COLUMBIA RIVER. 125 



converse with it, and talk to themselves in a low, monotonous tone of 

 voice. 



Ikaui is the name of their most powerful god : to him they ascribe 

 the creation of all things. A mountain is called after him, from its 

 being supposed that he was there turned into stone, and they point 

 out the principal rock, which rises in a pyramidal shape, as his 

 statue. 



They believe that their departed friends and relatives have a 

 knowledge of what is going on among the living; and they, in 

 consequence, will not eat in sight of the dead, nor laugh, for fear 

 their mouths will be turned askew. With the dead, they bury, as in 

 other parts of Oregon, their guns, knives, pots, and kettles ; and I was 

 informed that these articles would not be stolen when thus deposited. 

 I presume, however, that such is not the fact, for I observed that these 

 things had always been previously rendered useless, by either being 

 burnt, or having holes punched through them, in order to take away 

 the temptation to theft. Formerly, slaves were not unfrequently killed 

 at a chief's funeral, in order to bury them with their masters. They 

 speak of the dead walking at night, when they are supposed to awake, 

 and get up to search for food. They have many superstitions, that 

 have been already noticed, of which that relating to the salmon is the 

 most singular, and the most strictly adhered to. 



The god who made the Columbia river, and all the fish in it, they 

 call Italupus. He taught their ancestors how to procure fire, make 

 nets, and catch fish. The first salmon caught are all tabooed, and 

 they dare not sell them ; they must all be cut up and cooked the day 

 they are caught. A dog must never be permitted to eat the heart of 

 a salmon ; and in order to prevent this, they cut the heart of the fish 

 out before they sell it. 



Italupus is supposed to nourish the salmon, and cause them to be 

 abundant during the whole summer, that they may lay up their store 

 of it for the winter. 



Having completed all the arrangements, and the weather becoming 

 fine, on the 16th we resumed our duties in the survey, which was 

 now carried on with spirit. The stations being established, and the 

 triangulation completed, the tender, with two boats, was left to sound 

 out the bay, while the remaining part of the force was moved up the 

 river, to continue the surveys, in company with the Porpoise and 

 Oregon; for I now found it necessary that both vessels should proceed 

 up to Vancouver. This was not only to insure a more thorough outfit 



vol. v. 32 



