Hither also the tribes from the
Rocky Mountains brought down horses, bear-grass, quamash, and other
commodities of the interior. The merchant fishermen at the falls acted
as middlemen or factors, and passed the objects of traffic, as it were,
cross-handed; trading away part of the wares received from the mountain
tribes to those of the rivers and plains, and vice versa: their packages
of pounded salmon entered largely into the system of barter, and being
carried off in opposite directions, found their way to the savage
hunting camps far in the interior, and to the casual white traders who
touched upon the coast.
We have already noticed certain contrarieties of character between the
Indian tribes, produced by their diet and mode of life; and nowhere are
they more apparent than about the falls of the Columbia. The Indians
of this great fishing mart are represented by the earliest explorers as
sleeker and fatter, but less hardy and active, than the tribes of the
mountains and prairies, who live by hunting, or of the upper parts of
the river, where fish is scanty, and the inhabitants must eke out their
subsistence by digging roots or chasing the deer. Indeed, whenever an
Indian of the upper country is too lazy to hunt, yet is fond of good
living, he repairs to the falls, to live in abundance without labor.
Pages:
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139