NISQUALLY AND COLUMBIA RIVER. 325 



men to leave the place : they seemed at the instant, desirous to wreak 

 vengeance upon him for his intrusion. His retreat was precipitate, 

 as he well knew the consequences of delay and the danger of disturb- 

 ing the medicine-man during his incantations. If the patient should 

 die, they invariably impute the fatal result to the disturbance, and 

 ascribe the death to the intruder. This invariably leads to his being 

 put to death, by the nearest of kin, who deems this act a duty. Plumon- 

 don said, that he was not at all surprised at the fear the young chief 

 showed ; for he had himself been placed in similar circumstances a 

 short time before, when his father had died. The medicine-man im- 

 puted his death to a chief of the Klackatacks, whom this young chief 

 shortly afterwards killed. Occurrences of this description have led to 

 long and bloody wars among the tribes ; and the only way of settling 

 and overcoming this difficulty, is by paying a valuation for the de- 

 ceased. I understood that from five to twenty blankets, according to 

 rank, and the estimation in which the deceased was held, is considered 

 a proper indemnity. 



We encamped a few miles above Oak Point, on the prairie, in a 

 grove of trees. The next morning was beautiful, and the birds w r ere 

 singing blithely around us. Our Indians were as merry as the birds. 

 There was an entire absence of game birds, though a great number of 

 singing ones were seen. 



We passed during the day Coffin Rock, which is about seven miles 

 above the Mount Coffin before spoken of. It is of small dimensions, 

 and has been the burial-place of chiefs, who are usually interred in 

 canoes, which are provided with all the necessary appendages for their 

 journey to the land of spirits and their hunting-grounds. The mode 

 of disposing of their dead seems to have been different on the south 

 side of the Columbia. On the Cowlitz we observed many canoes near 

 the bank of the river, supported between four trees : these contain the 

 remains of their dead, are painted in a variety of figures, and have 

 gifts from their friends hung around them. I was told that this is not 

 only done at the time of their burial, but frequently for several months 

 after. All the sepulchres of this description that I saw were going to 

 decay. 



All the Indians have a great regard for these places of interment, 

 and consider them as being sacred. 



Shortly after we passed this point, we met a canoe, and one of our 

 Indians was informed that his child was dead. We made a stop soon 

 after, and I observed that the man scarified himself on the leg in several 

 places, until he bled profusely; this done, he lighted his pipe, and 

 seemed to smoke for consolation. He kept himself for that evening 



2C 



