THE CHINOUKS. 207 



the forehead is a straight line from the nose to the crown of the head."* They 

 are represented as a mild and peaceable people, who live in comparative happiness. 

 There is also near the sources of the Columbia river a tribe still called by the 

 name of Flatheads, who have long since abandoned the custom from which they 

 derived their present designation. Their true name is SalisJi^ and they are in no 

 way connected with the Columbia river tribes.f 



PLATE XLH. 



CHINOUK. 



This plate represents a Chinouk skull of the natural form : it was that of a 

 slave, and was obtained by Mr. J. K. Townsend during his late sojourn on the 

 Columbia river. " I have occasionally seen both Chinouks and Chickitats," says 

 Mr. Townsend, "with round or ordinary shaped heads, sickness having prevented 

 the usual distortion while young : but such individuals can never attain to any 

 influence, or rise to any dignity in their tribe, and are not unfrequently sold as 

 slaves. "J 



It has been thought by some philosophers, that were the artificial modification 

 of the cranium persisted in for several successive generations, it would at length 

 become congenital and perpetual. This hypothesis is proved to be wholly 

 gratuitous by the evidence derived from the American nations, among whom the 

 characteristic form of the skull is always preserved, unless art has directly 

 interfered to distort it. 



"^^ Lewis and Clark, Exped. II, p. 12. — Walknaer, Cosmog. p. 583; quoted in Humboldt's Pers. 

 Narr. VI, p. 32. 



t Townsend, Journey to the Columbia River, p. 175. — Ross Cox, Trav. &c., p 120 

 t Extract of Letter addressed to me from Fort Vancouver, Sept. 26, 1835. 



