Year: 1862

the village were very friendly, but mos;
a: ;hetn were hostile. aud were deter
mined not only that / should not take
their names. but that | shoald not en-
ter their lodges The friendly ones.
however. intended to feast ns. so We
must be careful and not "a. too much
at any one place. as il Was requisite. 10
show good feelings. that we should eat
whenever we were invited. aud If ! eat
too much ! would be sick. Never
mind. said Frank. if YOU feel sick. you
must do a we do, put your fingers
down your throat and throw up the
surplus. and you will be all ready TO
begin again. Thus prepared with sage
council, rartook of two surrers with.
out any i'll effects, and then returned
to Se-cowthl's lodge, where number
of the principal men were collected To
have a talk. l told them l was too
tired to say much till the morning, but
l would like to hear what they had to
say. The old chief then said that the
Indians were afraid if l took their
names that they would have the small
pox. They thought all l had to do,
was to blow in my book Oh their names,
and l could bring any sickness on them
l desired. assured them that they
stood in more danger of catching the
small pox by stealing clothes from ship
wrecked sailors, than than they did
from my book, and advised them not
to wear any clothes they should get
from wrecks, but to deliver them to
the agent; and l cited one or two in
stances where persons had been taken
sick from wearing sick mems clothes,
and mentined in particular a case that
occurred in Port Townsend, of an In
dian who stole some clothes or bedding
from the hospital, belonging to a man
who had the itch, and the consequence
was, he aud al his family and u num-
Der of others caught it. Peter hap.
pencd to be in Port Townsend at tic
time, working at Tibbal's Hotel, and
knew the facts, which, at my request,
he told to the Hosett Indians, and
thereby corroborated very important
statement OF mine.


Another tale they had, was the old.
worn-out story about the intention of
the Americans sending them ali oft in
a steamboat to some unknown land.
l assured them of there being no truth
in the story, and after amusing them
with some anecdotes of other tribes !
had visited, they appeared satisfied, and
the visitors left in very good humor.
The following morning. l commenced
the census, and although / found some
of them very surly at first, and after
wards learned they had used very bad
language, which Peter took care not to
translate at the time, I succeeded in
taking all their names, and visited
every lodge but one, which was kept
closed against our entrance.


And now commenced q series of
feasts, with various friendly demon
strations. In one lodge, little slave
boy was made to dance and perform
various amusing antics. In another
lodge, number of women and young
girls were collected, and as soon as we
were seated, five Of the women seated
themselves in five swings that were
suspended from one of the beams OF
the roof, and us they swung together,
they sang song of welcome, in which
they were joined by all the children.
The song was in unison, and reminded
me Of q choir Of school Children
When the women had ceased their
song they left, aud the girls took their
places and sung other songs, and when
they were finished they also left, aud
we commenced our feast.


On our return to Sc-cowthls lodge
in the evening, we found large party
assembled for light supper, composed
Of boiled herrings' eggs, served up i'm
wooden trays, and plentifully mixed
with whale oil. This Was eaten with
spoons, like boiled rice, and when i,
was finished Se-cowthl made speech.
in Which lie stated that since had
talked to them they had changed their
minds, and nov all were agreed. Their
hearts were good, and they would do
as the agent should advise.


l intended leaving early the next
morning, but rs soon ~ it was light a
message came from the lodge that the
day before had refused US admittancc.
inviting us to breakfast. did not
deem it policy to decline, 90 accepted
the invitation, aud had the satisfaction
to 6nd them all friendly aud we'll dis
posed


When we were ready to leave. there
was At least dozen baskets Of dried
hslibut, biubbcr and boiled potatoes
sent to ne, which, ~ we could not car
~, we left to be sent by canoe the