Voyages in the Northern Pacific/Chapter VII
CHAPTER VII.
Com Comley, king of the Chinook nation, is the richest and most powerful chief on the river; he is a short, elderly man, blind of one eye; he has three wives, and many children. His eldest son (Cassacas) is a strong, well-made man, about 5 feet 6 inches high; he succeeds his father in the government of the Chinooks; he is no friend to white men; he styles himself Prince of Wales. Selechel is the next son; he styles himself Duke of York; he is a small man, and well disposed towards the whites. While we lay in the river, a man belonging to a tribe in the interior, called Soosoonees, came to Chinook, and fired an arrow at Com Comley while bathing in the river, and fled to the woods. The king instantly dispatched his head slave (who was a favourite) in pursuit of the man who had crossed over to the fort; the slave came up with him at the entrance of the woods, and with one blow of his bludgeon brought him to the ground, and dispatched him with a dagger. He then painted himself black, tied his hair up in a bunch, bound his arms and legs with grass, and went through the woods for three days and nights, crying the war-hoop, as a challenge of defiance. In the night we were much alarmed at the dreadful yelling, and put ourselves on guard against the worst, having seen many war canoes hovering about, and all the natives making warlike preparations. King Com Comley, however, made it up with the party, and prevented bloodshed.
A little above Com Comley's village is another belonging to the Chinook tribe, under a chief called Tackum, consisting of about 30 houses. On Point Adams there is a large village and tribe denominated Cladsaps, who differ in nothing from the Chinooks; these, with the Chickeloes, are the only tribes about the entrance of the river. All these people are superstitious to an excess, believing in spirits and supernatural agency. Apparently they have no professed religion, though they universally acknowledge one good spirit, who governs all things; and when it thunders they say he is angry. They also believe in an evil spirit, and in rewards and punishments hereafter. A confused idea prevails among them, that the world was destroyed by water, and will be again destroyed by the same element. They say, that when a good man dies, he goes to a world where there is plenty of provisions, and where there is no occasion to work; and on the contrary, when a bad man dies, he will go to a country where the provisions are scare, and where he will be forced to work hard, and meet with many and great difficulties. It may be gathered from this what is indeed the truth, that these Indians have a very great aversion to work. They observe the rite of circumcision, and have slaves whom they purchase from other tribes, prisoners who have been taken in war. On the death of a chief, from three to six slaves are sacrificed, according to the rank of the deceased. In the winter season all the tribes move back to the woods, where they have their winter villages. In summer they catch sturgeon, salmon, and a variety of small fish, etc.; in the fall of the year they have plenty of ducks, geese, and swans, and in spring an abundance of small fish like sardines. The climate is much the same as in England: from May till October the weather is very fine, the wind generally blowing from N. W. to N. E. The wet season commences in November with heavy gales from S. W. to S. E. with much rain and thunder. In some seasons the frost sets in early in November, and lasts for a month or two, after which the rains commence, and continues for the same time. During summer many of the tribes from the interior visit the fort with furs, and always encamp in a small bay close to it, where they are protected. Disputes frequently occur between these tribes and King Comley's tribe, in consequence of their having diverted some of the trade out of his hands. He used to take goods up the country, and trade with the tribes there, bringing the furs to the fort, where he had a profit of nearly half, so that it was to his advantage to keep them from the fort, by telling them the white men were bad, and would take them off and make slaves of them. I am sorry to say that the slave trade is carried on, on this coast, to a very great extent by the Americans. They buy slaves to the southward and take them to the northward, where they exchange them for the sea otter and other furs. If they cannot buy the slaves cheap, they make no scruple to carry them off by force. A Captain Ayres, of the ship Mercury, took twelve from the Columbia river in this manner, but while bearing down the coast, seven of them seized the whale-boat and ran from the ship; only one, however, arrived at the river. This Captain Ayres was so oppressive that three of his men left him, and were kept by Com Comley for twelve months; they afterwards got off in the American ship Albatross.
The chief articles of trade given in exchange to all the natives on the coast are muskets, blankets, powder, shot, red paint, (which they use to paint their faces,) tobacco, beads, buttons, thick brass wire, with which they make bracelets, rings, etc.; ready-made clothes are in great demand; but, in fact, any trifling toys will please them. The country is full of bears, wolves, tiger-cats, foxes, racoons, rabbits, muskrats, wood-rats, deer, elk, land otter, beaver, and many other animals. The sea otters are taken on the coast, but never enter the river. The war canoes are hewn out of a tree, generally the same length as the others, and the same breadth; fore and aft they have a kind of curve about 3 feet above the gunwale at each end; these curves are from 3 to 4 feet wide, and in them are a sort of loop-holes, through which they shoot their arrows in perfect safety.
What surprises the Indians very much is, that the people who come here in ships should know those who came overland; and that those who travel across the country should return again in ships.
It may be remembered, we left the river on the 10th day of January, 1817, for the Sandwich Islands, our object was, to refit the brig and cure pork. We were also to bring as many of the Sandwich Islanders to the Columbia river as we could conveniently accommodate. On the 27th we saw Owhyhee (Hawaii), after a quick and pleasant passage; we stood along shore as usual; the natives came off in great numbers, bringing pigs, tarrow, yams, goats, plantains, rope, and fruit of every description. Next day we anchored off Tyroa (Kailua), close to the king's morai (temple). King Tameameah (Kamehameha) and his family came on board as usual, and were rejoiced to see us. He assured us we should have every thing we wished for that the islands afforded or he could command; and commenced sending hogs on board.
On the 1st of February we sailed from Owhyhee (Hawaii), his majesty sending a trusty man with us named Kenopoo, to see that we got what we wanted. We had directions to touch at Mowee (Maui), where we should have plenty of hogs, salt and rope. When weighing our anchor we found it was fast under a rock, where it inevitably must have remained, had not the king sent his divers down to clear it. The depth of water was eight fathoms. We now made sail towards Mowee, our ship, as usual, full of natives. Next morning we passed Morokenee (Molokini), and made sail up Mackerey (Maalaea) bay; here we lay until the 6th, and took on board a great quantity of hogs, salt, and vegetables. This bay is very deep and wide, and nearly divides the island, there being but a narrow neck of land and very low, keeping the two parts of the island together. There is good anchorage; and the only danger arises from the trade winds, which blow so strong at times as to drive ships out of the bay with two anchors down; it lies N. E. and S. W. and is well sheltered from every other wind. The neck of land is so low, and the land so high on each side, that the N. E. trade comes through like a hurricane. On this neck of land are their principal salt-pans, where they make most excellent salt. Our next station was in Lehina (Lahaina) roads. This beautiful village has the appearance of a fine garden, laid out with the greatest taste in fish-ponds, tarrow (kalo) patches, cane patches, groves of bread fruit and plantain trees, so delightfully arranged that nothing can surpass it. On the 9th, the brig, full of hogs and natives, got under weigh from this romantic spot, bound for Woahoo (Oahu); we were becalmed for three days between the islands of Mowee (Maui) , Morotoi (Molokai), Tahoorooa (Kahoolawe), and Raini (Lanai). On the 13th of February we were off the harbour of Honorora (Honolulu), and John Harbottle, the king's pilot, came on board; but it was not till the 20th that the trade wind suffered us to get in shore. We found a brig and a ship here belonging to the king, the former was called the Forester, now Taamano (Kaahumanu), after the king's favorite wife, and had been sold to him by Captain Piggot; the ship was an American, called the Albatross, sold by Captain Winship. The Taamano (Kaahumanu) was fitting out for Canton, and taking sandal wood on board for the China market; she was commanded by Mr. Adams, the man who had navigated the Forester under Captain Piggot, and the crew consisted of about ten natives and ten white men. She sailed for Canton on the 22nd of February, 1817.
To our great surprise we found a very fine battery, built on the point, mounting about 60 guns, and learned that, during our absence, the Russians had sent two ships from New Archangel, or Norfolk Sound, to these islands, with Russians and Kodiacks, to form an establishment. They called at Owhyhee (Hawaii), and thence came down to Woahoo, where they were well treated by the natives, and allowed to land what they pleased; as soon as they got footing on shore, they commenced building block houses, and squaring out a place for a fort, under the direction of Mr. Shefham. They even hoisted the Russian colours. Mr. John Young, the white man before mentioned in this narrative, who had resided on these islands about 36 years, communicated this intelligence to the king and chiefs, all of whom were on Owhyhee. The chiefs were immediately sent down to Woahoo with orders from Tameameah (Kamehameha) that the Russians should quit the islands instantly, and if they did not depart quietly that force must be used. The Russians not finding themselves strong enough to resist went peaceably off. The Islanders then built the fort under the direction of John Young. A party was kept constantly on shore curing the pork, which was done in the following manner:—We killed the pigs late in the evening, bled them well, and hung them up in the tent; next morning, before sunrise, we cut them up in four-pound pieces, and took out the back-bone; the pieces were then well rubbed with salt, and packed in a puncheon, with holes in the lower head for the pickle to drain off; they remained in this manner till the next day, under a good press; they were then taken out, resalted, and packed in another cask, where they remained for a week; at the end of which they were finally packed and pickled, putting a small quantity of salt-petre in each cask; in this manner we even salted the heads; we cured about one hundred barrels and never lost a piece. While we lay here we gave half the people leave to go on shore each night; our carpenter had frequent occasion to go into the woods to cut timber, which he did in safety, and we were extremely well treated by the natives. On the 14th of April, being complete in provisions, repairs, etc., we took on board 60 natives (being all we could conveniently accommodate), for the Columbia River, and stood out of the harbour, after saluting the fort, which was returned. Made sail toward Atooi; on the 16th we got off the village of Whymea (Waimea), and were surprised at not seeing any of the natives push off. Doctor Shefham, the Russian, came on board in a bodarkee; he would not allow us to have any communication with the shore, and through policy we did not press the point, but made all sail to the northward towards Norfolk Sound. Next day we passed Mokoo Manoo, (Moku Manu) or Bird Island. There are no inhabitants here, although the land seems good, and covered with cocoanut and plantain trees. The latitude is 23° 8′ North, Longitude 161° 45 West. Arrived at Norfolk Sound on the 10th of May, and found the American brig Brutus, Captain Meeks, chartered by the Governor Baranoff to go to Kamschatka with a cargo of furs, and bring Russians from thence to Norfolk Sound. Finding our boarding defences of no use we sold them to the governor, who had them fixed round his house. While here we were well supplied with fish, and often visited by the natives, who brought off plenty of sea otter skins in the night; they are much the same as the Indians on the Columbia, the only difference is in the appearance of the women, who perforate their lower lip with a copper wire, enlarging the hole daily by putting in a small plug of wood, which is exchanged each day for a larger, till they get a piece of wood in of an oval shape, about two inches long, an inch broad, and half an inch thick; this drags the lip down, and leaves the gums and teeth quite bare, and gives them a most disgusting appearance. Both men and women chew tobacco, of which the women in particular are very fond. Some of the natives in Chatham Straits squeeze their heads into a sugar-loaf shape, by means of binding it round with kelp or sea weed when they are young. They also use paint, and powder their hair with the down of geese or swans. They wear the hair long, but, on the death of a chief, cut it short round the head. They have their noses perforated with a large quill. The natives here are great warriors, and very hostile to the Russians, whom they often annoy by attacking their bodarkees; however, they do not always kill them, but are satisfied with running a spear through them and leaving them to their fate.