and indeed unwilling to move away from the
vicinity of the
demoralizing settlements, the Chinook and the Clatsop, at the mouth of
the Columbia, soon fell a prey to diseases to which they were unaccustomed,
particularly smallpox, measles, and cholera. As the Columbia became more
and more used as a highway into the interior, dissipation and disease
spread to the inland villages. Whiskey was no less potent than the epidemics.
One of many instances of this may be cited. In the youth of Tamlaitk,
who was born about 1825, the houses of the Indians, placed closely together,
extended from Hood river to Indian creek, and many families, not finding
room on the level now occupied by the town of Hood River, built their
homes on the bench above. On the northern side of the Columbia the whole
flat at the mouth of White Salmon river was filled with houses. Whiskey
began to be sold on the northern side, and canoes full of drunken Indians
returning home would capsize, the helpless natives sinking like stones.
Whole families were thus wiped out in a moment. This, combined with an
epidemic of cholera, about 1830, almost exterminated two populous villages,
and now there are but two survivors. The tribes at the Cascades, in numbers
and in culture among the leaders of the Chinookan stock, owed their extinction
largely to the same cause. In drunken debauches parties would attempt
to cross the river above the falls, only to be drawn into its angry rapids
and drowned.
Those who speak a dialect of the Chinook language number considerably
fewer than two hundred, and the only Chinookan community is that of Nihhluidih
(commonly known by the Shahaptian name of Wishham), a group of small houses
scattered here and there on the volcanic rock that confines the Columbia
at the Dalles. These Upper Chinook, therefore, have been studied as the
only available type of the stock.
GENERAL DESCRIPTION
The reader's first mental picture of the Wishham should be of a scattered
village community on the banks of the mighty Columbia. Their homes were
not tents of skin, nor wickiups of reeds, but rather substantial structures
of rived timbers and planks. Close before the village flows the river,
and behind it rise the bare or scantily wooded bluffs. They neither wandered
far in quest of buffalo nor tilled the soil, but for sustenance depended
on the fish taken from the river, and on the roots and plants gathered
from hillside and meadow. If they desired to travel for a distance the
canoe was drawn into the water, and the firm thrust of the paddle carried
them to their destination. If the man were of the "noble" or
wealthy class, his own hands were not hardened by the paddle, but the
large canoe was manned by a crew of slaves.
The tribal life was one of indolent, licentious ease, dignity, and filth.
Their position on the river being one of the very best for taking fish,
the Wishham had an unlimited supply for their own use and ample stores
for barter, which gave them everything they needed. From the western ocean
were brought shells and sea foods, and through the medium of the plateau
tribes came the buffalo-robes and pemmican of the plains Indians. From
the north were brought woven blankets of goat-hair, and the river itself
furnished them, as nature's gift, logs for fuel and for building houses.
In the tribal organization caste and pride of birth were everywhere present,
and the individual could scarcely aspire to enter circles above that in
which he was born. The position of headchief descended from father to
son, if the latter were worthy. The same was true of the many sub-chiefs
or head-men, who, in fact, were simply the heads of wealthy and influential
families. If the elder son was not deemed worthy, the people did not recognize
him as chief, but took their problems to his brother or next of kin who
was strong and upright. There was no selection by popular vote. Public
sentiment either approved or disapproved and thus secured the object of
its choice. If the chief's eldest son had not reached maturity, the next
adult male relation acted as chief until the son became of proper age.
If the office descended to a brother or to another branch of the family,
it was expected to revert to the main line when the male heir reached
maturity.
Hospitality was unstinted, the chief's house being always free to visitors,
be they needy or not; and whether or no the call were one of a social
nature, food was always provided. A successful hunter or fisherman often,
as an act of courtesy, not as tribute, took to the chief some choice portion
of food.
The chief's duties were largely advisory and judicial, consisting for
the greater part in his acting as intermediary when requested to do so
by disputants. There seems to have been no recognized council. Nevertheless,
there is a trace of such in the habit of the chief calling influential
men together when he had a peculiarly difficult matter to adjudicate.
If the question involved a capital offence, one for which an assassin
might be employed, guards were posted around the house in every direction,
that no one of the family of the man concerned might spy on the proceedings.
The official or sanctioned killing of offenders against tribal precepts
or individual rights was an accepted institution. Such killing was done
by the injured individual, or by one of a class of men publicly known
to be available as assassins for hire.
Slavery was an important institution in the tribal organization. Slaves
comprised the lowest stratum of the social order, and their possession
was an index of the social station of their owners. But the Wishham did
not possess slaves in any large numbers, and secured them principally
by barter, for they were not a militant tribe. Naturally the larger number
of their slaves were those born of servile parents. Not every family owned
chattels of this sort; indeed the majority of households did not. An ordinary
family of the better class would have two or three, and the wealthiest
as many as ten. Occupying the same house as their masters, slaves were
treated kindly and given plenty of food, eating at the same time as the
others, but somewhat apart by themselves. Those of suitable age and in
the same household were married, and the children were, of course, chattels.
Sometimes an unmarried male slave made love to a woman of his class belonging
to another family. When this was discovered, the master of the woman reported
the matter to the owner of the man, and usually the difficulty was settled
by arranging that the two should dwell a part of the year with one master,
and the remainder with the other. Sometimes one of the slaves would be
sold to the owner of the other., Slaves were not only permitted, but they
were expected, to flatten the heads of their children. Marriage between
a slave and a free man or woman was unheard of, nor did tribal usage tolerate
concubinage. Male slaves were used mainly to paddle the canoe of the master,
and in fishing, hunting, and carrying wood; and occasionally as assassin
in avenging wrongs. Female slaves were the drudges of the women, digging
roots, gathering berries, curing fish, carrying water. No danger attended
a man alone in his canoe with several slaves, for they were usually well
treated, and nearly always had been taken young and reared in the tribe,
so that all recollection of their parent tribe was lost and there was
no desire to escape. The life of a bondman was not necessarily one of
hardship; he had considerable leisure, and if he were well behaved might
enter the house of a neighbor, seat himself, and listen to or take part
in casual conversation. A slave much given to running away was cut on
the bottom of his feet, so as to make travelling difficult.
Among the people on the southern side of the Columbia from the Cascades
down to the ocean, a favorite slave was sometimes either killed when the
master or a much-beloved child died, or wrapped, as though for burial,
and, still alive, placed in the sepulchre with the dead. This was far
from an invariable practice. One informant tells of visiting at a village
near Fort Vancouver, Washington, when the son of the chief Kiesnut -also
called Winatka -died. Two young slaves of the same age as the deceased
were bound together and their weighted bodies thrown from a canoe into
the deep water of the Columbia. The body of the chief's son was taken
in a canoe to an island and placed in the usual burial house.
Polygyny was practically universal among the upper classes, a man of wealth
having as many as eight wives. All lived in one house, the impartiality
of the husband preventing discord, and the women were nominally equal,
although a wife from a family of very high rank was naturally treated
with deference and given more prominence in the presence of visitors.
When a woman was suspected of unfaithfulness she was whipped, or, bound
hand and foot, was laid close to the fire until she confessed. If a wife
committed adultery and the guilty man was known, the father of the wronged
husband reported the matter to the chief, who, finding the complaint justified,
gave the petitioner the right to have the culprit killed by one of the
itohiul, men of bold, reckless spirit, made so by their medicine, which
was especially for fighting, and some of whom served the public as professional
assassins for hire. Armed with a heavy, dull instrument of whalebone shaped
like a long, double-edged knife, the assassin would lie in wait for his
victim, and when the opportunity was presented to do so in secret, he
would strike him a heavy blow on the head, cutting and crushing the skull.
As assassins these men were called idiahipshulit ("he kills in secret").
If, however, the guilty man belonged to a wealthy family, the chief would
inform them that he had been detected in a wrong and they must offer payment.
This indemnity went to the father-in-law of the woman concerned, the logic
being that, inasmuch as he had bought her when she became his son's wife,
he was entitled to indemnity when his purchase was damaged.
When the family of a young man had selected a girl for him, they sent
a messenger to her father, asking permission to purchase her. Consent
being given, the message was brought back to the youth's father, and on
the appointed day (soon after the proposal), his family went in a body
toward the other house, stopping a short distance from it. The messenger
was sent on to the house bearing a gift, or, if the gift were a slave,
leading him'by the hand. As he started, he began to shout loudly and continued
until he reached the house, where he said, "Here is one thing!"
He returned to the waiting party and went back to the house with another
portion of the purchase price, and so on until each article had been taken
to the girl's house and given to her father. Then the latter sent a messenger
with gifts, one at a time, but of less value. Next, all the members of
the bridegroom's party went in a body to the house and gave small presents,
such as beads, shells, and moccasins, and returned home, while the bride's
family began to cook a great quantity of food. When the feast was ready,
the groom's family-and he for the first time with them -went to the other
house to partake of it. They sat down on mats before the bowls of food,
the young man taking his place beside the girl, and while they ate, the
members of the bride's family came and took from them any loose article
of clothing or adornment, until each had some souvenir. At the end of
the meal the guests rolled up the mats, took the bowls or spoons, and
departed. All the relatives and intimate friends participated in the festivities
and many spectators were present. The couple lived in the bride's house
for a few days, and then, accompanied by her family and relations, attended
a feast at the other home, where another exchange of presents occurred.
Thus the marriage celebration continued until five feasts had been provided,
if the means of the young man's family permitted such an extended season
of festivities; for on every occasion they were expected to give presents
of greater value than they received. The last feast occurring at the bride's
house, the couple might decide to dwell there permanently, in which case
it was the duty of the young man to provide fuel; if they made his home
their abode, it was expected of his wife that she would carry water and
keep the house clean and orderly.
Each family of the tribe had a house, or quarters in a house, in the main
village, Nihhluidih, and a fishing station, or rights in a fishing station,
on the river bank, perhaps near the village, perhaps at some little distance
from it. Those families whose stations lay at some distance from the village
built their summer houses apart, near their stations, thus creating numerous
small summer villages of two or three or half a dozen structures. In the
coldest weather they lived in underground rooms, which were either at
the main village or some distance away where eddies in the river deposited
abundance of firewood. During the fall and spring they were apt to be
living in their permanent houses of cedar planks at NihhIuidih, but a
whole year might be passed in other places.
These permanent houses were built over a square or an oblong excavation
about three feet deep, the usual dimensions being about sixteen by eighteen
or twenty feet. At the middle of each end was placed an upright cedar
slab about two inches thick and ten or more inches wide, with a notch
cut at the top to accommodate the fir ridge-pole, which was some six inches
in diameter. These slabs projected about ten feet above the ground. At
each corner in the excavation was another cedar post, on which rested
the end of one of the two eaves-poles. The fir rafters, perhaps four inches
in diameter, had a pitch of thirty degrees from the horizontal and were
set about two inches apart, the upper ends resting in notches cut in the
ridge-pole, and the lower ends on the eavespoles. Cedar boards were set
upright, extending from the floor to the roof, both at the sides and at
the ends of the building, and the space between the boards and the walls
of the excavation was packed with dry grass. The excavated earth was piled
against the outside walls. The roof was a thatching of matting and cedar
bark, and in the centre was a smoke-hole three feet square through which
the ridge-pole extended. Matting was hung on the inner walls, and the
earthern floor was covered with dry grass and rush matting. The doorway,
about three and a half feet wide, was usually at one side of the front
supporting post, but sometimes the post stood in the middle of the entry.
This outer doorway extended from the ground level to the roof, and it
was closed with a double thickness of matting.
The outer door of a chief's house was cut through a broad board, which
was carved with the figures of eagles and other birds and animals regarded
as having "good dispositions." Such creatures as rattlesnake,
mountain-lion, and grizzly-bear, always destructive, were not represented.
A post similarly marked but smaller stood inside at the rear. At the death
of the chief these carved objects were placed with his body in the house
of the dead.
Entering, one descended a short ladder to the floor, passed through an
entryway between tiers of fuel, and through another doorway in a partition
separating the fuel compartment from the living-room.This partition also
was of boards and extended to the roof. The inner doorway was covered
with a piece of matting.
The houses were placed in irregular rows, and faced the river. Usually
on each side of the inner doorway, and at right angles to it, was a board
extending to the roof, each marking off a family-space. The other families
had their places around the walls, but there were no other partitions.
Four to six families, comprising ten to fifteen people, inhabited each
house. In the rear, four or five feet from the ground and extending across
the entire wall, was a shelf for food and utensils. The fire burned in
the centre of the room, but there was no fire-pit. All cooking and eating
were in common. The beds were on the floor and consisted of a layer of
grass covered with matting, on which the fur and woven bedding was spread.
In the house of a medicine-man there was placed at the rear of the room
his ikimoqdih, an upright cedar plank carved into figures of birds and
animals.' This he had caused to be made according to his instructions
by some one skilled in such work. He made no invocations to this post,
but it was supposed to tell him at night, through the medium of dreams,
what was happening or was going to happen. The space immediately in front
of this post was sacred, and any child carelessly going near it was expected
to fall ill.
During a severe winter the Wishham made use of a dwelling entirely under
the ground, and thatched with poles, matting, and cedar bark. The entrance
was by means of a ladder in a narrow passageway, and as there was no other
opening, fire could not be built within. Cooking, therefore, was done
outside or in another house, and the only light possible was an occasional
cedar torch. The old men assert that in such quarters it was so warm that
they slept in comfort without clothing or covering.
The summer house consisted of two upright forked posts, a heavy ridgepole,
and very long rafters resting on the ground, the end walls and the ridgeroof
being formed of matting. At the fishing camps the people lived under one
side of the drying shed, which was little more than a cedar-bark ridge-roof
extending farther on the western side than on the eastern, the fish being
hung in the western part where they would receive the most sun.
In the days antecedent to the advent of white explorers, the manner of
dressing was apparently dictated by the desire to decorate the body and
to protect it from the cold, rather than by any sense of modesty. In the
summertime the men wore a scant loin-cloth, which commonly was a scrap
of an apron, and women made no effort to conceal the body except with
a small apron either drawn between their thighs or left hanging. It was
not regarded as a serious breach of etiquette on the part of either sex
if this scant apparel was omitted.
Both sexes practised tattooing. The designs were the figures of animals
or birds associated with their dreams and revelations, and were placed
on the breast, arms, and face. The work was performed with a sharp piece
of bone and soot. Men and women wore a long dentalium shell in the nose:
every one wore this nasal ornament, for anybody without it "looked
like a slave." Shells of the same kind were sewn in several parallel
rows of three or four each on a piece of skin, the whole forming an ornament
about one and a half inches wide and three inches long. Men wore a broad,
low-hanging ornamented collar of porcupine-quills sewn on deerskin. This
was sometimes fastened to the shirt. The chiefs had their hair loose and
thinly covered with strips of skin to which dentalium shells were sewn,
and on all occasions they wore two eagle-feathers in their hair in order
that people might readily identify them. For special occasions the men
wore deerskin shirts and leggings, and women, in addition to the loin-cloth,
a collar-like cape that half concealed the breasts. This was increased
in length with their growing modesty until it reached the knees and had
evolved into the usual woman's skin dress made by fastening two deerskins,
or preferably mountain-sheep skins, together. The skins were beautifully
dressed, and decorated with porcupine-quills and shell beads, and later
with white and blue beads secured from the traders. Some of the most beautiful
dresses of this kind seen by the author are still in possession of the
Wishham. Well-made basket-hats were a picturesque feature of their dress,
and are still worn on gala occasions.
The heads of both sexes were flattened through pressure, in infancy, by
means of a board fastened to the cradle.
EDWARD S. CURTIS
|