Chapter I: BILL McGARVEY’S STORE (2)

The redwood timber they use for making their canoes and building their houses. In making a canoe they took a redwood log in length and size to suit the canoe they wanted to make, and split the log in half, shaping the bottom of the canoe first, then turning it over and chipping off the top until they get it down to the right place when they would start shaping the guards; after this they dug out the inside, leaving it a certain thickness and this they gauged by placing one hand outside and the other inside, moving both hands slowly along—and it is surprising how even the thickness is in all parts. They cut out the seat in the stern with a place to put each foot on the side in front of the seat so one can brace himself while paddling it with a long and narrow paddle, pointed at the end, so they can paddle or push the canoe with it. They are certainly expert in the Klamath river with a canoe, either the men or women. They have no keel on their canoes, just a round smooth bottom, with a rounded bow and stern. A large hazel withe is put through holes in the corners of the bow and drawn very tight across it so as to keep the canoe from splitting in case it strikes the rocks very hard, which often happens, as they grind upon the rocks in the rough places in the river. These canoes will carry heavy loads, much larger than they would seem to carry; sometimes from forty to one hundred and fifty sacks of flour at a load. In making a canoe, the Indians always leave in the bottom and some two feet back from the front or bow, a knob some three inches across and about two inches high, with a hole about one inch deep dug into it, and this they call the heart of the canoe and without this the canoe would be dead. When I was a young woman no Indian would use a canoe unless it had the heart left in it to make it alive, as it was not safe to use if not thus fixed, something after the fashion or notion of the sailors as to a vessel being christened. The redwood canoes are being used for a distance of one hundred miles up the Klamath river but the redwood is used only for a distance of about thirty miles up the river, for houses, after this distance they use red fir for houses. The redwood is a soft, easy timber for working and not susceptible to being sun cracked and is an ideal wood for making a canoe. After they have finished making the canoe they take the shavings and some dry brush and burn it both inside and outside and then brush off the dry parts which leaves it very light and dry. After using the canoe for a few days and if any light cracks start in it they take it out, dry it perfectly and go over it with pitch taken from the fir tree. In doing this they first put the pitch on the cracks then put hot rocks on the pitch which melts it and it fills up the cracks. After this treatment the canoe will last for years.

Their tools for working timber were very crude and they had to work very slow. For axes and wedges they used the elk horn. They would cut the horn to the length preferred with flint and then use a granite rock where the quartz would adhere to it making it very rough, and with this they would whet the horn into shape. After this they put grease on them and lay them up so that the fire would dry the grease into them, until it became very tough and could be used for years before wearing out. For their malls or hammers they took a granite rock and by pecking on it, could work it down to about one foot in length, then work it down so that at one end it would be about four inches across the face of it and the other end about two inches across it, while in the middle they would bring it to about one inch, making it so one could hold it with ease, using the large end for the mall part. With these crude tools they cut trees, made their canoes and houses, by the aid of the fire to help in many ways. They could split up a log into slabs and get some nice looking lumber, only rough and of different thickness and in this way they could build a very warm and comfortable house. In building a house they leveled off a piece of ground from thirty to forty feet square, then beginning in the center of the square they dug down about five feet and from twelve to twenty feet across, surrounding this part they dug a trench two feet deep and in this they set the slabs or boards up endwise, being careful to put thick ones at each of the four corners with holes burned through the top ends. These boards were about eight feet long, which would leave them about six feet above the ground on two sides. To this they tied with hazel withes a heavy pole of the same size across the two gable ends on the same level of the side poles. They tamped the ground in tightly around these boards the same on all sides. At one corner of the gable end they had a very wide plank about four feet in width and about four inches thick; they cut out a hole in this plank about two feet across and around this they put in about two feet from the corner setting it down in the trench, tramping it very solid, for the door. Then they put across the top from four to six very heavy poles for rafters, the two top poles being only about three feet apart, with one a little lower than the other so as to give it a slope for the water to run off when it rained. Then they tied all this with hazel withes until the whole thing is fastened solidly together and after this part is finished they put on the roof, using the same heavy slabs which are about eight feet long, doubling them so as to make it rain proof while the center part or comb of the roof is short slabs about four feet long and in the center they leave a large wide plank, so they can raise it to a slanting position so as to keep the rain out and at the same time let the smoke out. After the roof planks are all placed they put the large poles across the top, over the joints and tie them down to the ones under with the hazel withes, making it all quite substantial as to strength. Then they make a hole in the center of the basement about one foot deep and side this up with stones to fit for a fire-place, making it very smooth, then put gravel in the bottom of the fire-place to the thickness of four inches in depth. They then put a plank wall all the way around the house or basement part holding them firmly to their place, after the fashion of the white man’s wainscoting. After this they take a good quality of clay, wet it with water until they get it to suit and plaster it over the floor of the basement, tramping it until they get it plastered over about four inches thick, while it is drying they keep very close watch of it, and where it starts to crack they go over it with more clay, filling in the cracks. They keep the cracks filled until the floor becomes very dry and hard and this makes a very smooth floor. They smooth off the upper floor which is irregular in shape and place a slab or post at the four places which come opposite the corners of the house, back about one foot from the wall and under one of the rafter poles, so as to give support to the rafters. Then they put in an inside partition in front of the door, letting this come back some ten feet on each side of the door, reaching up to the roof and an inside door, which is like the white man’s door. This is a place fixed in all the houses for keeping their winter’s wood in while the rest of the place is for storing away their provisions for the winter months, such as dried salmon, eels, acorns and the other kinds of food which they store in large baskets, some of these baskets are large enough for a man to lie down in. Some of the girls make their beds in this upper part of the house for the summer months. In a house where there is a large family this upper part of the house is well filled with baskets holding the different articles of food-stuffs, some of which have been stored there for a number of years. They have shutters to both the outside and inside doors and the roof projects well out all around the house, which makes the house warm in the winter time and cool in the summer. Going down into the basement they take a log about one foot through and cut the right length, cut notches in it for footsteps and set it in place and the little Indian children can go up and down this like squirrels with less accidents than the whites have on their stairs. The whole family eats in the basement and all the cooking is done there and at night things are cleared away and all the women and girls sleep in this basement, while the men and boys all go to the sweat-houses to sleep. Outside in front of the door they make a sort of porch, the floor of which is made of smooth rocks, thus completing the house. In going through the doors they have to stoop very low and almost in a crawling position and raise straight up on entering the inside. The inner door is high and they can stand up on going through it. The doors in most cases face toward the river. One of these houses will stand for fifty years and with some repairing will stand a great while. There were from ten to forty of these houses in a village and the villages were from one half to three miles apart, some on one side and some on the other side of the river. Generally there was a sweat-house to each dwelling but sometimes there was only one sweat-house for two houses. The men and boys visited from one sweat-house to another for a social time and to remain over night. The Indians that travelled up and down the river used to stop with old friends or relatives and would get in the sweat-house, exchange news and smoke their pipes until a late hour in the night. There is no law forbidding the women from sleeping in a sweat-house, but the men say the women have too many fleas on them and the women say the men talk too much, so the women let the men sweep, get the wood and make their own fires in the sweat-houses. Sometimes an Indian will take his wife or favorite daughter to the sweat-house to sleep if the weather is cold but the women prefer to sleep in the dwelling houses as they are very comfortable there and can be kept very warm with a small fire. The women make a sort of mattress of the tules that grow in the swamps. They gather this tule, let it dry and bleach it, then take strings of their own make and commencing in the middle of the string they lay one of the stalks of the tule and plat them closely together. They weave the tules close together, putting about six strings in a mat about three or four feet wide and have the mat five or six feet in length, sometimes making them three and four thicknesses which they can fold up and put out of the way in the day-time and take out and unfold at night. These mats are quite comfortable to sleep on. The old women sleep on the basement floors while the young girls sleep on the upper floors in the warm months and on the lower floors, with the old women during the cold months. My people were in the habit of eating but two meals a day, the first meal or breakfast came about eleven o’clock and in the evening, after dark the women prepare the supper, the menu differing according to the season of the year.

As soon as it begins to get cold the men would go out and get large loads of small limbs and brush, tie it up in a bundle which they placed on their backs and held with both hands and as they came in they sang a song for luck in whatever they might wish for, such as making money, good health and many other things. With this wood they make a fire in the sweat-house and the smoke coming out of the crevices would make it look as if the house was afire for a short time, when the wood would burn down to a bed of coals and the smoke all disappeared and then the men and boys would strip and creep into them, one at a time and in about thirty or forty minutes would all come crawling out of the small round door, steaming and covered with perspiration weak and limp, appearing as if they could hardly stand up. After crawling out they lay flat on the stone platform that is fixed for the purpose and sing the same songs, only at this time in a more doleful way. They lay in this way for thirty or forty minutes, then get up and still looking weak start off down to the bank of the river, one at a time, and plunge into the cold water and swim and splash for a time, then all go back to the dwelling house and go in where the women folks are preparing the evening meal, take their seats around the basement floor, out of the way of the women while they are cooking, and all will join in laughing and talking until the evening meal is over. Then the men and boys go back to the sweat-house for the night and prepare for a big smoke, all laughing and talking about different topics and telling amusing tales. Some of the older ones would discuss points on Indian law, others tell how things are changing, how this and that used to be and is different now, how they fought the other tribes, when they were victorious and when they were defeated, praising one that was the leader or condemning another, one that was a good general and many other things, and some were very interesting talkers. They talked until they were ready to go to sleep for the night and then they would place the wooden pillows under their heads. Some of them would not use any kind of covering and would be almost naked, as the sweat-houses would keep very warm for at least twelve hours after a big fire had been built in them. Early in the morning they would come out and each take his own way for the day, such as hunting, trapping, fishing or getting something that might be needed for the family. The old men dressed deer skins, many of which the hair was left on and these were for the women to use as blankets and for shawl-like coats which they wear, for moccasins (noch-i) they take a dressed deer-skin and smoke it and then make it up into moccasins. They make dresses and many other things out of skins. Others would dress furs which they use in many ways. They use the Fisher skin for quivers to carry arrows in, also the young Panther skin. The fresh water Otter they dress very nicely for the women to tie their hair with. Some would make mauls and wedges for future use and others were making bows and arrows, while a few would give directions to the others. The women went about their work such as pounding acorns, soaking the flour and preparing it to make bread or mush, some cutting fresh salmon and preparing it for cooking, others go out after wood for their part of the living and cooking quarters and others made baskets for cooking purposes. Some made hats and baskets they used for storing away food, while others made fine dresses for wearing and anything that was to be done, but few of them being idle, unless it was some of the old women that were very wealthy. The Klamath people have the same kind of tobacco that grows over a large part of the United States, which, when it grows up has small leaves. They prepare the ground and plant the seed but will not use any they find growing out of cultivation. They are very careful in gathering the plant and cure it by the fire, or in the hot sun, then pulverize it very fine, then put it up in tight baskets for use. It becomes very strong and often makes the oldest smokers sick, which they pass over lightly, saying that it is a good quality of tobacco. The women doctors all smoke but the other women never do. Their pipes are made out of yew wood with a soap-stone for a bowl, the wood is a straight piece and is from three to six inches long and is larger at the bowl end where it joins on to the stone, it is notched in so it sets the bowl on the wood, making the pipe straight. They hold the pipe upwards if sitting or standing and it is only when lying on the back that one seems to enjoy the smoke with perfect ease, however they can handle the pipe to take a smoke in any position. Some of these pipes are small, not holding any more than a thimble-full of tobacco. My people never let the tobacco habit get the better of them as they can go all day without smoking or quit smoking for several days at a time and never complain in the least. The men, after supper, on going into the sweat-house take their pipes and smoke and some take two or three smokes before they go to bed. The old women doctors will smoke through the day and always take a smoke before lying down to sleep. All inhale the smoke, letting it pass out of the lungs through the nose.

Women doctors are made and educated, which comes about in a very peculiar way. They are usually from the daughter of wealthy families. Most of them begin quite young, and often the doctor will take one of her daughters that she selects along with her and begin by teaching her to smoke and help her in her attendance on the sick, and at the right time will commence with her at the sweat-house; while others will have a dream that they are doctors and then the word will be given out, and in either case along in the late fall all will be made ready, the day being set. The sweat-house (which is the white man’s name and does not have the same meaning in our language, we call it Ur-girk) being selected they take her to it, dressed with a heavy skirt that comes down to her ankles and which is made of the inner bark of the maple, with her arms and breast bare. They all go into the sweat-house, there being from fifteen to twenty men and women in number, she having a brother or cousin, sometimes two, that look after her. All begin to sing songs that are used for the occasion, dance jumping up and down, going slowly around the fire and to the right, they keep this up until she is wet with perspiration as wet as the water could make her and when she gets so tired that she can stand up no longer one of her brothers or cousins take her on his back with her arms around his neck and keep her going until she is completely exhausted, then they take her out and into the house. There she is bathed in warm water and then allowed to sleep as long as she wishes, which revives her and gives her back her strength. On awakening she appears rested and vigorous, with a beautiful complexion. She can now eat her meal such as is allowed her. While she is training for a doctor she is not allowed to drink any water or eat any fresh salmon, all the water she gets is in the acorn mush or in the manzanita berry, pounded to a flour and then mixed with water, made into a sort of mush and warmed. They are allowed to eat all other kinds of food. These dances are kept up at intervals all through the winter months until late in the spring, when they will take her far back on the high mountains and keep her there all through the summer, never allowing her to drink water, only as mixed with mush, nor eat any fresh salmon. In the fall they bring her back home to the river when she will go through the same performance in the sweat-house. Sometimes she will be from three to ten years before being ready for the final graduation exercises when she will be taken back to some almost inaccessible place on a high peak or on a very high rock where they will smoke, pray and fast for from three to five days. While at this place none eat or drink and on leaving it the pipes are left secreted so as to be found on the next visit. On this trip there will not be more than three or four with her and always one of them is an old doctor so as to care for her, and on coming back, after they get down the hill part way to a suitable place they make a stop and all eat and take a rest. The young doctor bathes herself, loosens her hair and washes it, then dries it and combs it with a bone knife. These knives of deer bone, about the size of a table knife and have a hole bored through the handle and a string tied through it and fastens around the wrist, and in carrying it the point of the blade is up and lays against the arm so that a person would hardly know that she carried it. This comb is beautifully carved and checkered with black stripes. She gently strokes the hair with it until it is dry, then she thrusts the point through it, close to the head, gently pressing the blade down through it, she keeps the comb in motion until the hair is perfectly straight and glossy and then she parts the hair in the middle of the forehead, then takes stripes of Otter skin and ties it up, letting it hang down on each side of the head and in front of each shoulder. This girl is a virgin, as perfect in statue and active in movement and health as God can make her. She can bear hardships and punishment without complaint or murmur, that would make a bear whine. After all have rested they start for home which will perhaps take them two or three days to reach and all the time her health is looked after to see that she is in good spirits and does not become wearied, and on arriving home she is allowed to rest for two, three or four weeks when all is made ready to give her the final degree. This time preparing one of the large living houses for the purpose, by taking off a part of the roof and fixing it so that all can come and get a chance to see the whole performance. The time is set and word is sent all up and down the river and at the appointed time they will be there, some coming for many miles to see and take part in giving the young doctor her final degree. At sun down the fire is made in the center of the living room and at the commencement of the hour of darkness she is brought in, goes through the door and down into the basement, takes her place, when the others that are to help her take their places, forming a circle around the fire and all start singing in a low and monotonous voice, jumping up and down, the young doctor taking care of herself at first and taking instructions from the old doctor who sits close by but takes no part other than to instruct her. After keeping this up for from two to four hours the young doctor becomes very warm and fatigued and they keep close watch of her until the time comes, when one of the men takes hold of her and holds her up and helps her to stand, still wearing her down until two men take hold of her by each arm and in this way keep her dancing until she is helpless and so limp that she can no longer go on. Then they lay her up and out of the way, still keeping on with the ceremony until daylight in the morning, when all repair to their places to sleep for a few hours, then arise, go forth, bathe and eat and go back to their homes. The young doctor does not always go through this ordeal and come out safely, as sometimes she became so warm that she would never recover from the effects of the severe punishment, but this seldom happens. After going through this she is pronounced a doctor and can begin practicing her profession. She is now allowed to get married if she so desires and the most of them do and raise large families and live to be very old. They wield a big influence among the tribe if they are successful as doctors and some of them are very successful as doctors while others are of the ordinary class. These women doctors are seers, as when they are called to doctor the sick they claim to tell what is the cause of the sickness and what will cure it. They suck the body where the pain is located and sing in a sort of chanting way for awhile, then suck the body again and keep this up for four or six hours, if it is a serious case there will be two doctors and sometimes three and in this case they will not agree as to the cause, if the patient gets well there will be one of them that gets the credit for the greater part of it and sometimes all of it. When there is a case of sickness, the relatives of the sick one decides on the doctor, and the amount of money or other valuables, or all valuables just as they may, go to the doctor and laying it before her at which she will accept or refuse the offer, but if it is satisfactory she will prepare to go with them and if it is rejected she will demand more and sometimes she will call for some valuable relic which she knows the family has in their possession, sometimes an article that has in years gone by been in the doctor’s own family, and she will strive to get it back again. If the sick one should die while she is trying to get more they will make her pay to them all that they have laid down to her, but if she accepts the money and goes and the patient dies, then they make her return all that was given to her. If there was two or three doctors then they all have to return all that was given to them and then they will debate among themselves as to which one of the doctors is the best. Some of the doctors were very successful and hardly ever lost a patient, and accumulated great wealth, owning the best fishing places and large tracts of land where they could gather acorns, hazel nuts and grass seeds, besides many slaves. They were great talkers and always had a ready answer to every question, and were almost habitual smokers, using a large pipe and smoking often. They had a wonderful constitution. To give an idea of the power of one of these most successful doctors I will give a sketch of one and her methods. This doctor was born at Cortep village and of a wealthy family who had been for many generations back. She married a man that was born at Pec-wan village, also of a wealthy family and would be called after marriage in the Indian tongue as Peck-wish-on, but not in this case as she was called by the tribes as Caw. She became famous among her people and would come out of her house and sit on the porch of the stone platform in front of her door, take off her cap, stroke her hair down over her face and eyes and sit this way for hours at a time, and all, young and old, would become afraid of her and say; look at Caw, she will make some one sick, and there would be such a dread of her that there was sure to be some one sick in two or three days, then they would say that Caw made them sick, and if they could get her to doctor the sick one she would cure the sick one as she seldom ever failed to cure any of her cases. She doctored and took all the wealth of her mother and father into her own hands besides all that her brothers and sisters and other relatives had, for doctoring them. She lived to be quite old and had raised a family of boys and girls. She had lots of slaves, land and fishing places and money. Her son was the richest Indian in the whole tribe and was known as Pec-wan Colonel. I knew a girl that this doctor took for a doctor bill and who was to be the wife of one of her grandsons. But as the grandson and girl grew up to be of marriageable age he did not want her for his wife and the money was returned, which freed her and she married another man, one of choice. These doctors never act in cases of child-birth, nor do they ever attend or have any part in these cases. An old woman that is always very pleasant takes these cases, taking charge of the woman that is about to become a mother and prepares her for the task of giving birth. She has a medicine which she prepares and gives to the woman which does not fail to do its work in a very short time. This is the pitch or gum of the fir tree, that has by fires or otherwise dropped into the waters of the creeks or streams and laid in the water for a long time which makes it very brittle and hard. They take a piece of this and after pounding it until it becomes as fine as flour put it into a cup of water and let the patient drink, which in most cases brings her out in good condition. This is not the only remedy they have for they have many for use in the different condition of the patient; the baby is also cared for by these women. They wash the child and dress it in soft furs, such as rabbit skins or other soft kinds of fur. They now pound hazel nuts into flour, put it into warm water which makes a kind of milk and then feed it to the child, they also take milk from the mother’s breast and give to the baby, they do not let the baby nurse at the mother’s breast until after the first ten days, at which time the child is allowed to do so until time to wean it. The baby is provided with a basket made for the purpose and the child is placed in this in a sitting position, it has a strap fastened in the back so that the mother can swing it across her back, set it up against the wall or lay it down flat just as she may choose. The baby if in health will doodle its feet and laugh when any one takes notice of it. The baby baskets are changed in size as the baby grows older and larger, the older baskets are burned. These granny women are called Na-gaw-ah-clan. The Klamath Indians have men doctors and they use many kinds of roots, herbs and some minerals, and when it comes to wounds, bites of poisonous reptiles, chronic diseases, women are ailing with such disease as falling of the womb and many other kinds of sickness, they are called by rich families, and they too are paid in advance and if they fail to cure they have to return the money or if they refuse to come and the patient dies they have to make good all that was offered them. These men doctors hand down their secrets of the different kinds of medicines they use and for what each kind is used, to their sons or close relatives, and before one begins to practice he goes back on the mountains to some distant and secluded place where there is a large rock or high peak, where he can look over the whole surrounding country all alone. There he prays to his God for health, strength and success. He does not drink water or eat and punishes himself as much as he can and stands up under the strain, he is gone from eight to twelve days and on his return he bathes himself, rests and sleeps, smokes his pipe for three or four weeks and then is ready to take up the calling of the doctor and will go with the old doctors for quite awhile so as to make sure that he makes no mistake in handling the cases nor in the uses of the different kinds of medicine to be used for different cases or diseases. These men doctors are called Pe-girk-ka-gay, the women doctors being called Kay-gay. Most of the men doctors are of the highest birth and are often members of the highest families and are often members of the secret lodge. It is only them that stop the women doctors and make them many of their accusations or retract their sayings, thus keeping them in bounds of reason, though they are very lenient with them and often let them go too far before they stop them. These men doctors help to start and to make the settlements for the white Deer-skin dance, and this is the time when all troubles between individuals, clans and villages are settled, so the whole tribe is in peace. If any of them are not willing to settle their difficulties they are strictly forbidden to attend the worship, and if they should attend they would lose the respect of the whole tribe, besides they would be dealt with harshly. So in case there be some that cannot make a settlement it is best for them to remain away for this is a time and place where all is free and the best of good cheer and behavior must prevail. The White Deer-skin Dance they hold every two years unless something of a serious nature happens and which sometimes did happen and so crippled the people that they could not hold them for a number of years, such as contagious diseases or other calamities. In years that everything was all right these men doctors would get together about the last of July or the first of August and have a talk and settle the question and give out the announcement that they were going to have the Deer-skin Dance (Oh-pure-ah-wah). The word would be sent out to all the Indians up and down the river, to the Hoopa and Smith river Indians and down the coast as far as Trinidad, and any and all of them of the other tribes could come and see the dance and none of them would ever be molested. Now they would begin to settle all of their quarrels among themselves by paying, this was done by arbitration in most of the cases, as they would select the ones that were friends to both sides of the ones in dispute. They would argue the case and bring them to a settlement if possible, and if they could not make a settlement they could not come to see the dance. This way things would move along and all kinds of sayings would be learned and disputed as those that had no authority would be guessing and often times give out something as coming from some of the head men. All would believe it to be true until it got far enough when the head ones would pronounce it as not authoritative and the false sayings would stop. Another false story would take its place and this would go on until about the middle of August when the Talth would get together and set the time for the dance to start. They always put in the fish dam first, it being a part of this great festival.

The one that handles the putting in of the fish dam is known as Lock, and the fish dam is called La-og-gen. Lock selects one other of the high priests and one girl of equal high birth and the three go to a secluded place out on a high mountain from which place they can have a good view of the surrounding country and there the girl makes a small fire and is given instructions of how and what to do. The other man is also directed what to do. Lock unrolls his emblems, which is a closely woven scroll that is absolutely water proof and takes from it the roots that he burns slowly over the fire that the maiden keeps burning. These roots are burned as an incense and have a sweet odor as they burn, and while they are burning Lock prays and sings to God to give him health and power to carry through all the hardships of putting in the dam. They remain here for two days and nights, then go back down the river to where the fish dam is to be placed. There they land with their boat and stop at a very large rock which is close up to the water’s edge, and a large creek of clear pure water which enters into the river just at and a little below this large rock. In the middle of the night the maiden gets wood and starts a small fire and fixes things for Lock and his helper. This girl is a virgin of purity. She goes across the river and bathes herself and dresses her hair, using her Indian knife like a comb, which she carries fastened to her wrist, until her hair is dry and glossy, then she lets it hang loose, wearing a band around her head made of beads which keeps the hair from falling over her face, just coming to the jaw, and if at any time the hair comes over her face she strokes it back with her Indian comb, but she never touches her hair with her hands. After she has bathed and dressed she goes to the lodge and lies down and sleeps until late in the morning when Lock and his helper come to the lodge and lie down and sleep until late in the morning when Lock-nee and his helper come to the lodge, when the three of them all take a bath, and then eat for the first time since they started. None of them are allowed any water and will not be allowed to drink any for many days yet. Some of these people would start in looking fine and when they came out they would often look like a walking skeleton, they would soon regain their flesh although sometimes they never would regain their normal condition. These three keep themselves secluded and no one has seen or heard of them, but all are anxiously waiting to hear the word. After they have had their meal, Lock and his helper go back across to the large rock, then Lock unrolls his scroll, burns some more incense and gives his order to his helper to go out to all the villages and call on as many to come forward and help to put in the fish dam as is needed, and this is the time for them to appear before Lock. Sometimes there will be from one hundred to two hundred young men, no old or sickly ones are wanted. After they all appear before Lock, he assigns to each lot of eight or ten of them, the part and amount that they are to do. After this they go home, fix up their provisions and camp outfit and in about thirty hours’ time the river bars in and around this place are alive with Indians, and the air is filled with merriment and jokes.

Early in the morning they all start out without eating, and cut the small pines that are from two to three inches through at the butt ends. Some will make a fire, and as the others are cutting and packing in they will take the green pine poles and run them through the fire until they are scorched then take them out and the bark is peeled off easily. While they are yet hot they split each one in two and four pieces, then others get long hazel withes and run them through the fire and while they are hot split them in two pieces, then they take them and the pine pieces and plat them together like mats, leaving the pine sticks about one and two inches apart, these mats when set upon end are about nine feet long, with five or six hazel withes about fourteen inches apart. After they get a mat put together they roll it up, making each mat so that one man can pack it on his shoulder and at a given time they all carry them down to the river to the place where the fish dam is to be put in. Others get the posts which are about eleven feet long and five or six inches through, they are all sharpened at one end and made very smooth, all the bark being taken off. Some get the long pole-beams or girders which are from twenty to twenty-four feet long and about six or seven inches through with the bark taken off. The girl that carries the true name of God is, during the day, in the lodge or house that is used only on these occasions. This house was kept in good condition at all times but no one lives in it, except on these occasions, also the sweat-house that Lock sleeps in while this work is going on. In the evening, about dusk, after all the workers have retired for the day, she quietly goes out and crosses the river, as Lock’s helper at this time is watching for her and takes the canoe over to take her where Lock is concealed under the large rock close to the bank of the river, and she gathers a quantity of dry wood by which Lock keeps a small fire burning all through the day and on which he burns incense. Lock keeps out of sight of all the workers as they do not want to see him and avoid doing so. Lock gives orders to his helper, directing him so that he can deliver the orders to the different companies of workers. This helper is one that has the birth but has not the secret of the true name of God. Lock gives him all the orders in a low whisper, and this helper is called Lock-ee.

As soon as the girl whom they call Normer, has finished, the three cross the river to the south side and after landing they all bathe, there being a secluded place close by where the girl takes her bath and when they have finished they proceed to the Lah-wah-alth or house where Lock’s wife and his helper’s wife are preparing the only meal that they eat every twenty-four hours. After the meal is finished Lock and his helper go to the sweat-house for the night in which a fire has been started by an old man who was selected to get the wood and thus the place was warm for the night. Lock and his helper take a smoke and then retire. Very early in the morning there is a fire made in the sweat-house and Lock and Lock-nee take a sweat and then go back across the river, Lock going to his secluded place and keeping himself hid so that none can catch even a glimpse of him. The girl also keeps secluded by keeping in the house where the wives of Lock and Lock-nee are, and she is busy fixing her dresses, combing her hair and keeping herself very neat and what spare time she may have after this she is making a new dress or skirt from the inner bark of the wild maple that grows on the river. The bark is bleached until white, then platted and hung to a band that goes around the waist, making it as a skirt, coming down to the ankles. All the workers which are called Nah-quelth are ready to work like beavers getting everything in readiness. No one eats more than one meal a day and all must be in good health and young before they are accepted to work on the fish dam. The day that it starts and until it is completed must not exceed ten days. The girl, Normer, now sends Lock’s wife or Lock-nee’s wife, (either one can go) to select for her ten girls all of which must be of good birth from the middle class or rich, and not more than ten, but if ten cannot be secured a less number will do. These young girls now come and are called Wah-clure, but they do not see Normer. They remain with their kindred and are drilled and fixed up to be ready for the last day and final finish of the fish dam. Now Lock-nee has selected from the Nah-quelth or workers, either five or six to act as managers over the different parts of the work, and these take the bark of the madrone and make a hat which looks very much like an old style plug hat that the white man wears. This is striped and painted in a novel fashion and these workers are very noticeable as they go from place to place giving instructions to the workers. These plug hat men now select twelve or less boys and put them to making ribbons of bark which they stripe off very flowery by painting and carving, also making fancy Indian pipes, carving and painting them very artistically. These boys are called Charrah and the pipes and ribbons made by them are put on the top of long slim poles from twelve to fifteen feet long and are to be used at the finish of the fish dam. These poles have the bark taken off and are clean and white.