366 WILLAMETTE VALLEY. 



contact with the rocks. Many of the salmon in consequence die : these 

 the Indians are in the habit of drying for food, by hanging them on the 

 limbs of trees. This is to preserve them from the wolves, and to be 

 used in time of need, when they are devoured, though rotten and full 

 of maggots. The fish of the upper waters are said to be hardly edible, 

 and, compared with those caught at the mouth of the Columbia, are 

 totally different in flavour. The latter are the richest and most delicious 

 fish I ever recollect to have tasted : if any thing, they were too fat to 

 eat, and one can perceive a difference even in those taken at the 

 Willamette Falls, which, however, are the best kind for salting. There 

 are four different kinds of salmon, which frequent this river in different 

 months : the latest appears in October, and is the only kind that 

 frequents the Cowlitz river. The finest sort is a dark silvery fish, of 

 large size, three or four feet long, and weighing forty or fifty pounds. 



There is one point which seems to be still in doubt, namely, where 

 the spawn of this fish is deposited. It is asserted, and generally 

 believed, that none of the old fish ever return to the sea again. It has 

 not been ascertained whether the young fry go to the ocean ; and, if 

 they do so, whether as spawn or young fish. Some light will be thrown 

 on this subject in the Ichthyological Report. 



Mr. Drayton, during the time he remained at the falls, procured a 

 beautiful specimen of a small-sized sucker, which the Indians caught 

 in their nets, and of which he made a drawing. The lamprey eels were 

 also a source of curiosity : they seemed to increase in numbers, crawl- 

 ing up by suction an inch at a time. At these eels the boy who 

 accompanied Mr. Drayton took pleasure in throwing stones, which 

 excited the wrath of the Indians, as they said they should catch no 

 more fish if he continued his spurt. They have many superstitions 

 connected with the salmon, and numerous practices growing out of 

 these are religiously observed : thus, if any one dies in their lodges 

 during the fishing season, they stop fishing for several days; if a horse 

 crosses the ford, they are sure no more fish will be taken. 



During the fishing season there are about seventy Indians, of both 

 sexes, who tarry at the falls, although the actual residents are not, 

 according to Mr. Waller, beyond fifteen. They dwell in lodges, which 

 resemble those described heretofore, and are built of planks split from 

 the pine trees. These are set up on end, forming one apartment, of 

 from thirty to forty feet long, by about twenty wide. The roof has 

 invariably a double pitch, and is made of cedar bark : the doorway is 

 small, and either round or rounded at the top. I have mentioned that 

 the outside is well stocked with fleas : it need scarcely be said what the 

 condition of the inside is. 



These Indians are to be seen lounging about or asleep in the day- 



