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

Tolmie , in Lord's Nat. , vol. ii., p. 248; Gass' Jour. , pp. 232, 275; Dunn's Oregon , pp. 123-8; Kane's Wand. , pp. 205, 255-6; Swan's N. W. Coast , p. 267; Schoolcraft's Arch. , vol. v., p. 654.

Doctors, if unsuccessful, are sometimes subjected to rough treatment, but rarely killed, except when they have previously threatened the life of the patient. Swan's N. W. Coast , pp. 176-185. At the Dalles an old woman, whose incantations had caused a fatal sickness, was beheaded by a brother of the deceased. Ind. Life , pp. 173-4, 142-3. Whole tribes have been almost exterminated by the small-pox. Stevens , in Pac. R. R. Rept. , vol. i., pp. 82, 179. Venereal disease prevalent, and a complete cure is never effected. Lewis and Clarke's Trav. , pp. 440, 508. Generally succeed in curing venereal disease even in its worst stage. Ross' Adven. , pp. 96-9. The unsuccessful doctor killed, unless able to buy his life. Wilkes' Nar. , in U. S. Ex. Ex. , vol. iv., p. 394. Flatheads more subject to apoplexy than others. Domenech's Deserts , vol. i., p. 87; Cox's Adven. , vol. i., p. 126-7, 307, 312-15, 335, vol. ii., pp. 94-5; Townsend's Nar. , pp. 158, 178-9; Franchère's Nar. , p. 250; Dunn's Oregon , pp. 115-9, 127; Thornton's Ogn. and Cal. , vol. ii., p. 53; Parker's Explor. Tour , pp. 176, 191-2; Fitzgerald's Hud. B. Co. , pp. 171-2; Strickland's Hist. Missions , pp. 139-40.

A chief on the death of his daughter 'had an Indian slave bound hand and foot, and fastened to the body of the deceased, and enclosed the two in another mat, leaving out the head of the living one. The Indian then took the canoe and carried it to a high rock and left it there. Their custom is to let the slave live for three days; then another slave is compelled to strangle the victim by a cord.' Letter , in Schoolcraft's Arch. , vol. ii., p. 71. See also vol. iii., pp. 217-18; vol. vi., pp. 616-23, with plate; vol. v., p. 655. 'The emblem of a squaw's grave is generally a camass-root digger, made of a deer's horns, and fastened on the end of a stick.' Wilkes' Nar. , in U. S. Ex. Ex. , vol. v., pp. 233-4, vol. iv., p. 394. 'I believe I saw as many as an hundred canoes at one burying place of the Chinooks.' Gass' Jour. , p. 274. 'Four stakes, interlaced with twigs and covered with brush,' filled with dead bodies. Abbott , in Pac. R. R. Rept. , vol. vi., p. 88. At Coos Bay, 'formerly the body was burned, and the wife of the corpse killed and interred.' Now the body is sprinkled with sand and ashes, the ankles are bent up and fastened to the neck; relatives shave their heads and put the hair on the body with shells and roots, and the corpse is then buried and trampled on by the whole tribe. Wells , in Harper's Mag. , vol. xiii., p. 602. 'The canoe-coffins were decorated with rude carved work.' Vancouver's Voy. , vol. ii., p. 54. Strangers are paid to join in the lamentations. Ross' Adven. , p. 97. Children who die during the head-flattening process are set afloat in their cradles upon the surface of some sacred pool, where the bodies of the old are also placed in their canoes. Catlin's N. Am. Ind. , vol. ii., p. 111. On burial and mourning see also, Swan's N. W. Coast , pp. 72-3, 13, 186-9, with cut of canoe on platform. Mofras' Explor. , vol. ii., p. 355, and pl. 18 of Atlas ; Lewis and Clarke's Trav. , pp. 423, 429, 509; Kane's Wand. , pp. 176-8, 181, 202-5; Cox's Adven. , vol. i., pp. 124-5, 335-6, vol. ii., p. 157; Parker's Explor. Tour , pp. 144, 151-2; Thornton's Ogn. and Cal. , vol. i., pp. 281-2, vol. ii., p. 53; Belcher's Voy. , vol. i., p. 292; Domenech's Deserts , vol. i., p. 255; Dunn's Oregon , pp. 119-20, 131-2; Nicolay's Ogn. Ter. , pp. 149-50; Fremont's Ogn. and Cal. , p. 186; Irving's Astoria , p. 99; Franchère's Nar. , p. 106; Palmer's Jour. , p. 87; Ind. Life , p. 210; Townsend's Nar. , p. 180.

'The clumsy thief, who is detected, is scoffed at and despised.' Dunn's Oregon , pp. 130-1, 114. 'The Kalapuya, like the Umkwa, … are more regular and quiet' than the inland tribes, 'and more cleanly, honest and moral than the' coast tribes. The Chinooks are a quarrelsome, thievish, and treacherous people. Hale's Ethnog. , in U. S. Ex. Ex. , vol. vi., pp. 217, 215, 198, 204. 'A rascally, thieving set.' Gass' Jour. , p. 304. 'When well treated, kind and hospitable.' Swan's N. W. Coast , pp. 215, 110, 152. At Cape Orford 'pleasing and courteous deportment … scrupulously honest.' Vancouver's Voy. , vol. i., pp. 204-5. Laziness is probably induced by the ease with which they obtain food. Kane's Wand. , pp. 181, 185. 'Crafty and intriguing.' Easily irritated, but a trifle will appease him. Ross' Fur Hunters , vol. i., p. 61, 70-1, 77, 88, 90-1, 124-5, 235-6. 'They possess in an eminent degree, the qualities opposed to indolence, improvidence, and stupidity: the chiefs above all, are distinguished for their good sense and intelligence. Generally speaking, they have a ready intellect and a tenacious memory.' 'Rarely resist the temptation of stealing' white men's goods. Franchère's Nar. , pp. 241-2, 261. Loquacious, never gay, knavish, impertinent. Lewis and Clarke's Trav. , pp. 416, 441-2, 504, 523-4. 'Thorough-bred hypocrites and liars.' 'The Killymucks the most roguish.' Industry, patience, sobriety and ingenuity are their chief virtues; thieving, lying, incontinence, gambling and cruelty may be classed among their vices. Cox's Adven. , vol. i., pp. 115, 131, 296-7, 302, 304-5, 321, vol. ii., p. 133. At Wishiam 'they were a community of arrant rogues and freebooters.' Irving's Astoria , pp. 322, 342. 'Lying is very common; thieving comparatively rare.' White's Ogn. , p. 207. 'Do not appear to possess a particle of natural good feeling.' Townsend's Nar. , p. 183. At Coos Bay 'by no means the fierce and warlike race found further to the northward.' Wells , in Harper's Mag. , vol. xiii., p. 601. Umqua and Coose tribes are naturally industrious; the Suislaws the most advanced; the Alcea not so enterprising. Sykes , in Ind. Aff. Rept. , 1860, p. 215. Calapooias, a poor, cowardly, and thievish race. Miller , in Id. , 1857, p. 364; Nicolay's Ogn. Ter. , p. 151; Domenech's Deserts , vol. i., p. 87, vol. ii., pp. 16, 36; Warre and Vavasour , in Martin's Hud. B. , p. 83; Palmer's Jour. , pp. 84, 105; Parker's Explor. Tour , pp. 249-50; Ind. Life , pp. 1-4, 210; Fitzgerald's Vanc. Isl. , p. 196; Schoolcraft's Arch. , vol. iii., p. 207, etc.

'They all resemble each other in general characteristics.' Parker's Explor. Tour , p. 229. Shushwaps and Salish all one race. Mayne's B. C. , p. 296-7. 'The Indians of the interior are, both physically and morally, vastly superior to the tribes of the coast.' Id. , p. 242. 'The Kliketat near Mount Rainier, the Walla-Wallas, and the Okanagan … speak kindred dialects.' Ludewig , Ab. Lang. , p. 170. The best-supported opinion is that the inland were of the same original stock with the lower tribes. Dunn's Oregon , p. 316. 'On leaving the verge of the Carrier country, near Alexandria, a marked change is at once perceptible.' Anderson , in Hist. Mag. , vol. vii., p. 77. Inland tribes differ widely from the piscatorial tribes. Ross' Adven. , p. 127. 'Those residing near the Rocky Mountains … are and always have been superior races to those living on the lower Columbia.' Alvord , in Schoolcraft's Arch. , vol. v., p. 654. 'I was particularly struck with their vast superiority (on the Similkameen River, Lat. 49° 30´, Long. 120° 30´) in point of intelligence and energy to the Fish Indians on the Fraser River, and in its neighbourhood.' Palmer , in B. C. Papers , vol. iii., p. 84. Striking contrast noted in passing up the Columbia. Hale's Ethnog. , in U. S. Ex. Ex. , vol. vi., p. 199.