124 COLUMBIA RIVER. 



for the death of her husband had just expired. Her object was to 

 notify her friends that she was ready to receive the addresses of any 

 one who was in want of a wife. To give such notification was, as I 

 found on inquiry, a common custom among the Chinooks. 



The widow was of masculine make, and what we would call a 

 buxom dame. She was attended by seven others, of small stature in 

 comparison, who were her maids, and all evidently accompanied her 

 to do honour to the occasion. Every half hour they would arrange 

 themselves in a row, and the widow at their head, affecting a modest 

 downcast look, would commence a chaunt, informing the bystanders 

 that her period of mourning was out, that she had forgotten her 

 deceased husband, given her grief to the winds, and was now ready 

 to espouse another. This chaunt was accompanied by a small 

 movement of the feet and body, which, with the guttural song and 

 consequent excitement of such an exhibition, caused the fair ones to 

 wax so warm that the perspiration rolled down their painted cheeks ; 

 this, with the crimson flush, all tended to add brilliancy to their dark 

 eyes, as they were now and then cast around upon the multitude of 

 Indians, who seemed all admiration. I did not ascertain whether 

 the fair one succeeded in winning a second husband, but I am 

 satisfied that her exertions were such as ought to have obtained 

 her one. 



The Chinook and Kilamuke tribes entertain, as I was informed, 

 the idea of a future state, in their hunting-grounds, which, in their 

 language, they call Tamath. The road to them is supposed to be 

 difficult, and none but those who are of good character can go there, 

 by the road which is called O-tu-i-huti, a term by which they call 

 the Via Lactea. They have a strong belief that all their departed 

 relatives and friends have a guard over them, and prevent evil from 

 approaching them. Each Indian has his tamanuus, or spirit, which 

 is selected by him at a very early age, and is generally the first 

 object they see in going out to the woods, that has animal life. 

 Others create from their imagination one that has never met mortal 

 eyes. The choice of a spirit, however insignificant it may appear, 

 has a great influence on their after-life ; for, by its supposed com- 

 mands, they are directed to good or evil, as they conceive that a 

 nonconformity to its wishes would involve them in a multitude of 

 evils, for they suppose it is able to destroy health, or preserve it, or 

 inflict miseries without end. 



They at times, and particularly when in the water, pretend to hold 



