Inhabiting the North- West Coast of America. 18& 



and inanimate, which pervades the Algonquin, and exists, 

 although in a minor degree, in many American languages, 

 has not been hitherto detected in dialects of the Oregon. 

 Although not immediately connected with the subject, it may 

 be mentioned that this distinction of bodies into animate and 

 inanimate is not peculiar to some tribes in North America. 

 It appears to exist in the Peruvian, where also animate ob- 

 jects are divided into rational and irrational. In the rational 

 and irrational divisions, the sex is expressed by words equi- 

 valent to male and female, but these words are different in 

 the two classes of nouns. 



We have now to offer a few remarks on the physical ap- 

 pearance, intellectual character, and social institutions of 

 the Indians of the north-west coast of America. Even if we 

 exclude the Esquimaux, we find there is a considerable variety 

 in the physical features of the north-west Indians. TheHaidah 

 and Koluschians differ greatly from the Chenooks and Cath- 

 lascans of the Columbia ; and the Shahaptans and Kleketat 

 differ from both. The northern tribes are of a pale com- 

 plexion, and are not darker than the Portuguese or Italians, 

 while the complexion of the Columbian Indian is deeper, al- 

 though not so much as the Irriquois of Canada. The fea- 

 tures also of the northern tribes are more prominent, they 

 have broader cheek-bones. The Koluschians are of middle 

 stature, but strong made, with broad nose and great cheek- 

 bones, and in all respects strongly marked features. The 

 Cheenooks are of small stature, with crooked legs, from 

 sitting so long in their canoes, with flat nose and large nos- 

 trils, but their features are less prominent than in the Haidah 

 and Koluschians. The Kleketat and Flatheads are of a fair 

 complexion, tall stature, well made, and active. The pecu- 

 liarities in the form of the cranium have been mentioned in 

 a paper on the Oregon Indians, published in the Transac- 

 tions of the Geographical Society. 



The intellectual and moral characters of the Indians on 

 the west coast are very different from those of the Indians 

 east of the Mountains. From the nature of their pursuits 

 the Oregon Indians have a more extensive range of ideas, 

 and are less inflexible in character than the other American 



