Trade
had sharpened their wits, though it had not improved their honesty;
for they were a community of arrant rogues and freebooters. Their
habitations comported with their circumstances, and were superior to any
the travellers had yet seen west of the Rocky Mountains. In general, the
dwellings of the savages on the Pacific side of that great barrier were
mere tents and cabins of mats, or skins, or straw, the country being
destitute of timber. In Wish-ram, on the contrary, the houses were built
of wood, with long sloping roofs. The floor was sunk about six feet
below the surface of the ground, with a low door at the gable end,
extremely narrow, and partly sunk. Through this it was necessary to
crawl and then to descend a short ladder. This inconvenient entrance was
probably for the purpose of defense; there were loop-holes also under
the eaves, apparently for the discharge of arrows. The houses were
large, generally containing two or three families. Immediately within
the door were sleeping places, ranged along the walls, like berths in
a ship; and furnished with pallets of matting. These extended along one
half of the building; the remaining half was appropriated to the storing
of dried fish.
The trading operations of the inhabitants of Wish-ram had given them
a wider scope of information, and rendered their village a kind of
headquarters of intelligence.
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