23 
or greater skill to acquire and utilize whatever suited their needs from the 
sundry goods, tools, or crafts of the white man. They were naturally 
gifted with a sense of inventiveness and with manual dexterity, as may be 
seen in the activities of their craftsmen to the present day. These traits 
were often noted by visitors at various times. A few excerpts will make 
this evident. 
Dixon (1790-1792) thus speaks of a North West Coast chief 
“One of the Chiefs who came to trade with us, happening one day to cast his eyes on 
a piece of Sandwich Island cloth, which hung up in the shrouds to dry, became very impor- 
tunate to have it given him. The man to whom the cloth belonged,” [he continues], 
“parted with it very willingly, and the Indian was perfectly overjoyed with his present. 
Alter selling what furs he had brought, with great dispatch, he immediately left us, and 
paddled on shore, without favouring us with a parting song, as is generally the custom. 
Soon after daylight the next morning, our friend appeared alongside dressed in a coat 
made of the Sandwich Island cloth given him the day before, and cut exactly in the form 
of their skin coats, which greatly resemble a wagoner’s frock, except the collar and wrist- 
bands. The Indian was more proud of his newly-acquired dress than ever London beau 
was of a birthday suit; and we were greatly pleased with this proof of these people’s 
ingenuity and dispatch; the coat fitted exceedingly well; the seams were sewed with all 
the strength the cloth would admit of, and with a degree of neatness equal to that of an 
English mantua-maker.” 
Native costume had so entirely given way to European clothes when 
Marchand visited the coast, ^ in 1790 and the following years, that he was 
moved to say,® 
“It is not known what was, previous to their Intercourse with Europeans, the primitive 
dress, the peculiar costume of these islanders; the English who had a communication with 
them before w'e knew them, have not thought fit to give us a description of it: we see only 
that these Americans have substituted for the fur cloaks, in which they at this day trade, 
and with which, no doubt, they formerly covered themselves, the jackets, great coats, 
trousers, and other garments in use in our countries; some even wear a hat, stockings, 
and shoes; and those who were clothed completely in the European fashion would not 
appear in the midst of our cities, either as savages, or even foreigners. 
As they have a spirit of imitation, we may presume that it will not be long before they 
improve among them the art of rigging and working their little vessels. 
At a little distance from its mouth, on the south shore, is a cove, where they stopped : 
there, was situated the habitation which the thickness of the wood concealed from view. 
On the shouts given by the men belonging to the canoe, several Americans ran out; and 
the former jumped on shore, making signs that they would soon return. In fact, they 
did not keep their new friends waiting; but, what was the surprise of the French, when 
they saw all these Americans come back dressed in the English fashion: cloth jacket, petti- 
coat trousers, round hat; they might have been taken for Thames watermen: but as for 
furs, they had none; nor had they anything to offer but a few fishes.” 
Even before the Russians and the Europeans had any perceptible 
influence on the natives, it is quite possible that iron and foreign objects 
were casually obtained frona the Japanese junks that for several centuries 
are known to have been wrecked and salvaged on the North West Coast. ^ 
Several junks, with Japanese fishermen aboard still alive, were cast ashore 
on the coast within historical times, and survivors were kept as slaves 
by the natives. One of them, a blacksmith in the service of a chief, was 
"As quoted by Marchand. See Appendiz, No. 8. 
Un 1790, 1791, and 1792. 
^Appendix, No. 6. 
*See W. D. Lyman’s The Columbia River, pp. 35, 36, 37. 
