430 
INDIAN TRIBES OF WASHINGTON TERRITORY. 
lation, was made by their chiefs in January, and, comprehending all who belonged to them, 
whether present or not, gave a population of only 375 all told. The total number will not 
probably exceed S00. That they have been more numerous is unquestionable, and one of the 
chiefs informed me that they once had one hundred and forty canoes, of eighteen to the larger 
and fourteen to the smaller size ; which, supposing the number of each kind to be equal, gives a 
total of 2,240 men. 
One cause of the over-estimate so frequently made of Indians, is their habit of moving about, 
gathering in bodies—one day at one place, and at another the next; thus leaving the impression 
of great numbers in each. Many of the Clallams of Vancouver’s island, too, visit the American 
side of the Straits, and swell the apparent population. The total of all the tribes in this part of 
the Territory has, however, been placed rather under than over the mark, for many of them live 
altogether off the Sound, and have not come in contact with the whites. 
The head chief of all the Clallams was Lach-ka-nam, or Lord Nelson, who is still living, but 
has abdicated in favor of his son, S’Hai-ak, or King George—a very different personage, by the 
way, from the chief of the same name east of the mountains. Most of the principal men of 
the tribe have received names either from the English or the “Bostons;” and the genealogical 
tree of the royal family presents as miscellaneous an assemblage of characters as a masked 
ball in carnival. Thus, two of King George’s brothers are the Duke of York and General Gaines. 
His cousin is Tom. Benton; and his sons, by Queen Victoria, are General Jackson and Thomas 
Jefferson. The queen is daughter to the Duke of Clarence, and sister to Generals Scott and 
Taylor; as also to Mary Ella Coffin, the wife of John C. Calhoun. The Duke of York’s wife is 
Jenny Lind; a brother of the Duke of Clarence is John Adams; and Calhoun’s sons are James 
K. Polk, General Lane, and Patrick Henry. King George’s sister is the daughter of the late 
Flattery Jack. All of them have papers certifying to these and various other items of informa¬ 
tion, which they exhibit with great satisfaction. They make shocking work, however, in the 
pronunciation of their names ; the rs and fs being shibboleths which they cannot utter. 
It is a melancholy fact that the Clallam representatives of these distinguished personages are 
generally as drunken and worthless a set of rascals as could be collected. The Clallam tribe has 
always bad a bad character, which their intercourse with shipping, and the introduction of 
whiskey, have by no means improved. 
The houses of the chiefs at Port Townsend, where they frequently gather, are of the better 
class—quite spacious and tolerably clean. Two or three are not less than thirty feet long by 
sixteen or eighteen wide, built of heavy planks, supported on large posts and cross-beams, and 
lined with mats. The planks forming the roof run the whole length of the building, being 
guttered to carry off the water, and sloping slightly to one end. Low platforms are carried 
round the interior, on which are laid mats, serving for beds and seats. Piles of very neatly- 
made baskets are stored away in corners, containing their provisions. There are from two to 
four fires in each house belonging to the head of the family, and such of his sons as live with 
him. They have an abundance of salmon, shell-fish, and potatoes, and seem to be very well off. 
In fact, any of the tribes living upon the Sound must be worthless indeed not to find food in the 
inexhaustible supplies of fish, clams, and water-fowl, of which they have one or the other at 
all times. They have a good deal of money among them, arising from the sale of potatoes and 
fish, letting out their women, and jobbing for the whites. 
The Clallams, and in fact all the other Sound Indians, flatten their heads. Their canoes are 
of different models; the common one being that known as the Chinook canoe, the most graceful 
of all; some of which are of large size and great beauty. They have, besides, one called the 
Queen Charlotte’s Island canoe, which, in a heavy sea, is preferable to the first as less liable 
to be boarded astern. The canoe used for duck-shooting is very pretty, and exceedingly well 
adapted for the purpose. It sits low on the water, and an Indian seated in it, and gliding 
noiselessly along beneath the shadows of the trees, or lying beside some projecting log, would 
