28 THE CHINOOK INDIANS. 



finished he held up the tobacco and said it was a small piece to risk 

 his life for. I asked another Indian while he was sitting in his lodge 

 surrounded by his eight wives, for the same favor, but the ladies all 

 commenced violently jabbering at me until I was glad to get off: he 

 apparently was much gratified at the interest which his wives took in 

 his welfare. I however met him alone some short time afterwards 

 and got him to consent, with my usual bribe, a piece of tobacco. I 

 could relate numerous instances of this superstitious dread of por- 

 trait painting, but the foregoing sufficiently illustrates the general 

 feeling on the subject. 



I shall conclude this paper by relating a legend told me by an old 

 Indian while paddling in a canoe past an isolated rock on the shores 

 of the Pacific, as it gives an idea of the general character of the le- 

 gends on the coast, which are however very few, and generally told in 

 an unconnected and confused manner. The rock with which the 

 following Indian legend is associated, rises to a height of between six 

 and seven feet above the water, and measures little more than four 

 feet in circumference. I could not observe any very special peculiar- 

 ity in the formation of this rock while paddling past it in a canoe ; 

 and, at least from the points of observation presented to my eye, no 

 resemblance to the human figure — such as the conclusion of the le- 

 gend might lead us to anticipate,— appeared to be traceable. Stand- 

 ing, however, as this rock does, entirely isolated, and without any 

 other visible for miles around, it has naturally become an ob- 

 ject of special note to the Indians, and is not uncalculated, from its 

 solitary position, to be made the scene of some of the fanciful crea- 

 tions of their superstitous credulity. 



" It is many moons since a Nasquawley family lived near this spot. 

 It consisted of a widow with four sons ; one of them was by her first 

 husband, the other three by her second. The three younger sons 

 treated their elder bi-other with great unkindness, refusing him any 

 share of the produce of their hunting and fishing ; he, on the con- 

 trary, wishing to conciliate them, always gave them a share of his 

 spoils. He in fact was a great medicine man, although this was 

 unknown to them, and being tired of their harsh treatment, which 

 no kindness on his part seemed to soften, he at length resolved to 

 retaliate. He accordingly one day entered the lodge where they 

 were feasting and told them that there was a large seal a short dis- 

 tance off. They instantly seized their spears and started in the direc- 

 tion he pointed out, and coming up to the animal the eldest drove his 

 spear into it. This seal was ' a great medicine, ' a familiar of the 



