178 NARRATIVE OF A JOURNEY 



We are visited daily by considerable numbers of Chinook 

 and Klikatat Indians, many of whom bring us provisions of 

 various kinds, salmon, deer, ducks, &c., and receive in return, 

 powder and shot, knives, paint, and Indian rum, i. e. rum and 

 water in the propoi-tion of one part of the former to two of the 

 latter. Some of these Indians would be handsome were it not 

 for the abominable practice, which, as I have said, is almost 

 universal amongst them, of destroying the form of the head. 

 The features of many are regular, though often devoid of expres- 

 sion, and the persons of the men generally are rather symme- 

 trical ; their stature is low, with light sinewy limbs, and remark- 

 ably small delicate hands. The women are usually more 

 rotund, and, in some instances, even approach obesity. The 

 principal clothing worn by them is a sort of short petticoat made 

 of Strang of pine bark or twisted hempen strings, tied around 

 the loins like a marro. This article they call a kalaquarte; and 

 is often their only dress ; some, however, cover the shoulders 

 with a blanket, or robe made of muskrat or hare skins sewed 

 together. 



A disease of a very fatal character is prevalent among these 

 Indians ; many of them have died of it ; even some of those in the 

 neighborhood of the fort, where medical assistance was always 

 at hand. The symptoms are a general coldness, soreness and 

 stiffness of the limbs and body, with violent tertian ague. 

 Its fatal termination is attributable to its tendency to attack 

 the liver, which is generally affected in a few days after 

 the first symptoms are developed. Several of the white people 

 attached to the fort have been ill with it, but no deaths have oc- 

 curred amongst them, the disease in their case having yielded to 

 the simple tonic remedies usually employed at home. This I have 

 no doubt would be equally the case with the Indians, were they 



