Inhabiting the North^West Coast of America. 187 



frequently sell from five to eight hundred bushels of them at 

 the annual fair at Naas. 



The Indians of Nootka are not equal to the northern 

 tribes, but are superior to the Cheenooks and Cathlascans of 

 the Columbia, who are the least energetic, and at the same 

 time the most cowardly and licentious of all the inhabitants 

 of the north-west coast. If inferior in some degree to the 

 northern tribes, in as far as regards dexterity and mechanical 

 skill, the tribes of the interior, such as the Flat-Heads, Cayuse, 

 and Shahaptans, are by far the first in moral character. The 

 desire for religious even more than for intellectual culture, 

 ►and the strong, although untutored, devotional feelings, 

 are pleasing phenomena in the Indian race, in general so 

 untractable. This favourable account of the Flatheads 

 and allied tribes, does not rest on the evidence of the mis- 

 sionaries alone, but is the opinion of all who have travelled 

 among them. They are described as polite and unobtru- 

 sive. Even the children are more peaceable than other chil- 

 dren, and although hundreds may be seen together at play, 

 there is no quarrelling among them. They have learned to 

 observe Sunday, and will not raise their camp on that day ; 

 they also spend a part of it in prayer and religious cere- 

 monies. The chief assembles them to prayer in which they 

 all join in an occasional chorus. He then exhorts them to 

 good conduct. These customs were adopted before the ar- 

 rival of Christian teachers among them. 



The religion, or rather superstitions, of the Indians of the 

 north-west coast, do not appear to differ greatly from those 

 of the tribes to the east of the Mountains. The supposed 

 simplicity of the Indian creed, as well as their equally ima- 

 ginary eloquence, have been the subject of much vague spe- 

 culation, founded on inaccurate observations. As an instance 

 of the vagueness with which the customs of the Indians are 

 sometimes described, it may be mentioned, that a very re- 

 spectable writer, in speaking of the Cheenooks, alludes to 

 assemblies around the council fire, taking up the tomihawk, 

 and displaying the scalps of their enemies, although such 

 customs were unknown in the Oregon territory. 



