These accounts agree; whilst the evidence of language as known from the vocabularies of the American Exploring Expedition, and a MS. vocabulary of Mr. Howse's disconnect them from the tribes around them.
In physical appearance they are contrasted by Simpson with the Salish Ponderays. These last struck him with the stateliness of their manners; and so much did they show to advantage, that he considered them as the finest-looking men he had seen, next to the Indians of the plains.
CHINÚKS (TSHINÚK).
Locality.—Mouth of the Columbia.
Divisions.—1. Chinúks Proper, on the southern bank of the Columbia, at its mouth. 2. Klatsops, at Point Adams, south of the Chinúks. 3. Kathlamut, on the south bank of the Columbia, above the Chinúks. 4. Wakáikam. 5. Watlala, or Upper Chinúk, farthest up the river. 6. Nihaloitih.
Physical Appearance.—"The personal appearances of the Chinook differs so much from that of the aboriginal tribes of the United States, that it was difficult at first to recognise the affinity. Taking them collectively, they are even inferior in stature to the tribes of Interior Oregon; the general form is shorter and more squat, and the face is rounder and broader when viewed in front. Instances occurred of a fairness of complexion, which I have not seen in other parts of aboriginal America; and in young children, the colour was often not strikingly deeper than among Europeans.
"The oblique eye I have scarcely noticed in other parts of America; nor such frequent difficulty in distinguishing men from women, whether in youth or age. The arched nose, was, however, very prevalent among the Chinooks. The beard was not always absolutely wanting, but it occasionally attained the length of an inch or more. One man had both beard and whiskers, quite thin, but full two inches long; and in other respects he much resembled some representations I have seen of the Esquimaux." * * * "The head is artificially flattened in infancy; but as the children grow up, the cranium tends to resume its natural shape, so that the majority of grown persons hardly manifest the existence of the practice. One effect, however, seemed to be permanently distinguishable, in the unusual breadth of the face."—Pickering, p. 27.
We have already, in speaking of the Salish, met with the word Flat-head, and, although in that particular case, it was misapplied, it is still an important term in American ethnology, since more than one family of American Indians has the practice of artificially flattening the head. This we meet with, for the first time, amongst the Tshinúks, the true Flat-heads of those parts.
The process itself was witnessed by Pickering. In one of the stockaded villages of the Chinúks, where the influence of the missionaries had so far found its way as for some of the houses to stand in a small cultivated enclosure, of about a quarter of an acre in size, an infant was confined to a wooden receptacle, with a pad tightly bandaged over the forehead and eyes, so that it was alike impossible for it to see or move. He also observed that when the child was suspended according to usage, the head was actually lower than the feet.
So much for the children. The adults improve upon Nature by piercing the septum of the nose and putting a ring through it, by earrings, and by painting the face—in default of paint, by smearing it with soot, the marks being after a pattern. A black and dull red paint, with which they ornament their canoes, hats, and masks, are aboriginal, the others procured from traders. A sail, also, seen in one of the larger boats was considered not native, but copied from the Russians. In other respects the management of their canoes, as well as the construction, was skilful; so were some of the contrivances both for fowling and fishing. For the former purpose tall masts were set up to intercept by means of connecting nets(?) the water-fowl at night. Sturgeon were speared or noosed; the darts used for killing fish being double-headed. The capture of whales, an exploit never attempted by even the most enterprising of the Polynesians, is attempted by the Chinúks.