The whole of the walls as well
as the door were decorated with strange figures cut and painted on them;
and besides were several wooden images of men, some so old and decayed
as to have almost lost their shape, which were all placed against the
sides of the vaults. These images, as well as those in the houses we
have lately seen, do not appear to be at all the objects of adoration;
in this place they were most probably intended as resemblances of those
whose decease they indicate; when we observe them in houses, they occupy
the most conspicuous part, but are treated more like ornaments than
objects of worship."
The white men were visited at their camp by many Indians from the
villages farther up the stream. The journal says:--
"We had an opportunity of seeing to-day the hardihood of the Indians of
the neighboring village. One of the men shot a goose, which fell into
the river and was floating rapidly toward the great shoot, when an
Indian observing it plunged in after it. The whole mass of the waters of
the Columbia, just preparing to descend its narrow channel, carried the
animal down with great rapidity. The Indian followed it fearlessly
to within one hundred and fifty feet of the rocks, where he would
inevitably have been dashed to pieces; but seizing his prey he
turned round and swam ashore with great composure. We very willingly
relinquished our right to the bird in favor of the Indian who had thus
saved it at the imminent hazard of his life; he immediately set to work
and picked off about half the feathers, and then, without opening it,
ran a stick through it and carried it off to roast.
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