428 INDIAN TRIBES OF WASHINGTON TERRITORY. 



it furnished. The southern half of the bay belonged to them ; the country on the Willopah river 

 to the tribe of that name, and the upper end to the Chihalis. Trails now partially obliterated 

 and overgrown connect it with the Cowlitz, the Chihalis, and different points on the Columbia, 

 with the people of which the inhabitants kept up a trade in dried fish and clams, purchasing 

 in return kamas, wappatoo, and other foreign commodities. At present but few Indians remain 

 here, the smallpox having nearly finished its work during the past year. In the winter and spring 

 it spread with great virulence along the coast as far north as Cape Flattery. Some lodges upon 

 the southern peninsula of Shoalwater bay were left without a survivor, and the dead were found 

 by the whites lying wrapped in their blankets as if asleep. 



Quite extensive cemeteries are scattered along the bay, the canoes in which the bodies of 

 former generations were deposited having out-lasted the race it=elf. 



The Willopahs, or, as called by Capt. Wilkes, Qualioquas, may be considered as extinct, a 

 few women only remaining, and those intermarried with the Chi nooks and Chihalis. 



Part of the Chihalis Indians still frequent the bay for fish, clams, and oysters, and, with the 

 Chinooks living there, are employed by the whites in taking the latter for market. They bring 

 their canoes along the coast: if the water be smooth, paddling outside the breakers; if rough, 

 trailing them with great dexterity between the surf and the beach. They have some horses, and 

 this beach is a favorite race -ground. The number of the tribe upon Gray s harbor, and that part 

 of the river from the Satsop down, is supposed to be about one hundred and fifty. No settle 

 ments have been made on Gray s harbor, and only three claims taken up ; but it is impossible 

 to foresee at what moment population may thrust itself into any district, and another season may 

 find this occupied throughout. 



There are said to be several other bands inhabiting the northern branches of the Chihalis, the 

 Whishkah, Wynoochee, &c., between whom and the whites there has been no intercourse what 

 ever, and who have never been included in any estimate. For the present purpose they may, 

 with sufficient probability, be reckoned at three hundred. The Indians of the Upper Chihalis 

 will be considered in connexion with the Cowlitz. 



Following up the coast, there is another tribe upon the Kwinaitl river, which runs into the 

 Pacific some twenty-five miles above the Chihalis, its headwaters interlocking with the streams 

 running into Hood s canal and the inlets of Puget sound. Little is known of them except that 

 the^f speak a different language from the last. Still farther north, and between the Kwinaitl and 

 the Makahs, or Cape Flattery Indians, are other tribes whose names are still unknown, but who, 

 by the vague rumors of those on the Sound, are both numerous and warlike. All these have 

 been lately visited by the smallpox, with its customary desolating effects. 



The Cowlitz, likewise a once numerous and powerful tribe, are now insignificant and fast dis 

 appearing. The few bands remaining are intermingled with those of the Upper Chihalis. Ac 

 cording to the best estimates obtained, the two united are not over one hundred and sixty-five in 

 number, and are scattered in seven parties between the mouth of the Cowlitz and the Satsop. 



The Taitinapam, a band of Klikatats already mentioned, living near the head of the Cowlitz, 

 are probably about seventy-five in number. They are called by their eastern brethren wild or 

 wood Indians. Until very lately they have not ventured into the settlements, and have even 

 avoided all intercourse with their own race. The river Indians attach to them all kinds of 

 superstitious ideas, including that of stealing and eating children, and of travelling unseen. 



Upon the estimates above stated, the whole number of all the Indians south of Puget sound, 

 and between the Cascades and the coast, woifld amount to about eight hundred and fifty, 

 in place of three thousand, the estimate of Captain Wilkes in 1841 a diminution of per cent, 

 per annum. 



In regard to all these tribes, scattered as most of them are in small bands at considerable dis 

 tances apart, it seems hardly worth while to make any arrangements looking forward to perma 

 nence or involving great expense. The case of the Chinooks and Cowlitz Indians in paiticular 



