ved to be common. These Indians
are fond of ornamenting their boats and houses with rude sculptures and
paintings. One of the chiefs exhibited, from what was called his great
medicine-bag, fourteen fore-fingers, the trophies taken from as many
enemies, whom he had killed in war. This was the first time that the
travellers had known any other trophy preserved than the scalp. The
great medicine-bag, among these Indians, is an useful invention; for, as
it is deemed sacrilegious for any person, except the owner, to touch it,
this bag serves the purpose of a strong-box, in which the most valuable
articles may safely be deposited.

The Echeloots in their mode of sepulture, differ much from the
generality of North American Indians. They have common cemeteries, where
the dead, carefully wrapt in skins, are laid on mats, in a direction
east and west. The vaults, or rather chambers, in which the bodies are
deposited, are about eighty feet square, and six in height. The whole of
the sides are covered with strange figures, cut and painted; and wooden
images are placed against them. At the top of these sepulchral chambers,
and on poles attached to them, brass-kettles are hung, old frying-pans,
shells, skins, and baskets, pieces of cloth, hair, and other similar
offerings. Among some of the tribes, the body is laid in one canoe and
covered with another. Every where the dead are carefully deposited, and
with like marks of respect. Captain Clarke says it is obvious, from the
different articles which are placed by the dead, that these people
believe in a future state of existence.

On the 2d of November, the travellers perceived the first tide-water;
four days afterwards, they had the pleasure of hearing a few words of
English, spoken by an Indian, who talked of a Mr. Haley, as the
principal trader on the coast; and, on the 7th, a fog clearing off, gave
them a sight of the _Pacific Ocean_.

They suffered great hardships near the mouth of the river. At one place,
where they were detained two nights by the violence of the wind, the
waves broke over them, and large trees, which the stream had carried
along with it, were drifted upon them, so that, with their utmost
vigilance, they could scarcely save the canoes from being dashed to
pieces. Their next haven was still more perilous: the hills rose steep
over their heads, to the height of five hundred feet; and, as the rain
fell in torrents, the stones, upon their crumbling sides, loosened,