INDIANA OF THE QUINAIBLT AGENCY, AVASHINGTON 



TERRITORY. 



By C. WiLL<»u(;iiJ5V. 



Tlie Indians now on tlic (Jninaielt Agency arc of the iSali.sbaii stock, 

 and consist of the loUowing- bands: Ayliut, 'dii: Chehalis, 5- IIolis, 01: 

 Ilnniptnlip, 1(5: lloiiuiano, IG; Montesano, 10; Georgetown, 09; mixed 

 Moods,.!; v^nilts. So; Quiuaielts, 107; Salsop, 12. In all there are 

 males, L*i;3 ; females, 1*10. 



In [)oint of intelligence they do not conjparo favorably with other 

 tribes of Washington Territory. They are indolent, nneleanly, wanting 

 in ambition, and for the most part nnable to understand any enterprise 

 that would benetit them tinancially. They are not satisfied to look for- 

 ward to a crop in the fall as .a result of sowing in the spring-time. An 

 abandoned cannery at this place was never operated, because of the 

 exorbitant price demanded for their Ush hy tlie Indians. Their dwell- 

 ings \a;y fiom those patterned after the white man's house, where 

 stoves, chairs, bedsteads, etc., may bo found, to the old smoke-blackened 

 lodges of a former day. The latter are built of boards hewn out by hand 

 from slabs si)lit from the si)ruce tree by means of yew wedges and stone 

 mauls, and dresse<l with an adz. In former times when iron was un- 

 known the ad/ was made from the ribs of the whale. The modern 

 adz, with iron blades and elk-horn handles, are very elfective implc!- 

 ments. The l)oards are from 12 to 14 inches in width, some times 24 

 inches wide. These squarely built lodges have a pitched roof, while 

 those of the Mahaks are Hal. A latch-string opens the rude door, the 

 lower part of which is about a foot below the level of the ground out- 

 side. An earth lloor in the middle of the lodge is bordered on each 

 side l)y a platform of boards a foot high and about 3.J feet wide. On 

 these })lattbi'ms the women sit to weave their mats and baskets, and 

 behind the platforms next the wall and on both sides of the lodge are 

 r;inged their beds of matting and blankets, raised 3 feet from the 

 ground, and extending the whole length of the building. The sleeping 

 mats are from 7 to S feet in length, 3 and 4 feet wide, and are made of 

 rushes found in the neighborhood. They are used for bedding, and also 

 as a lining to the walls of their lodges. A bed consists of five or six 

 of these rngs \n\ed up to form a mattress. The rug rolled at the end 



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