14 THE CHINOOK INDIANS. 



carried the operation must be attended with great suffering to the 

 infant, but I never heard the infants crying or moaning, although 

 I have seen their eyes seemingly starting out of the sockets from 

 the great pressure. But on the contrary, when the bandages were 

 removed I have noticed them cry until they were replaced. 



From the apparent dullness of the children whilst under the pres- 

 sure I should imagine that a state of torpor or insensibility is induced, 

 and that a return to consciousness occasioned by its removal must be 

 naturally followed by the sense of pain. 



This unnatural operation does not however seem to injure the health, 

 the mortality amongst the Flat-Head children not being perceptibly 

 greater than amongst other Indian tribes. Nor does it seem to injure 

 their intellect ; on the contrary, the Flat-Heads are generally con- 

 sidered fully as intelligent as the surrounding tribes who allow their 

 heads to preserve their natural shape; and it is from amongst the 

 round-heads that the Flat-Heads take their slaves. They look with 

 contempt even upon the whites for having round-heads, the flat-head 

 being considered as the distinguishing mark of freedom. I may here 

 remark, that, amongst the tribes who have slaves there is always 

 something which conspicuously marks the difference between the 

 slave and the free, such as the Chimseyan, who wear a ring in the 

 nose, and the Babbenes who have a large piece of wood inserted 

 through the under lip. The Chinooks, like all other Indian tribes, 

 pluck out the beard on its first appearance. 



I would give a specimen of the barbarous language of these people, 

 were it not impossible to represent by any combination of the letters 

 of our alphabet the horribly harsh, gasping, spluttering sounds which 

 proceed from their throats, apparently unguided either by the tongue 

 or lips. It is so difficult to acquire a mastery of their language that 

 none have been able to attain it unless those who have been born 

 amongst them. They have, however, by their intercourse with the 

 English and French traders succeeded in amalgamating, after a 

 fashion, some words of each of these tongues with their own, and have 

 formed a sort of Patois, barbarous enough certainly, but still sufficient 

 to enable them to communicate with the traders. 



This Patois I succeeded, after some short time, in acquiring, and 

 could converse with most of the chiefs with tolerable ease. Their 

 common salutation is Glah hoh ah yah, originating, as I believe in 

 their having heard in the early days of the fur trade a gentleman 

 named Clark frequently addressed by his friends, " Clark, how are 

 you ?" This salutation is now applied to every white man, their own 



