430 INDIAN TRIBES OF WASHINGTON TERRITORY. 



lation, was made by their chiefs in January, and, comprehending all who belonged to them, 

 whether present or not, gave a population of only 375 all told. The total number will not 

 probably exceed 800. That they have been more numerous is unquestionable, and one of the 

 chiefs informed me that they once had one hundred and forty canoes, of eighteen to the larger 

 and fourteen to the smaller size ; which, supposing the number of each kind to be equal, gives a 

 total of 2,240 men. 



One cause of the over-estimate so frequently made of Indians, is their habit of moving about, 

 gathering in bodies one day at one place, and at another the next ; thus leaving the impression 

 of great numbers in each. Many of the Clallarns of Vancouver s island, too, visit the American 

 side of the Straits, and swell the apparent population. The total of all the tribes in this part of 

 the Territory has, however, been placed rather under than over the mark, for many of them live 

 altogether off the Sound, and have not come in contact with the whites. 



The head chief of all the Clallams was Lach-ka-nam, or Lord Nelson, who is still living, but 

 has abdicated in favor of his son, S Hai-ak, or King George a very different personage, by the 

 way, from the chief of the same name east of the mountains. Most of the principal men of 

 the tribe have received names either from the English or the &quot;Bostons;&quot; and the genealogical 

 tree of the royal family presents as miscellaneous an assemblage of characters as a masked 

 ball in carnival. Thus, two of King George s brothers are the Duke of York and General Gaines. 

 His cousin is Tom. Benton; and his sons, by Queen Victoria, are General Jackson and Thomas 

 Jefferson. The queen is daughter to the Duke of Clarence, and sister to Generals Scott and 

 Taylor; as also to Mary Ella Coffin, the wife of John C. Calhoun. The Duke of York s wife is 

 Jenny Lind; a brother of the Duke of Clarence is John Adams; and Calhoun s sons are James 

 K. Polk, General Lane, and Patrick Henry. King George s sister is the daughter of the late 

 Flattery Jack. All of them have papers certifying to these and various other items of informa 

 tion, which they exhibit with great satisfaction. They make shocking work, however, in the 

 pronunciation of their names ; the rs and fs being shibboleths which they cannot utter. 



It is a melancholy fact that the Clallam representatives of these distinguished personages are 

 generally as drunken and worthless a set of rascals as could be collected. The Clallam tribe has 

 always bad a bad character, which their intercourse with shipping, and the introduction of 

 whiskey, have by no means improved. 



The houses of the chiefs at Port Townsend, where they frequently gather, are of the better 

 class quite spacious and tolerably clean. Two or three are not less than thirty feet long by 

 sixteen or eighteen wide, built of heavy planks, supported on large posts and cross-beams, and 

 lined with mats. The planks forming the roof run the whole length of the building, being 

 guttered to carry off the water, and sloping slightly to one end. Low platforms are carried 

 round the interior, on which are laid mats, serving for beds and seats. Piles of very neatly- 

 made baskets are stored away in corners, containing their provisions. There are from two to 

 four fires in each house belonging to the head of the family, and such of his sons as live with 

 him. They have an abundance of salmon, shell-fish, and potatoes, and seem to be very well off . 

 In fact, any of the tribes living upon the Sound must be worthless indeed not to find food in the 

 inexhaustible supplies of fish, clams, and water-fowl, of which they have one or the other at 

 all times. They have a good deal of money among them, arising from the sale of potatoes and 

 fish, letting out their women, and jobbing for the whites. 



The Clallams, and in fact all the other Sound Indians, flatten their heads. Their canoes are 

 of different models; the common one being that known as the Chinook canoe, the most graceful 

 of all; some of which are of large size and great beauty. They have, besides, one called the 

 Queen Charlotte s Island canoe, which, in a heavy sea, is preferable to the first as less liable 

 to be boarded astern. The canoe used for duck-shooting is very pretty, and exceedingly well 

 adapted for the purpose. It sits low on the water, and an Indian seated in it, and gliding 

 noiselessly along beneath the shadows of the trees, or lying beside some projecting log, would 



