The Dalles daily chronicle. [volume] (The Dalles, Or.) 1890-1948, 1894-08-25
INDIANS AT THE BATH.
Red Men Who Use Steam and
Enjoy Gold Plunge.
Explosion of the Theory That All Indians
Are Dirty and Abhor Water-COIumbia
River Tribes Have the Turkish Sys-
tom In . Primitive Way.


Indians do wash. That is some of
them do. 1t is a curious fact that the
Columbia river Indians believe as
thoroughly in the efficacy of the hot
air bath and the sudden immersion of
the body afterward in cold water as
the Turks or the most advanced believ-
ers in the Russian and Turkish baths
do. To the man who knows only the
ill-smelling, ill-conditioned Digger,
Apache or Piute this will come as a
revelation.
The Columbia river Indian, says the
Chicago Tribune, is clean individual.
He may not have the toilet articles and
clean linen of civilization, but his pores
are open, his skin is clear and free from
spot or blemish, and he is generally a
healthy person. His step is light, his
head erect, his eye clear, and form
wiry, and he probably owes it as much
to his hot baths as to the delightful
climate in which he lives. These baths
the Umatilla, the Wenatchee, Yakima
and all the other tribes of the Colum-
bia basin have used always, or SO fas
back in the past that not even the faint
est traditions of the tribes tell of their
commencement. They take them reg
ularly, once or twice weekly, and al
ways prescribe and use them for sick
ness, although their ignorance of the
various diseases, and their practice of
always taking the fbath" as a cure for
any disease with which they may be
attacked has caused many serious and
fatal mistakes in the past by which
scores of lives have been lost. Repeat
ed fatalities, however, teach them no
lessons. 1t may be rheumatism or it
may be smallpox; it makes no differ
cnce to them.
:. The ''bath, :" or, as the few white set
tiers on the river call it, s'Injun sweat
house" is simply hole three feet in
diameter and eight feet long, dug hori-
zontally in the sloping bank of the
river. It is usual to dig them from
thirty-fve to forty feet above low
water, as the river generally rises dur
ing June and July from thirty to forty
feet, and although high water lasts but
ten days to three weeks, yet there would
be little left of the sbath'' if the flood
had a chance at it. The bottom, or
floor, is lined with smooth fiat stones,
and the walls are hardened as much as
possible by the builder lying on his
back on the bottom and pounding them
with rock resembling a pestse After.
few baths the walls become as well
baked and as hard as brick, and will
not only retain the heat for hours, but
will stand a wonderful amount of pres
sure and weight from above.
The method of taking bath is as
simple as the ''bath'' itself Filling the
hole with dry wood it is set afire and
in a few minutes is burning fiercely.
When the wood has burned out the en-
bers are raked from the hole and the
bath is ready. Divesting himself of all
his clothing the Indian takes an old
blanket and, saturating it thoroughly
in the river, spreads it out on the stones
of the hole and crawls in feet first.
The instant the wet blanket touches
the hot stone the hole is filed with
steam in which the bather disappears.
For several minutes nothing is visible
but clouds of steam pouring out of the
hole; but after time that clears away,
and within, yet close to the entrance,
can be seen the steaming face of the
''bath's'' occupant. as the hole cools
off the Indian crawls farther in, and SO
the majority of the ''bucls" remain in
all night. Before morning they are
well back to the extreme end of the ex-
cavation.
To witness a 'sbuclx'' emerge from
his bath in the morning one would
think It the last effort of a dying man.
Too weak to walk or even stand and
hardly able to crawl, he manages to
slowly drag his body from. the hole to
the bank, down which he creeps or
rolls to- the waters edge. Then the
transformation takes place. If he is
able to stand he will wade in until the
water is'up to his knees, when in he
rolls or plunges. In an instant he is
up again, wildly waving his arms and
beating his chest, and then he plunges
in again, repeatedly, until he has dis
appeared several times under the icy
water, for the Columbia river is ice
cold, winter or summer, receiving its
supply in the summer from the snow
clad peaks of its headwaters.
With bound the tsbuclz'' is out on
the bank, a new man; like wildcat he
springs up the hillside to the s'bath, -
reaches in and picking up his blanket
wraps it around him and with step as
light and form as erect as an athlete in
training, hurries away to his tepee for
breakfast.
The taking of his bath is part of his
training, and almost of his religion.
From early youth he is accustomed to
it, and he practices it to his old age.
Winter or summer, whether it be hot
or cold, he takes it. While the squaws
do not indulge as frequently or remain
IN as long as the bucks" they are re-
quired by the customs of their people
to regularly go to the bathhouse and
receive its benefits. They usually do
not remain in longer than half an hour,
or, perhaps, an hour at the longest,
and are not required to take the
plunge afterward, usually contenting
themselves with dipping their blankets
IN the water and then passing it over
their bodies until they become sufi-