230 NORTHWEST COAST OF AMERICA. 



to comfort. The owners of these wretched dwellings called 

 themselves Clalams, and were the most singular looking people 

 we had ever seen. The top of their heads was as flat as a 

 board. This was caused by compression when they were very 

 young. I was surprised to find them so poorly clad, in weather 

 that was almost cold enough to freeze water ; none had on 

 more than one blanket, and some of them were to be seen 

 going about in a state of perfect nudity. I never before had 

 seen a people who seemed to have so little shame. 



The children seemed to give their mothers but little trouble ; 

 the infants were tied to a piece of bark which hung to a pole, 

 and was kept in motion by a string fastened to the toe of the 

 mother. The little creatures were perfectly naked. 



I observed the men were well supplied with muskets, fowl- 

 ing pieces, and knives, which they procure from the Hudson's 

 Bay Company in exchange for furs. They had also bows and 

 arrows, and the latter were pointed with iron. 



The roofs and sides of many of the huts were hung with fish, 

 strung on poles or sticks. There can be no want of food 

 here, as the waters abound with excellent fish, and the forest 

 with game of all kinds. Deer and bear-tracks are to be seen 

 in every direction, and the natives have only to go a few 

 yards from their huts, to kill enough to feed on for weeks 

 together. 



I spent several hours in wandering about in the neighboring 

 woods. They were composed almost exclusively of pines, 

 many of which were of immense diameter and height. I mea- 

 sured several that were twenty- five feet in circumference, and 

 upwards of two hundred feet in height. The underbrush was 

 not thick, and the principal impediment to clear walking was the 

 vast number of fallen trees, over which I was obliged to climb. 

 I saw numerous tracks of quadrupeds and one or two flocks of 



