THE INTERIOR OF OREGON. 457 



a grave three feet deep, which is surrounded and covered with stones 

 and sticks, to prevent the wolves getting at it. 



Widows are not allowed to change their dress for a whole year. 



The men may take and put away their wives at pleasure, and both 

 parties may marry again. The greatest requisite sought for in a wife 

 is her capability of providing food. Polygamy was and is still prac- 

 tised. Where this is the case, or where many families reside in the 

 same lodge, each family or wife has a separate fire. In marriages, 

 permission is first asked of the chief, then the consent of the parents 

 is sought for, and afterw r ards that of the intended. If she object, it is 

 conclusive; if acceptance takes place, the groom gives from one to five 

 horses to the bride's parents, they have a pow-wow, and the marriage 

 is concluded. They are often espoused in infancy, but it is not con- 

 sidered as binding on either side. The squaws sometimes make pro- 

 posals to the men. In other cases, young girls are contracted for, 

 and the price paid down, some years in advance of the marriageable 

 age. 



The missionaries had, as I understood, adopted the following rule 

 in relation to these connexions : all who already had wives were 

 required to maintain them, but no new ones were to be taken. In 

 consequence of this regulation, there have been no new instances of 

 polygamy. 



The number of Indians that are supposed to speak dialects of the 

 Flathead language, is thought by the missionaries to be about five 

 thousand. Their weapons have been bows and arrows, which they 

 still use for small game : the arrows have iron points, but they use 

 guns in preference for killing the larger animals. 



On the 21st of June, at 3 p. m., the party left the mission, being ac- 

 companied on their way several miles by Mr. and Mrs. Walker. After 

 riding ten miles in a southerly direction, they reached the Spokane 

 river, and found it but one hundred feet wide, with a current of three 

 and a half miles an hour. They swam their horses across, and passed 

 over themselves and luggage in a canoe, which is always left at this 

 point, to ferry persons over. 



The formation of the country was now lava or trap, of which rock 

 the latitude of 48° N. seems to be the limit, after which it gives place 

 to granite. This was found to be the case also in the Straits of Fuca, 

 where the same parallel is the dividing line of the two rocks; and, as 

 far as our opportunities and information went, there seems to be but 

 little doubt that this line extends from the sea-coast to the Rocky 

 Mountains. We may, therefore, confidently state, that the whole 

 portion of the Oregon Territory to the south of the Spokane, is of 



vol. iv. 20 58 



