236 



the ground wliich it occupies. Generic or tribal names for others are some- 

 times used; but, as' before mentioned, the cohesion among the bands of the 

 same family is so small, that it is more usual to hear them separately men- 

 tioned, even by their neighbors. As these appellations differ with the 

 different tribes, and moreover die out with the abandonment of a particular 

 locality, it is next to impossible, after such a lapse of time, to identify all 

 of them, exi'ept by their locality or order of succession. 



Subsequent to Lewis and Clarke is Franchfere, whose simplicity of 

 narration and air of truth induce a regret that his work is not more in detail. 

 Upon this much of Mr. Irving's desci'iption is based. 



Ross Cox's adventures, though highly amusing and sufficiently accurate 

 where description alone is concerned, are liable to give very false impres- 

 sions of motive and idea. 



Of the externals of savage life on the Oregon coast, there are many 

 graphic and full accounts; but an insight into their minds is not so easy to 

 reach, and those who have most carefully sought it are likely to be most 

 doubtful of their success. 



EARLY VISITS OF WHITE MEN. 



The Indians at the mouth of the Columbia preserve several traditions 

 of the early visits of white men, the first of which must have been many 

 years anterior to the arrival of Gray. The wife of Mr. Solomon H. Smith, 

 who belonged to the Klatsop, and was born about the year 1810, informed 

 me that the first white men seen by her tribe were three who came ashore 

 in a boat from a wrecked vessel. "They landed on Klatsop Point (Point 

 Adams), where one soon afterward died. They were first descried by a 

 woman who had lost her child, and, after the Indian fashion, had gone out 

 in the morning to mourn for it. She saw a large object lying on the beach, 

 and, while looking at it in wonder, the seamen came ashore and approached, 

 holding a bright kettle and motioning her to bring water. She was afraid; 

 but they put it down and retired, when she took it and ran to the village. 

 The Indians then came down in a body. The new-comers looked like men, 

 except that they had long beards like bears. They had already put the sick 

 man into a box to be buried, as he was nearly dead. The Klatsop Indians sent 



