106 THE VIARD OR WIYOT. 
bears they have snared, the bear, otter, and seal skins they have tanned; 
dwells with unction on the bushels of rich and oily eels they have captured 
in their traps, the red-fleshed salmon they have speared, the smelt, the 
perch, the squaw-fish, the red-fish they have taken in their nets and dried 
for winter; gives an account of the rich, sweet hazel-nuts, acorns, the scar- 
let manzanita-berries, and the purple whortleberries they have stored up in 
the attics of their wigwams; describes with pride the slender, graceful 
canoes they have launched, the new wigwams that have been built, and the 
fine stock of bows, arrows, nets, baskets, tule-mats, bear-skin rugs, fish- 
gies, grass ropes, and beads they have accumulated; tells of the births and 
marriages, but carefully refrains from any naming of the dead; glorifies 
the victories they have achieved over their enemies, and the heads they 
have cut off, but patriotically slurs over their defeats, ete. In short, he 
combines in this one speech the President’s message, Department reports, 
and the municipal and health officers’ statistics, and adds to the whole a brief 
thanksgiving homily, exhorting them to good behavior, decency—in short, 
the practice of the whole limited decalogue of Indian virtues. 
This oration is received with stolid solemnity and silence, and the 
conclusion of itisno more disturbed by indecorous applause than a thanks- 
giving sermon would be in Trinity Church. But the thanksgiving dinner— 
that is lacking. There is no feasting on dainties—nothing but common 
feeding. The dance is resumed until the company have their fill, and the 
winding up at night is celebrated by a carousal, wherein they violate the 
moral precepts of the chief to the top of their bent. 
