1855.] INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL ON THE NORTH-WEST COAST, VANCOUVER'S ISLAND, &c. 



2 or 3 yards by the players, and as the ring strikes the barrier 

 and is falHng on its side the spears are thrown so that the ring 

 may fall ou them ; if only one of the spears should be covered 

 by the ring the owner of it counts according to the coloured bead 

 over it. But it generally happens, from the dexterity of the 

 players, that the ring covers both spears, and each count accord- 

 ing to the colours of the beads above his weapon. They then 

 play towards the other barrier, and so on until one party has 

 attained the number agreed upon for game. 



The Chinooks have tolerably good horses, and are fond of 

 racing, at which they bet considerably ; they are expert jockeys 

 and ride fearlessly. 



They also take great delight in a game with a ball, which is 

 played by them in the same manner as by the Cree, Chippewa 

 and Sioux Indians. Two poles are erected about a mile apart, 

 and the company is divided into two bands armed with sticks, 

 having a small ring or hoop at the end with which the ball is 

 picked up and thrown to a great distance, each party then 

 strives to get the ball past their own goal. There are some- 

 times hundreds on a side, and the play is kept up with great 

 noise and excitement. At this game they also bet heavily, as 

 it is generally played 1: etween tribes or villages. 



The sepulchral rites of this singular tribe of Indians are too 

 curious to bo entirely omitted. Upon the death of a Chinook 

 the' body is securely tied up in msh matting and placed in the 

 best canoe they can procure, without any peculiar ceremonies. 

 This canoe is as highly decorated as the family of the deceased 

 can afford. Tin cups, kettles, plates, pieces of cotton, red cloth, 

 and furs, and in fact everything which they themselves most 

 value, and which is most difficult for them to obtain, are hung 

 round the canoe; inside, beside the body, they place paddles, 

 spears, bows and arrows, and food, with everything else which 

 they consider necessary for a veiy long joui'ney, — I have even 

 found beads, loquas shells, brass buttons and small coins in the 

 mouths of the skeletons, — the canoe is then taken to the burial 

 place of the tribe, generally selected for its isolated situation. 

 The two principal places are rocky Islands in the lower part of 

 the Columbia river ; one is called Coffin Rock from the appear- 

 ance it presents, covered with the raised biers of the deceased 

 members of the tribe ; to these they tow the canoe, which is then 

 either fastened up in a tree or supported on a sort of frame 4 

 or 5 feet from the ground made of strong cedar boards, and 

 holes bored in the bottom of the canoe to let the water run out, 

 they are then covered with a large piece of bark to protect 

 them from the rain. Before leaving they destroy the useful- 

 ness of every article left with the coi'pse, making holes in the 

 kettles, cans, and baskets, cracking the bows, arrows and spears, 

 and if there is a gun they take the lock off, believing that the 

 Great Spirit will mend them upon the deceased arriving at the 

 hunting grounds of their Elysium. The greatest crime which 

 an Indian can commit in the eyes of his people is that of dese- 

 crating one of these canoes, and it very seldom happens that 

 the slightest thing is removed. 



In obtaining a specimen of one of the peculiarly formed 

 skulls of the tribe I had to use the greatest precaution, and 

 ran no small risk not only in getting it but in having it in 

 my possession afterwards ; even the voyageurs would have 

 refused to travel with mc had they known that I had it among 

 my collections, not only on account of the superstitious dread 

 in which they hold tl.esc burial places, but also on account of 

 the danger arising from a discovery, which might have cost the 

 lives of the whole party. 



A few years before my arrival at Fort "\^aneouver, 3Ir. 

 Douglass, who was then in charge, heard from his office the 



report of a gun inside the gates, this being a breach of dis- 

 cipline he hurried out to enquire the cause of so unusual 

 a circumstance, and found one of Casenov's slaves standing 

 over the body of an Indian whom he had just killed, and in 

 the act of reloading his gun with apparent indifference, Case- 

 nov himself standing by. On Mr. Douglass arriving at the 

 spot, he was told by Casenov, with ain apology, that the man 

 deserved death according to the laws of the tribe, who as well 

 as the white man inflicted punishment proportionate to the 

 nature of the offence. In this case the crime was one of the 

 greatest an Indian could be guilty of, namely, the robbing the 

 sepulchre canoes. Mr. Douglass after severely reprimanding 

 him allowed him to depart with the dead body. 



Sacred as the Indians hold their burial places, Casenov him- 

 self, a short time after the latter occuiTence, had his only son 

 buried in the cemetery of the Fort. He died of consumption 

 — a disease very frequent amongst all Indians — proceeding no 

 doubt from their constant exposure to the sudden vicissitudes 

 of the climate. The coffin was made sufficiently large to con- 

 tain all the necessaries supposed to be required for his comfort 

 and convenience in the world of spirits. The chaplain of the 

 Fort read the usual service at the grave, and after the conclu- 

 sion of the ceremony, Casenov returned to his lodge, and 

 the same evening attempted, as naiTated below, the life of 

 the bereaved mother, who was the daughter of the great 

 chief generally known as King Comcomly, so beautifully 

 alluded to in VTashington Ii-ving's " Astoria." She was for- 

 merly the wife of a Mr. JMcDougall, who bought her from her 

 father for, as it was supposed, the enormous price of ten articles 

 of each description, guns, blankets, knives, hatchets, &e., then 

 in Fort Astoria. Comcomly, however, acted with unexpected 

 liberality on the occasion by carpeting her path from the canoe 

 to the Fort with sea otter skins, at that time numerous and 

 valuable, but now scarce, and presenting them as a dowry, in 

 reality far exceeding in value the articles at which she had 

 been estimated. On Mr. BIcDougall's leaving the Indian 

 country she became the wife of Casenov. 



It is the prevailing opinion of the chiefs that they and their 

 sons are too important to die in a natural way, and whenever 

 the event takes place they attribute it to the malevolent influ- 

 ence of some other person, whom they fix upon, often in the 

 most unaccountable manner, frequently selecting those the 

 most dear to themselves and the deceased. The person so 

 selected is sacrificed without hesitation. On this occasion 

 Casenov selected the afllicted mother, notwithstanding she had 

 during the sickness of her son been one of the mo.st assiduous 

 and devoted of his attendants, and of his .several wives she 

 was the one he most loved ; but it is the general belief of the 

 Indians on the west side of the mountains, that the greater 

 the privation they inflict on themselves the greater would be 

 the manifestation of their grief, and the more pleasing to the 

 departed spirit. Casenov assigned to me an additional motive 

 for his wish to kill his wife, namely, that as he knew she had 

 been so useful to her son and so necessary to his happiness and 

 comfort in this world, he wished to send her with him as his 

 companion on his long journey. She, however, escaped into 

 the woods, and next morning reached the Fort imploring pro- 

 tection ; she was accordingly secreted for several days until-hcr 

 own relations took her home to Chinook Point. In the mean- 

 time a woman was found murdered in the woods and the act 

 was universally attributed to Casenov or one of his emissaries. 

 I may here mention a painful occurrence which took place 

 on Thompson's river, in New Caledonia, as illustrative of this 

 peculiar superstition. 



