20 THE CHINOOK INDIANS. 



low is cut, with a channel for the ignited charcoal to run over ; this 

 piece the Indian sits on, to hold it steady, while he rapidly twirls a 

 round stick of the same wood between the palms of his hands with 

 the point pressed into the hollow of the flat piece. In a very short 

 time sparks begin to fall through the channel upon finely frayed cedar 

 bark placed underneath, which they soon ignite. There is a great 

 deal of knack in doing this, but those who are used to it will light a 

 fire in a very short time. The men usually carry these sticks about 

 with them, as after they have been once used they produce the fire 

 quicker. 



The only warlike implements I have seen amongst the Chinooks 

 were bows and arrows. The bows are made from the Yew tree, and 

 the arrows are feathered and pointed with sharp bone. These they 

 use with great precision. 



Their canoes are hollowed out of the cedar, and some of them are 

 very large, as this tree grows to an immense size in the neighbourhood. 

 They make them exceedingly light, and from their formation they are 

 capable of withstanding very heavy seas. 



Slavery is carried on to a great extent along the North- West coast 

 and in Vancouver's Island 5 and the Chinooks, considering how much 

 they themselves have been reduced in numbers, still retain a large 

 number of slaves. These are usually procured from the Chastay tribe 

 who live near the Umqua, a river south of the Columbia emptying 

 into the Pacific. They are sometimes seized by war parties, but are 

 often bought from their own people. They do not flatten the head, 

 nor is the child of one of them (although by a Chinook father,) allowed 

 this distinguishing mark of freedom. Their slavery is of the most ab- 

 ject description : the Chinook men and women treat them with great 

 severity, and exercise the power of life and death at pleasure. An 

 instance of the manner in which the Chastay slaves are treated pre- 

 sented itself to my own observation one morning while I was out 

 sketching on Vancouver's Island. I saw upon the rocks the dead 

 body of a young woman whom I had seen a few days previously walk- 

 inff about in perfect health, thrown out to the vultures and crows. I 

 mentioned it to a gentleman of the Hudson's Bay Company, who ac- 

 companied me to the lodge she belonged to, where we found an Indian 

 woman, her mistress, who made light of her death, and who was no 

 doubt the cause of it. She said a slave had no right to burial. She 

 was furious on being told that the slave was as good as herself. " She, 

 the daughter of a chief, no better than a slave !" She then stalked 

 out of the lodge with great dignity ; the next morning she had taken 



