These four tribes, or rather clans, have every appearance of springing
from the same origin, resembling each other in person, dress, language,
and manners. They are rather a diminutive race, generally below five
feet five inches, with crooked legs and thick ankles--a deformity
caused by their passing so much of their time sitting or squatting
upon the calves of their legs and their heels, in the bottom of their
canoes--a favorite position, which they retain, even when on shore. The
women increase the deformity by wearing tight bandages round the ankles,
which prevent the circulation of the blood, and cause a swelling of the
muscles of the leg.
Neither sex can boast of personal beauty. Their faces are round, with
small but animated eyes. Their noses are broad and flat at top, and
fleshy at the end, with large nostrils. They have wide mouths, thick
lips, and short, irregular and dirty teeth. Indeed good teeth are seldom
to be seen among the tribes west of the Rocky Mountains, who live simply
on fish.
In the early stages of their intercourse with white men, these savages
were but scantily clad. In summer time the men went entirely naked; in
the winter and in bad weather the men wore a small robe, reaching to the
middle of the thigh, made of the skins of animals, or of the wool of the
mountain sheep.
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