The Chinooks reside chiefly along the
banks of a river of the same name, running parallel to the sea-coast,
through a low country studded with stagnant pools, and emptying itself
into Baker's Bay, a few miles from Cape Disappointment. This was the
tribe over which Comcomly, the one-eyed chieftain, held sway; it boasted
two hundred and fourteen fighting men. Their chief subsistence was on
fish, with an occasional regale of the flesh of elk and deer, and of
wild-fowl from the neighboring ponds.
The Clatsops resided on both sides of Point Adams; they were the mere
relics of a tribe which had been nearly swept off by the small-pox, and
did not number more than one hundred and eighty fighting men.
The Wahkiacums, or Waak-i-cums, inhabited the north side of the
Columbia, and numbered sixty-six warriors. They and the Chinooks
were originally the same; but a dispute arising about two generations
previous to the time of the settlement, between the ruling chief and his
brother Wahkiacum, the latter seceded, and with his adherents formed the
present horde which continues to go by his name. In this way new tribes
or clans are formed, and lurking causes of hostility engendered.
The Cathlamets lived opposite to the lower village of the Wahkiacums,
and numbered ninety-four warriors.
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