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Show 54 RELIGIOUS OPINIONS, RITES, &C. clothes, ornaments, canoes, tools~ implements of war, &c.; of fruits, flowers, and numet·ous other inanimate things; and we are inclined to the belief that they extend this Spiritualization, to all orgDnized bodies. It is on account of this opinion, that they bury their dead in their canoes, with many of the articles which belonged to them, while living-such as arms, clothing, ornaments, &c.-and furnish them with a supply of food, which they suppose sufficient to last them to the Spirit Land. For the same reason, a horse, or a dog, is frequently butchered beside the grave of a bunter. The Spirits of nll of which things, according to their opinion, will be required for their comfort and subsistence, when they themselves hn\'e come to be disembodied Spirits. They are in many respects, very superstitious: One i!!stance of which is shown, in the removal of a large stone which lay in the way of some m~n who ';ere taking saw-logs into the River, a mile below Oregon Ctt~. The workmen were about to remove it, when they were forbidden by sume of the Indians, and told that it was once a man and if they removed it, the River would rise up to it. They, how~ ever, removed it; and it happened, that soon after the River rose highe1· t~an it had ever been known; which accident~l circumstance, was attnbuted by them to the removal of the stone, and of course, stre~g.thened t~eir superstition. They have what they term MediCme-men, 10 whom they place great confidence, and suppose that.they possess the power, by means of charms, to counteract the mflucnce ~f evil.Spirits, and to drive them away. They are cr::.lled to .exerr1se thell· charms in every case of sickness. They blow thetr .bre.ath u~on the body, rub it, nod press upon the stomach. After c.ontmurng tlns for some time, they pretented to have drawn ~omethrng fJ'?m ~he patient; they press it in their hands, and ap· pear to hol.d It w1th the greatest difficulty; immerse it in the water, an? co.n~m~e alternately to rub and immerse it, until the evil Sptnt Is overpowered. Then, holding the clenched hands ubove the head, several ]cud shouts are uttered in as ft·ightful a Im anner as they are able · 'fll ey t 1le n open thei. r fingers O'radual· y,btlo allow the terrifi<;:!d Scocum, (evil spirit,) to make hi~ escape - ow th t·ough thei r 11 .a n ds --contm· ue to utter fearful cries and to m'lke threatening t . .1 ' f . 1 . ges u 1 es-untt they have driven the aO'ent o ev1, entrrely away Th h t" until the have . . ey ~o t rough the same operation, . ) d . d~a~n the last httle devil fl'Om the body of the pat.i ent, an drtven It away • All t h e tu. ne these incantations are gomg on, a number of pe1. 8008 · · . . slttmg tn a row beside the sick, GAl\UNG-1\lAll.RIAGE-CONDITION. chanting their savage song, bent constantly and lomlly with stick~ upon a large dry boal'd. These Meuicine-men at·e suppo3od to be invulnerable, and lead the vun to battle. They frequently exhibit proofs of their magic powet·s, at their dunces and celebrations, by holding live coals of fil-e between the it· fingers, for sevet·al minutes at a time. They are held accou~table for the success of anything which they undet·take, and if a pet·son dies in their hands, or if they loose an engagement, they are tried for theit· lives. '\Vhen a Chief, or member of a Chief's family, ot· other notable person dies, they at·e placed in their canoes, with th e ir blanket~, arms and other implements, which they used while living; hung to the bough of a tree, or placed upon a rock, anu a fa vot·ite hotse, and sometimes several slaves, are killed, to bear the soul of the dead to the world of Spirits. Slavery exists in the lower country. These Indians are gr·eat gamblers, and they have several games, the form of which we are not able ~orrectly to describe. They play until all their property is gone, and then frequently gamble off their bodies, part at a time, until the whole is lost, and they are slaves for life. .Marriage, among the Indians, is rathe1· a mercenary transaction, than othet·wise. It is true, perhaps, that thet·e is a choice in some instances; but generally, whoever pays the highest price, takes the woman. Poligamy is universally practiced, and some of the Chiefs have as many as ten wives. The wealth of an individual, is estimated frequently, by the number of his wives. The women h0re, as well as with all other barbarous tribes ,and ,nations, do all th~ hard labor; hunting, fishing and war, being the only duties of the man. But the Indians between the U mqua and Puget's Sound, at·e at this time any thing else but warlike. The time no doubt has been, when they were; but they have degenerated as fast as they have decereased in numbers, until they have, in every sense of the terms, become inacti vo and fee· ble. Perhaps no where on the great American Continent, on either side of the Isthmus of Panama, has theil· intercourse with the white man been more ruinous to them, than it has here. It is, however, no less strange than true and deplorable, that wherever the white man has had intercourse with the Indian, almost without an ex<?eption, it has tended both morally aod physically to degrade,. sink, and destroy him. The different tribes, differ f1·om each other very much, in their language. They have not a · great many words, and almost every one is uttered with a strong gutteral sound. They count to ten, and afterwards, by tens and hundreds. These |
