186 Dr John Scouler on the Indian Tribes 



tribes. The western Indians are imitative and docile ; and 

 instead of the hard-heartedness of the Irriquois, the ferocity 

 of the Carib, or the implacable cruelty of the Brazilian, the 

 Oregon Indians are comparatively humane, the custom of 

 scalping is unknovi^n, prisoners taken in war are rarely put 

 to death after the excitement of the contest has subsided, 

 and they are never exposed to lingering tortures. Those 

 probationary tortures by which the young men were initiated 

 into the rank of warriors, and of which, as practised by the 

 Mandians, Mr Catlin has given so entertaining an account, 

 are unknown to the west of the Rocky Mountains. 



There is, however, a very considerable variety of psycho- 

 logical character among the tribes of the north-west coast. 

 The northern tribes of Koluschians, Haidah, and Bellichoolas 

 are, in point of skill and ingenuity, far superior to the Chee- 

 nooks and Cathlascans. The mechanical skill and imitative 

 ingenuity of the northern Indians as displayed in the con- 

 struction of their canoes, houses, fishing implements, as well 

 as in their ornamented daggers, pipes, and masks, has at- 

 tracted the notice of all civilised visitors. The elaborate 

 carvings of the Haidahs is equal in skill to any thing we 

 find displayed by the Mexicans, and shews how small an 

 amount of civilisation might suffice for the construction of 

 the monuments of Chiapa or Yucatan. A very curious in- 

 stance of the imitative powers of the northern Indians is 

 related by Mr Dunn. The Bellichoolas of Millbank Sound 

 were struck with admiration on the first sight of a steam- 

 boat, and undertook to construct a vessel on the same model. 

 In a short time they had felled a large tree, and were con- 

 structing the hull out of its scooped trunk. Some time after 

 the rude steamer appeared. She was from twenty to thirty 

 feet long, she was black with painted ports, was decked 

 over, and the paddles painted red, and Indians under cover 

 to turn them round. She was floated triumphantly, and 

 went at the rate of three miles an hour. The introduction 

 and general cultivation of the potato without the aid of 

 European lessons or example, is a remarkable instance of 

 the docility and industry of the Haidah, and they not un- 



