INDIAN TRIBES OF WASHINGTON TERRITORY. 
429 
seems desperate. They are all intemperate, and can get liquor whenever they choose. They 
are, besides, diseased beyond remedy, syphilis being with them hereditary as well as acquired. 
The speedy extinction of the race seems rather to be hoped for than regretted, and they look 
forward to it themselves with a sort of indifference. The duty of the government, however* 
is not affected by their vices, for these they owe, in a great measure, to our own citizens. Ii 
can do nothing else, it can at least aid in supporting them while they survive. They live almost 
altogether among the whites, or in their immediate neighborhood, taking and selling salmon, 
or doing occasional work, and for the rest letting out their women as prostitutes. No essential 
advantage would, it is feared, be obtained by removing them to any one location, for they would 
not long remain away from their old haunts, and probably the assignment of a few acres of 
ground for their villages and cemeteries, and the right of fishing at customary points, would effect 
all that could be done. Still, if they should manifest such a wish, the experiment might be tried 
of settliug each tribe in one village at some place not yet occupied, and constituting it a reserve. 
This, except during the salmon season, might remove them somewhat farther from temptation. 
The tribes that inhabit the region bordering on Puget sound and the Straits of Fuca alone 
remain; and in speaking of them, it will be most convenient to commence with the Straits, and 
following up Hood’s canal to the inlets at the head of the Sound, thence return northward 
by the eastern shore and the islands, to the boundary line of the British provinces. 
The Makahs, or Classets, inhabit the coast in the neighborhood of Cape Flattery, their country 
extending but a short distance up the Straits, where it adjoins that of the Clallams. Their 
language is said to extend down the coast about half way to Gray’s harbor. This tribe, which 
has been the most formidable to navigators of any in the American territories on the Pacific, num¬ 
bered, it is believed, until very recently, five hundred and fifty. 
During the last year the smallpox found its way to their region, and, it is reported, reduced 
them to one hundred and fifty, their famous chief, Flattery Jack, being among the number who 
died. The Makahs resemble the northwestern Indians far more than their neighbors. They 
venture well out to sea in their canoes, and even attack and kill the whale, using for this harpoons 
pointed with shell, and attached by a sinew line to seal-skin floats. It is said that the year 
previous to the sickness, they took 30,000 gallons of oil. This was purchased chiefly by vessels. 
They also take a number of sea otter—the skins of which are sold at Victoria—and raise a good 
many potatoes. 
Among their articles of manufacture are blankets and capes, made of the inner bark of the 
cedar, and edged with fur. Their houses are of considerable size, often fifty to a hundred feet 
in length, and strongly built. They sometimes place their dead in trees, at others bury them. 
Their marriages are said to have some peculiar ceremonies, such as going through the perform¬ 
ance of taking the whale, manning a canoe, and throwing the harpoon into the bride’s house. 
The superior courage of the Makahs, as well as their treachery, will make them more difficult 
of management than most other tribes of this region. No whites are at present settled in their 
country; but as the occupation of the Territory progresses, some pretty stringent measures will 
probably be required respecting them. 
Next to the Makahs are the Clallams, or, as they call themselves, S’Klallams, the most for¬ 
midable tribe now remaining. Their country stretches along the whole southern shore of the 
Straits to between Port Discovery and Port Townsend; besides which, they have occupied the 
latter place, properly belonging to the Chimakum. They have eight villages, viz : Commencing 
nearest the Makahs, Qkeno, or Ocha, which is a sort of alsatia or neutral ground for the runaways 
of both tribes; Pishtst, on Clallam bay; Elkwah, at the mouth of the river of that name ; Tse- 
whit-zen, or False Dungeness; Tinnis, or Dungeness ; St-queen, Squim bay, or Washington 
harbor; Squa-que-hl, Port Discovery; and Kahtai, Port Townsend. Their numbers have been 
variously estimated, and, as usual, exaggerated ; some persons rating them as high as 1,500 
fighting men. An actual count of the last three, which were supposed to contain half the popu- 
