Hubert Bancroft - The Native Races [of the Pacific states], Volume 1, Wild Tribes

In the interior the 'men are tall, the women are of common stature, and both are well formed.' Parker's Explor. Tour , p. 229. 'Of middle height, slender.' Hale's Ethnog. , in U. S. Ex. Ex. , vol. vi., p. 199. The inland tribes of British Columbia, compared with those on the coast, 'are of a better cast, being generally of the middle height.' Id. , p. 198. See also p. 206. The Nez Percés and Cayuses 'are almost universally fine-looking, robust men.' In criticising the person of one of that tribe 'one was forcibly reminded of the Apollo Belvidere.' Townsend's Nar. , pp. 148, 98. The Klikatat 'stature is low, with light, sinewy limbs.' Id. , p. 178; also pp. 158-174. The Walla-Wallas are generally powerful men, at least six feet high, and the Cayuse are still 'stouter and more athletic.' Gairdner , in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour. , vol. xi., p. 256. The Umatillas 'may be a superior race to the "Snakes," but I doubt it.' Barnhart , in Ind. Aff. Rept. , 1862, p. 271. The Salish are 'rather below the average size, but are well knit, muscular, and good-looking.' Stevens , in Ind. Aff. Rept. , 1854, p. 208. 'Well made and active.' Dunn's Oregon , pp. 311, 327. 'Below the middle hight, with thick-set limbs.' Domenech's Deserts , vol. i., p. 88, vol. ii., pp. 55-6, 64-5. The Cootonais are above the medium height. Very few Shushwaps reach the height of five feet nine inches. Cox's Adven. , vol. ii., pp. 155, 376, vol. i., p. 240. See also on physique of the inland nations, Lewis and Clarke's Trav. , pp. 321, 340, 356, 359, 382, 527-8, 556-7; Wilkes' Nar. , in U. S. Ex. Ex. , vol. iv., p. 475; Dunn , in Cal. Farmer , April 26, 1861 ; San Francisco Herald , June, 1858 ; Stevens , in Pac. R. R. Rept. , vol. i., pp. 309, 414; Nicolay's Ogn. Ter. , p. 151; Lord's Nat. , vol. ii., pp. 105-6, and vol. i., frontispiece, cut of a group of Spokanes. De Smet , Voy. , pp. 30, 198; Palmer's Jour. , p. 54; Ross' Adven. , pp. 127, 294; Stuart's Montana , p. 82.

The interior tribes have 'long faces, and bold features, thin lips, wide cheek-bones, smooth skins, and the usual tawny complexion of the American tribes.' 'Features of a less exaggerated harshness' than the coast tribes. Hale's Ethnog. , in U. S. Ex. Ex. , vol. vi., p. 198-9. 'Hair and eyes are black, their cheek bones high, and very frequently they have aquiline noses.' 'They wear their hair long, part it upon their forehead, and let it hang in tresses on each side, or down behind.' Parker's Explor. Tour , p. 229. Complexion 'a little fairer than other Indians.' Id. The Okanagans are 'better featured and handsomer in their persons, though darker, than the Chinooks or other Indians along the sea-coast.' 'Teeth white as ivory, well set and regular.' The voices of Walla Wallas, Nez Percés, and Cayuses, are strong and masculine. Ross' Adven. , pp. 294, 127. The Flatheads (Nez Percés) are 'the whitest Indians I ever saw.' Gass' Jour. , p. 189. The Shushwap 'complexion is darker, and of a more muddy, coppery hue than that of the true Red Indian.' Milton and Cheadle's N. W. Pass. , p. 335. The Nez Perces darker than the Tushepaws. Dignified and pleasant features. Would have quite heavy beards if they shaved. Lewis and Clarke's Trav. , pp. 340, 356, 359, 527-8, 556-7, 321. The inland natives are an ugly race, with 'broad faces, low foreheads, and rough, coppery and tanned skins.' The Salish 'features are less regular, and their complexion darker' than the Sahaptins. Domenech's Deserts , vol. i., p. 88, vol. ii., pp. 55-6. Teeth of the river tribes worn down by sanded salmon. Anderson , in Lord's Nat. , vol. ii., p. 228; Kane's Wand. , p. 273. Nez Perces and Cayuses 'are almost universally fine looking, robust men, with strong aquiline features, and a much more cheerful cast of countenance than is usual amongst the race. Some of the women might almost be called beautiful, and none that I have seen are homely.' Some very handsome young girls among the Walla Wallas. The Kliketat features are 'regular, though often devoid of expression.' Townsend's Nar. , pp. 78, 148, 158, 178. Flatheads 'comparatively very fair in complexion, … with oval faces, and a mild, and playful expression of countenance.' Dunn's Oregon , p. 311. The Kayuls had long dark hair, and regular features. Coke's Rocky Mountains , p. 304. Cut and description of a Clickitat skull, in Morton's Crania , p. 214, pl. 48. 'The Flatheads are the ugliest, and most of their women are far from being beauties.' Stuart's Montana , p. 82.

'The Sahaptin and Wallawallas compress the head, but not so much as the tribes near the coast. It merely serves with them to make the forehead more retreating, which, with the aquiline nose common to these natives, gives to them occasionally, a physiognomy similar to that represented in the hieroglyphical paintings of Central America.' Hale's Ethnog. , in U. S. Ex. Ex. , vol. vi., pp. 214, 205. All the Shushwaps flatten the head more or less. Mayne's B. C. , p. 303. 'Il est à remarquer que les tribus établies au-dessus de la jonction de la branche sud de la Colombie, et désignées sous le nom de Têtes Plates, ont renoncé depuis longtemps à cet usage.' Mofras , Explor. , tom. ii., p. 349. 'A roundhead Klickatat woman would be a pariah.' Winthrop's Canoe and Saddle , p. 204. Nez Percés 'seldom known to flatten the head.' Catlin's N. Am. Ind. , vol. ii., p. 108. See Domenech's Deserts , vol. ii., pp. 55-6, 64-5; Tolmie , in Lord's Nat. , vol. ii., pp. 231-2, 249-51; Townsend's Nar. , p. 175; Kane's Wand. , p. 263; Ind. Aff. Rept. , 1854, pp. 207-8; Wilkes' Nar. , in U. S. Ex. Ex. , vol. iv., p. 415, with cut. Walla Wallas, Skyuse, and Nez Percés flatten the head and perforate the nose. Farnham's Trav. , p. 85; Lewis and Clarke's Trav. , pp. 374, 359; Gass' Jour. , p. 224.

Pickering's Races , in U. S. Ex. Ex. , vol. ix., pp. 38-9; Lewis and Clarke's Trav. , pp. 362, 382-3.

The Salish 'profuse in the use of paint.' Stevens , in Ind. Aff. Rept. , 1854, pp. 207-8, and in Pac. R. R. Rept. , vol. i., p. 309. Nez Percés painted in colored stripes. Hines' Voy. , p. 173. 'Four Indians (Nez Percés) streaked all over with white mud.' Kane's Wand. , p. 291. Walla Walla 'faces painted red.' The Okanagan 'young of both sexes always paint their faces with red and black bars.' Ross' Adven. , pp. 127, 294-8. The inland tribes 'appear to have less of the propensity to adorn themselves with painting, than the Indians east of the mountains, but not unfrequently vermilion mixed with red clay, is used not only upon their faces but upon their hair.' Parker's Explor. Tour , p. 229. Red clay for face paint, obtained at Vermilion Forks of the Similkameen River, in B. C. Palmer , in B. C. Papers , vol. iii., p. 84. Pend d'Oreille women rub the face every morning with a mixture of red and brown powder, which is made to stick by a coating of fish-oil. De Smet , Voy. , p. 198.

The Oakinack 'women wear their hair neatly clubbed on each side of the head behind the ears, and ornamented with double rows of the snowy higua, which are among the Oakinackens called Shet-la-cane; but they keep it shed or divided in front. The men's hair is queued or rolled up into a knot behind the head, and ornamented like that of the women; but in front it falls or hangs down loosely before the face, covering the forehead and the eyes, which causes them every now and then to shake the head, or use the hands to uncover their eyes.' Ross' Adven. , pp. 294-5. The head of the Nez Perces not ornamented. Lewis and Clarke's Trav. , pp. 341, 321, 351, 377, 528, 532-3; Coke's Rocky Mts. , p. 304; Kane's Wand. , p. 274.