the sex
everywhere, and kept shining by the fish-oil before-mentioned.
Sometimes, in imitation of the men, they paint the whole body with a red
earth mixed with fish-oil. Their ornaments consist of bracelets of
brass, which they wear indifferently on the wrists and ankles; of
strings of beads of different colors (they give a preference to the
blue), and displayed in great profusion around the neck, and on the arms
and legs; and of white shells, called _Haiqua_, which are their ordinary
circulating medium. These shells are found beyond the straits of _Juan
de Fuca_, and are from one to four inches long, and about half an inch
in diameter: they are a little curved and naturally perforated: the
longest are most valued. The price of all commodities is reckoned in
these shells; a fathom string of the largest of them is worth about ten
beaver-skins.

Although a little less slaves than the greater part of the Indian women
elsewhere, the women on the Columbia are, nevertheless, charged with the
most painful labors; they fetch water and wood, and carry the goods in
their frequent changes of residence; they clean the fish and cut it up
for drying; they prepare the food and cook the fruits in their season.
Among their principal occupations is that of making rush mats, baskets
for gathering roots, and hats very ingeniously wrought. As they want
little clothing, they do not sew much, and the men have the needle in
hand oftener than they.

The men are not lazy, especially during the fishing season. Not being
hunters, and eating, consequently, little flesh-meat (although they are
fond of it), fish makes, as I have observed, their principal diet. They
profit, therefore, by the season when it is to be had, by taking as much
as they can; knowing that the intervals will be periods of famine and
abstinence, unless they provide sufficiently beforehand.

Their canoes are all made of cedar, and of a single trunk: we saw some
which were five feet wide at midships, and thirty feet in length; these
are the largest, and will carry from 25 to 30 men; the smallest will
carry but two or three. The bows terminate in a very elongated point,
running out four or five feet from the water line. It constitutes a
separate piece, very ingeniously attached, and serves to break the surf
in landing, or the wave on a rough sea. In landing they put the canoe
round, so as to strike the beach stern on. Their oars or paddles are
made of ash, and are about five fe