24 



PHYSICAL HISTORY OF MAN. 



As the Vincennes proceeded to the head of navigation, I landed at 

 various points, and had other interviews with these maritime people. 

 One thing about them was very striking; the air of quietness that 

 attached to their residences, and all their movements. They appeared 

 to live as it were, on a good understanding with the birds and beasts, 

 or as if forming part and parcel of the surrounding animal creation : 

 a point in correspondence with an idea previously entertained, that 

 tlie Mongolian has peculiar qualifications for reclaiming, or reducing 

 animals to the domestic state. 



The want of personal cleanliness, usual with the North American 

 tribes, was sufficiently obvious. It is true, the lighter complexion 

 shows dirt more conspicuously than does that of the Polynesian ; and in 

 a chilly climate, it is not strange that sea-bathing should be avoided. 

 Veindovi, our Feejee captive, after getting over his astonishment at 

 the sight of so much land, imbibed a profound contempt for the Chi- 

 nooks : though on one occasion, he condescended to initiate some of 

 them into the art of using vermilion. 



On our return to the vicinity of Discovery Harbour, I was fortu- 

 nate enough to fall in with one of the permanent stockaded villages. 

 It was built in a concealed situation, on the bank of a small stream of 

 fresh water, that afforded access by canoe ; and it was not far from 

 the anchorage at Dungeness. It appeared to be the proper home of 

 all the natives we had seen within many miles; amounting, perhaps, 

 to as many as three hundred persons. 



In one of the houses I witnessed the remarkable treatment to which 

 the Chinook infants are subjected; being confined to a wooden re- 

 ceptacle, with a pad tightly bandaged over the forehead and eyes, 

 so that it is alike impossible for them to see or to move : and I further 

 remarked, that when the child is suspended according to usage, its 

 head is actually in a lower position than the feet. 



Some of the men had their faces blackened, and I thought at first 

 they were not pleased with my visit. However, I was conducted 

 freely about the village ; and afterwards to an enclosure, of about a 

 quarter of an acre planted with potatoes, in which they seemed to 

 take a deal of pride. The art of cultivation was recent in this quarter ; 

 it having been communicated, not without some pains on the part of 

 the Hudson Bay Company, through Catholic missionaries. 



On returning towards the ship, I observed a skull lying on the beach; 

 a circumstance that surprised me, as I was aware that these tribes 

 take much pains in the disposal of their dead. On pointing it out 



