THE CHINOOK INDIANS. 23 



they place paddles, spears, bows and arrows, and food, with every- 

 thing else which they consider necessary for a very long journey. I 

 have even found beads, Ioquas shells, brass buttons, and small coins 

 in the mouths of the skeletons. The canoe is then taken to the bur 

 ial 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 appearance 

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

 of the tribe. To these they tow the canoe, which is then either fas- 

 tened up in a tree or supported on a sort of frame four or five feet 

 from the ground made of strong cedar boards, and holes bored in the 

 bottom of the canoe to let the water run out ; it is then covered 

 with a large piece of bark to protect it from the rain. Before 

 leaving, the usefulness of every article left with the corpse is de- 

 stroyed, by 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 desecrating 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 email risk 

 not only in getting it, but in having it in my possession afterwards. 

 Even the voyageurs would have refused to travel with me had they 

 known that I had it among my collections, not only on account of the 

 superstitous dread in which they hold these 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 Vancouver, Mr. Douglass, 

 who was then in charge, heard from his office in the Fort the report 

 of a gun inside the gates ; this being a breach of discipline 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, Casenov himself standing by. On Mr. Douglass arriving 

 at the spot, he was told by Casenov, with an 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. 



