4 THE INDIANS OF CAPE FLATTERY. 



These Indians are not remarkable for the special perfection of any of their 

 organs, as that of sight, or hearing, or smelling ; or for any corporeal faculties, as 

 speed in running, agility in climbing, or of diving and remaining long under water. 

 I have seen them occasionally run foot-races on the beach, climb poles set up 

 for the purpose, and svi^im and dive in the bay, but they do not excel in any 

 of these athletic exercises. They do excel, however, in the management of 

 canoes, and are more venturesome, hardy, and ardent in their pursuit of whales, 

 and in going long distances from the land for fish, than any of the neighboring 

 tribes. They are, in fact, to the Indian population what the inhabitants of Nan- 

 tucket are to the people of the Atlantic coast, being the most expert and successful 

 in the whale fishery of aU the coast tribes. 



They do not appear to be a very long-lived people. At the present time (1864) 

 there is but one old man who was alive at the time the Spaniards attempted to 

 make a settlement at Neeah Bay in 1792. He could remember the circumstance 

 well a few years since, but is now in his dotage. He was then a small boy, and 

 if we assume that he was but five years old, it would make him now seventy-seven 

 years of age. I have inquired of a number of men whose appearance indicated 

 advanced age, and with the exception above named, have found no one who per- 

 sonally recollected the visit of the Spaniards, although all remembered hearing 

 their fathers mention it. Threescore years may be safely set down as the limit 

 of life among those who escape the casualties incident to their savage condition ; 

 and, I think, from my observations among them, that an Indian at sixty years is as 

 old as a white man at eighty. The average longevity is of course far below this 

 standard, but I have no data that would warrant a positive statement of what that 

 actually is ; it could only be ascertained by an accurate record of births and deaths 

 during a series of years. 



Dwellings. — The houses of the Makahs are built of boards and planks, split 

 from the cedar. These are principally made by the Indians of Vancouver Island, 

 and procured by barter with them. There is very little cedar about Cape Flattery, 

 and such as is found is small and of inferior quality. Drift logs, however, are 

 frequently thrown on the shores by the high tides of winter, and whenever any 

 such are saved they are either split into boards or made into canoes. The process 

 of making the boards is very primitive. A number of long narrow wedges are cut 

 from the yew, which is selected for its hardness ; little rings of withes, made like 

 a sail-maker's " grummet," are fastened on the head of the wedge to keep it from 

 splitting under the blows of the stone hammer. These hammers are shaped like 

 a pestle, and made from the hardest stone that can be found. They are very 

 neatly formed, but the process is tedious and laborious. A description will be tound 

 under Arts and Mamifachires. The Indian first strips the bark from the log, and 

 cuts ofi^ the end as squarely as he can ; he next cuts transversely through the top of 

 the log, as far from tire end as the required length of the plank, and as deep as the 

 required thickness. A horizontal cut is then made across the end of the log with 

 the axe, and into this are inserted the wedges, about three inches apart. These are 

 struck successively with the stone hammer till the split is eff"ected ; more wedges 

 are then inserted in the longitudinal split on each side of the board, and all being 



