degrees north. These temper the heat of summer, so that in the shade
no one is incommoded by perspiration; they also soften the rigors
of winter, and produce such a moderation in the climate, that the
inhabitants can wear the same dress throughout the year.

The soil in the neighborhood of the sea-coast is of a brown color,
inclining to red, and generally poor; being a mixture of clay and
gravel. In the interior, and especially in the valleys of the Rocky
Mountains, the soil is generally blackish, though sometimes yellow. It
is frequently mixed with marl, and with marine substances in a state of
decomposition. This kind of soil extends to a considerable depth, as
may be perceived in the deep cuts made by ravines, and by the beds of
rivers. The vegetation in these valleys is much more abundant than near
the coast; in fact, it is these fertile intervals, locked up between
rocky sierras, or scooped out from barren wastes, that population must
extend itself, as it were, in veins and ramifications, if ever the
regions beyond the mountains should become civilized.

CHAPTER XL.

Natives in the Neighborhood of Astoria--Their Persons and
Characteristics.--Causes of Deformity--Their Dress.--
Their Contempt of Beards--Ornaments--Armor and Weapons.-Mode
of Flattening the Head.--Extent of the Custom.--Religious
Belief.-The Two Great Spirits of the Air and of the Fire.--
Priests or Medicine Men.--The Rival Idols.--Polygamy a Cause
of Greatness-Petty Warfare.--Music, Dancing, Gambling.--
Thieving a Virtue.--Keen Traders--Intrusive Habits--
Abhorrence of Drunkenness--Anecdote of Comcomly.

A BRIEF mention has already been made of the tribes or hordes existing
about the lower part of the Columbia at the time of the settlement; a
few more particulars concerning them may be acceptable. The four tribes
nearest to Astoria, and with whom the traders had most intercourse,
were, as has heretofore been observed, the Chinooks, the Clatsops, the
Wahkiacums, and the Cathlamets. 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