94 CRUISINGS IN THE CASCADES 



buckskin. It is not popular with them as a material 

 for clothing, on account of the vast amount of rainy 

 weather. 



It has been said they make cloth from the wool 

 of the goat, but, so far as I could learn, they make 

 very little, if any of it, of late years. I saw some 

 blankets that Indians had woven from this wool, 

 but they were very coarse. They have no machinery 

 for spinning; the yarn is merely twisted by hand, and 

 is so coarse and loose that it would not hold together 

 a week if made into a garment and worn in the woods. 

 Of course, a fair article of yarn, and even cloth, may 

 be, and has been, made entirely by hand, but these 

 people have neither the skill, the taste, nor the 

 industry to enable them to do such work. A 

 coarse hair grows with the wool on the goat, and 

 the squaws do not even take the trouble to separate 

 it, but work both up together, making a very 

 uncouth-looking fabric, even if thick, warm, and 

 serviceable. 



As a class, these Indians appear to be strictly 

 honest, toward each other at least. They leave their 

 canoes, guns, game, or in fact, any kind of property, 

 anywhere they choose, without the slightest effort at 

 concealment, and always feel perfectly sure of find- 

 ing it on their return. About the only case of pilfer- 

 ing I ever heard of while among them (and I 

 took special pains to investigate) was when John 

 asked me for some fish-hooks, and said in expla- 

 nation: 



"I had plenty hooks, but I reckon Seemo he steal 

 all my hooks." 



"Why, does Seymour steal?" I inquired. He 



