THE FLATHEADS. 205 



and frightful, " and its little black eyes, forced out by the tightness of the bandages, 

 resemble those of a mouse choked in a trap."^ Besides the depression of the 

 head, the face is widened and projected forwards by the process, so as materially 

 to diminish the facial angle ; the breadth between the parietal bones is greatly 

 augmented, and a striking irregularity of the two sides of the cranium almost 

 invariably follows ; yet the absolute internal capacity of the skull is not diminished, 

 and, strange as it may seem, the intellectual faculties sujffer nothing. The latter 

 fact is proved by the concurrent testimony of all travellers who have written on 

 the subject 



"We find them," say Lewis and Clark, "inquisitive and loquacious, with 

 understandings by no means deficient in acuteness, and with very retentive 

 memories ; and though fond of feasts and generally cheerful, they are never gay. 

 Every thing they see excites their attention and inquiries, but having been 

 accustomed to see the whites, nothing appeared to give them more astonishment 

 than the air-gun. To all our inquiries they answered with great intelligence, and 

 the conversation rarely slackens. — The dispositions of these people seem mild and 

 inoffensive, and they have uniformly behaved to us with great friendship. They 

 are addicted to begging and pilfering small articles, when it can be done without 

 danger of detection, but do not rob wantonly nor to any large amount. — In traffic 

 they are keen, acute and intelligent, and they employ in all their bargains a 

 dexterity and finesse which, if it be not learnt from their foreign visiters, may 

 show how nearly the cunning of savages is allied to the little arts of more civilised 

 trade. They begin by asking nearly double or treble the value of their merchan- 

 dise, and lower the demand in proportion to the ardor or experience in trade of 

 the purchaser ; and if he expresses any anxiety, the smallest article, perhaps a 

 handful of roots, will furnish a whole morning's negotiation. Being naturally 

 suspicious, they of course conceive that you are pursuing the same system. They, 

 therefore, invariably refuse the first offer, however high, fearful they or we have 

 mistaken the value of the merchandise, and therefore cautiously wait to draw us 

 on to larger offers. In this way, after rejecting the most extravagant prices, 

 which we have offered for mere experiment, they have afterwards importuned us 

 for a tenth part of what they had before refused. In this respect they differ from 

 almost all Indians, who will generally exchange in a thoughtless moment the most 

 valuable article they possess for any bauble which happens to please their fancy, "f 



"^ Ross Cox, Columbia River, &c., p. 146. 

 t Lewis and Clakk, Exped. &c., II, p. 136, 138, 141. 

 52 



