Part 11

The legs begin at the bottom of the apron from which they are set off by two horizontal incisions. The apron at the outline of the object projects slightly beyond them. On each leg are five incised isosceles triangles,--three at the top and two at the bottom, with their long points extending towards the knees. At each side of the lower triangles is one line which seems to represent a continuation of the designs around the legs. On each triangle are horizontal hachure. On both knees are faint traces of two concentric incisions, forming figures with rounded corners and bulging sides. Between these are radiating hachure. Close inside is a concentric incised line and there may be seen two parallel lines, nearly horizontal, above the right knee and one below it, and one above the left knee. The triangles may be considered as pointing from these concentric designs rather than towards them, and in that case the lines, suggesting the continuation of the design around the leg, appear at the top instead of the bottom. It does not seem probable that these triangles represent part of a circular design radiating from the knees, the sides of which are folded around the legs, but rather that the two series of triangles extend horizontally. The incisions on the legs probably represent painting or tattooing, since the designs seem to be horizontal and to extend all around the legs, while on leggings the patterns are usually vertical and on a flap at the outer side of the leg, the knee being disregarded. Catlin[295] figures paintings on the arms and legs of the Mandan similar to the patterns on this carving. The custom is not rare, especially in connection with elaborate ceremonial costumes such as are no doubt represented by this figure. The vertical incisions on the feet probably represent the toes, or designs painted or tattooed on the feet. These lines argue against any idea that the feet are encased in moccasins, unless bead or quill work on, or improbable wrinkles in, the moccasins are indicated by them. Porcupine quills, embroidery, beadwork and painting on moccasins were used in the general plateau region of which this is a part.[296]

[295] Catlin, Plates V and VI.

[296] Lewis, p. 190.

Lewis suggests[297] that the tribes depending largely on the hunt, would be better supplied with skins for clothing than those subsisting generally on fish, and that in most of the plateau region, the scanty vegetation makes clothing from plant materials difficult, if not practically out of the question. In this connection, it will be remembered that this carving of antler which gives us our general archaeological information regarding ancient costume, comes from the higher or hunting region of the valley. It will also be remembered that sage brush and other plant materials were used for clothing in the Thompson River region to the north, where the vegetation is nearly as scanty as in the Yakima Valley.

[297] Lewis, p. 189.

Perhaps some suggestion as to the sex of the individual which this figure was intended to represent may be gleaned from the fact that in the Nez Perce region the costume of the men differed greatly from that of the women. The former wore moccasins, leggings, breech clout, shirt, blanket, and also the war-bonnet, while the latter wore moccasins, a long loose gown and a fez-shaped cap made of basketry, also occasionally leggings and less decoration on their costume than on that of the men. The ornamentation consisted of fringes, bead and quill work, shells, elk teeth, beads, and copper.[298] The men's clothing was decorated with fringes, and some with beads, porcupine quills and paint. Considering this figure from these facts it would seem that it was clearly intended to represent a man.

[298] Spinden, p. 216.

Some feathers of the flicker (202-8243) were found in grave No. 34 (3) in a rock-slide near the mouth of Cherry Creek. One of them had bound to its tip a little piece of fabric, another a bit of fur. These may have been part of a costume or ceremonial paraphernalia.

Of the different articles of clothing worn by the Nez Perce, Lewis says,[299] "These are formed of various skins and are in all respects like those particularly described of the Shoshones." Along the Columbia, the similarity was not so complete,[300] but as far down as the Upper Chinook many articles described as similar to those of the Shoshone were found.[301] All these, however, they declared were, obtained by trade from other tribes and from those who sometimes visit the Missouri.[302] According to Lewis,[303] the clothing and equipment of the Shoshone living on Lemhi and Salmon Rivers in Idaho were much the same as the Plains type, and it is quite probable that they had formerly lived farther east. There are two certain indications that this extensive introduction of eastern clothing took place about the time of Lewis and Clark's visit. When they went down the Columbia in 1805, they found the women wore quite a different dress, consisting merely of a breech clout of buckskin with occasionally the addition of a small robe of skin.[304] This is exactly the same dress as was worn by the Chinook women above the mouth of the Willamette.[305] When these explorers returned up the Columbia the following year they found the Indians particularly the women, much better dressed, and in the eastern or Shoshone style.[306] A few years later, Cox[307] mentioned the older type of dress as found only among a few miserable tribes along the Columbia, above the mouth of the Yakima.[308]

[299] Lewis and Clark, V, p. 30.

[300] _Ibid._, III, p. 125, IV, p. 317.

[301] _Ibid._, IV, pp. 239, 284, 289.

[302] _Ibid._, IV, 303.

[303] Lewis, p. 188.

[304] Lewis and Clark, III, pp. 125-137, and 143.

[305] Lewis, p. 189.

[306] Lewis and Clark, IV, pp. 322 and 337.

[307] Cox, p. 229.

[308] Lewis, pp. 188-189.

_Deformation._ All of the skulls secured in this area by our party showed antero-posterior deformation, although not so extreme as is found in the Lower Columbia region. Accompanying this in many cases was a concave depression in the anterior parietal region. The flattening of the head was practised to a limited extent by tribes living along the Columbia River above the Chinook, but limited, according to Lewis, almost entirely to the women, and gradually died out towards the east.[309]

[309] Lewis, p. 150; Lewis and Clark, III, pp. 125 and 137; IV, p. 324; Hale. p. 213; Whitman, pp. 91 and 95 (1891).

GAMES, AMUSEMENTS AND NARCOTICS.

_Games._ Dice made of beaver teeth or woodchuck teeth, such as were found in the Thompson River region,[310] but which were not found in the shell heaps of the Lower Fraser, or in fact, in any of those of the coast of Washington or British Columbia, were absent among our finds in this region although a beaver tooth was seen in the cremation rectangle No. 21 (16) near the mouth of the Naches River.

[310] Smith, (d), Fig. 100; (c), p. 428.

A number of small tubes, made of bone which may have been used in gambling, were found here. Four of them, about 42 mm. long and 9 mm. in diameter, with the ends ground squarely across, but with the edges somewhat rounded possibly by wear, were found in the east northeastern part of the bottom of grave No. 10 (5) in a rock-slide on the north side of the Naches River about half a mile above its mouth. Fig. 97 shows one of two other bone tubes of similar size and shape, the ends ground somewhat more perfectly flat, which were found in grave No. 1, in the rock-slide on the north side of the Yakima Ridge to the southeast of the Yakima River. Another bone tube from this same grave (Fig. 98) is 43 mm. long and 12 mm. in diameter, and the ends are ground off flat. This bears nine about equi-distant incised lines, which run around it in such a way that the lower end of each line is on the opposite side of the bone from its upper end. It is charred. Such bone tubes were found at Lytton,[311] in pouches in the graves, in other parts of the Thompson River region[312] to the north and in the shell heaps of the Lower Fraser River[313] to the west. In the Nez Perce region dice and gaming pieces were commonly made of bone.[314] Cylindrical sections of the long bone of the deer were used in gambling,[315] and whistles were made of the long bones of the sand hill crane.[316]

[311] Smith, (d), p. 154.

[312] Teit, (a), p. 275.

[313] Smith, (a), p. 180.

[314] Spinden, p. 189.

[315] Spinden, p. 254.

[316] Spinden, p. 189.

The perforated cylinder shown in Fig. 99, made of serpentine is 44 mm. long and 8 mm. in diameter, rounded at the edges and was found in about the centre of grave No. 10 (5). There are five small pits about equi-distant from each other around this cylinder near the top, and four near the bottom. There are two transverse incised lines just below the five pits, and there is an incision about 12 mm. above the bottom of the specimen, below which the diameter is perhaps half a mm. greater than at the top. Near the middle of the object it is pierced by a hole which tapers from each end. While this object also may have been used in gambling, it seems possible that it may be an amulet.

_Narcotics._ Pipes of seven distinct types were found in this region; a tube, a simple bowl, a disk with both bowl and stem made in the periphery, an elbow form, a modern inlaid pipe similar to the typical form of the catlinite pipe of the Plains, a tomahawk-pipe in stone, and a pipe carved in the art of the North Pacific coast.

A tubular pipe made of steatite is shown in Fig. 100. It was collected by Mr. Frank N. McCandless from the Yakima Indians. Mr. McCandless says the stone differs from that found at the head of Wenatchee Lake, which is sometimes used for pipes in this region. This pipe is No. 215 in his collection deposited in the Ferry Museum in the City Hall at Tacoma. It is 51 mm. long and the bowl has been broken off irregularly, about half of it apparently having been broken away. The bowl flares rather more abruptly than is the case in the pipes usually found either in this region or that of the Thompson River. In this respect it resembles the tubular pipes made of steatite, found on the coast of British Columbia.[317] In outline, it is nearly straight, while most pipes of this type have bowls convexly curved in a form characteristic of the type found in the interior of British Columbia and of Washington. The bowl has been gouged out. There is a ridge or ring around the pipe where the bowl meets the stem. Oblique incisions slanting downward from left to right, at an angle of about 45°, mark this ridge, making it suggest a twisted cord. The end of the stem is similarly marked. These lines are again mentioned under art on p. 125. The stem expands from the ridge to the end. The outline of the stem is rather straight or slightly concave, while most pipes of this type have more slender or nearly cylindrical stems. The interior of the stem was apparently formed by whittling. The pipe is stained by tobacco which suggests that while it may be old, it has nevertheless been recently smoked.[318] In the Nez Perce region to the east the earliest form of pipe, according to Spinden, was doubtless the straight tubular type.[319] One of the pipes figured by him has a flange for a mouthpiece similar to those found in the Thompson River region, and this flange is perforated near one end. This particular type of pipe is also found in Oregon.[320] A pipe of this type, but which much more nearly resembles the typical form of tubular pipe of this region, especially the shorter specimens, is reproduced in Fig. 101 from Lewis and Clark.[321] This specimen which is made of green stone and has a stem, was seen among the Shoshone Indians at the headwaters of the Lemhi River, Idaho, by Lewis, August thirteenth, 1805. It marks the eastern limits of the occurrence of this type of pipe, so far as I am aware at present, the short forms having been found at Fulford Harbor, North Saanich, Sidney[322] and Port Hammond,[323] on the southern coast of British Columbia, Damon[324] on the coast of Washington, Lytton[325] in the interior of British Columbia, Umatilla[326] and Blalock Island,[327] near Umatilla, both in the interior of Washington. In the Journal for Tuesday, August 13, 1805, Lewis refers to this pipe, as follows:--"the chief then lit his pipe at the fire kindled in this little magic circle ... pointed the stem to the four cardinal points of the heavens first beginning at the East and ending with the North. He now presented the pipe to me, as if desirous that I should smoke, but when I reached my hand to receive it, he drew it back and repeated the same c[e]remony three times, after which he pointed the stem first to the heavens then to the center of the magic circle smoked himself with three whifs and held the pipe until I took as many as I thought proper; he then held it to each of the white persons and then gave it to be consumed by his warriors. This pipe was made of a dense semi-transparent green stone very highly polished about 2-1/2 inches long and of an oval figure, the bowl being in the same direction with the stem. A small piece of birned clay is placed in the bottom of the bowl to seperate the tobacco from the end of the stem and is of an irregularly rounded figure not fitting the tube perfectly close in order that the smoke may pass. This is the form of the pipe. Their tobacco is of the same kind of that used by the Minnetares Mandans and Ricares of the Missouri. The Shoshonees do not cultivate this plant, but obtain it from the Rocky mountain Indians and some of the bands of their own nation who live further south."[328]

[317] Smith, (a), Figs. 48 and 55; (b), Fig. 139.

[318] Museum negative no. 44506, 6-7.

[319] Spinden, p. 188, Figs. 4 and 5, Plate IX.

[320] Moorehead, Fig. 457, p. 316, Figs. 9, 17, 22 and 25.

[321] Lewis and Clark, II, p. 342.

[322] Smith, (b), Fig. 139.

[323] Smith, (a), Fig. 48.

[324] Smith, (b), Fig. 139.

[325] Smith, (h), p. 34.

[326] _Ibid._, Fig. 7.

[327] _Ibid._, p. 36.

[328] Lewis and Clark. II, p. 341.

Mr. James Teit informs me that a flange like the end of a spool at the mouth of the stem of a tubular pipe, makes it of a type which seems to him peculiarly characteristic of the Thompson River region. In some cases this peculiarity is carried over into the stems of pipes of the modern or elbow type, which have wooden stems, as is shown in Fig. 102. Mr. Teit has never seen or heard of tubular pipes from the Thompson River region with holes through the flanges. It seems possible that the hole in such specimens as one from Umatilla, Oregon,[329] may have been made for the attachment of ornaments or symbolic material such as feathers or for a cleaner. Ornaments were sometimes attached to pipes of the elbow type in the Thompson River region. This was done by tying in a hole bored through the hatchet-shaped piece underneath the shank close to the elbow. Pipes of the simple bowl type often had an extension at the foot of the bowl, sometimes perforated, to which ornaments could be attached. On the other hand, the hole may have been to facilitate attaching the pipe to its wooden stem. The pipes that have been perforated through the flange,[330] however, seem to have too small a bore for a wooden stem; yet, a pipe of this type with a wooden stem has been shown in Fig. 101. One reason given Mr. Teit by the Indians for the making of the flange or other thickening at the mouth of the pipe stem was to prevent the string used in attaching the pipe to the wooden stem slipping off. According to all of them, wooden stems were always used with tubular pipes as with elbow and simple bowl pipes; for a person cannot smoke any kind of stone pipe more than a few draws before it becomes too hot for the lips. To Mr. Teit's mind, no matter how small the bore of the pipe, a regular stem must have been used for smoking.

[329] Smith, (h), Fig. 7a.

[330] Smith, (h), Fig. 4.

Some tubular pipes are said to have had a flange around the mouth of the bowl, similar to that on elbow pipes as in Fig. 103; but this flange meets the body of the bowl with an even curve. Mr. Teit does not distinctly remember having seen such flanged tubular pipe bowls among the Thompson River Indians who gave him this information, but he saw one specimen at least, of the elbow type with flanged bowl. He further states that to his knowledge there is only one part of the country where the semi-transparent green steatite is obtained; that is, on the west side of the Fraser River, over twenty miles north of Lytton, which as is well known is at the mouth of the Thompson River. This stone, when polished and used, takes on a much darker hue than its original color. The fire may be seen through the stone of the pipes when smoked in the dark. The bluish gray steatite is the most commonly employed and it turns black when polished and used. The Thompson River Indians can usually tell from what part of the country the stone comes of which any particular pipe is made.

The tubular form of pipe is remembered by the old Indians to have been in use in the Thompson River region, although not so common as the simple pipe bowls and elbow pipes, and one was seen in use in eastern Washington as late as 1896.[331] On the other hand, no simple pipe bowls known to be such, or elbow pipes have been seen among archaeological finds. The bowl and elbow pipes are affiliated with forms found farther east. This fact suggests that the tubular pipe was supplanted recently by bowl and elbow forms brought in from the southeast, or at least from the east. The westward movement of tribes due to the encroachment of our settlements may have brought them, or some of them, and they may be patterned after pipes seen in the hands of fur traders and their Indian employees. The tubular pipe made of steatite, shown in Fig. 104, was purchased from Mr. W. Z. York of Old Yakima (Old Town), who secured it from Shaw-wa-way, an Indian known as "Young Chief Aleck," who lives on a ranch three miles south of Old Yakima. This Indian is known to have frequently visited the Okanogon region and it is possible that he secured the pipe, decorated as it is, or got the idea for this particular sort of decoration from that region. This is suggested by the fact that this particular kind of decoration is common, especially on more recent ornaments, in the Thompson River region, the people of which in turn frequently visited the Okanogon country. The bowl of the pipe is cut squarely across at the end where the outer edge has been rounded. It is of the typical shape of this form of pipes, and has been hollowed out by gouging contra-screw-wise. It meets the stem abruptly and the latter is slightly larger than the base of the bowl, so that it seems to be separated from it. The stem is very short and cylindrical and the end is cut squarely off; but it is bevelled on each side so that about one third of the end is left and the bevelled surfaces extend over half the length of the stem. This beveling may have been to form the mouthpiece; but it seems more likely that the pipe had a long stem similar to those found in the Thompson River region.[332] This seems to have been broken off obliquely near the bowl, then cut squarely across, and the other side bevelled to give bilateral symmetry because one of these bevelled surfaces appears as if it had been broken and then only slightly smoothed; both of these surfaces and the square end of the stem seem to have been more recently cut than the rest of the pipe. These three surfaces seem less polished and as if they were made with a steel knife. The bore of the stem measures 5 mm. in diameter. A portion of the bowl is decorated by incised lines into which red paint has been daubed, suggesting that it was recently applied; while the design itself, which is further described on p. 131 under the section of art, is of figures which suggest that it was made lately. Possibly the pipe is old, but was recently broken and decorated with the incised design and paint.

[331] Teit, (a), p. 300.

[332] Smith, (d), Figs. 103, 104 and 111; (c), Figs. 37 1a, b.

The fragment of a sculptured tubular pipe made of steatite shown in Fig. 105 is apparently about half of the original object. It was found in an Indian grave about a quarter of a mile from the bank of the Yakima River at a point about nine miles above its mouth, in August 1902, by Mr. W. F. Sonderman of Kennewick. Mr. Sonderman's collection from the immediate vicinity contained glass beads, a metallic handle and buttons, as well as chipped points. As the contents of the three graves from which he obtained this collection, during the construction of an irrigation canal were mixed, it seems that this pipe may belong to the same period as that of the glass beads and other objects of European manufacture and consequently may be modern, although it may be an old specimen, deposited in a modern grave. The general form of the pipe was thought to be that of a cone. The portion towards the front of the carving, however, is somewhat longer than that towards the rear, and the back is nearly flat, although this may be caused simply by the carving. The bore is somewhat smaller at the mouth of the bowl than lower down. It was apparently gouged out. Some traces of dirt, perhaps the remains of the material smoked in the pipe may be seen towards its larger opening. The carving, which represents a human form, is further described under the section of art on p. 135. As the tubular form of pipe seems to be common to this region, as well as to the Thompson River region, further north, it would seem that this specimen may be a variation from the type or merely one of these pipes made by an artist. It may be that such sculptured forms of this type of pipe may not be found in the Thompson River region, and that the carving of tubular pipes in this way may be characteristic of the Yakima region, although the style of art suggests that found in the Thompson River region and more especially in the Lillooet Valley.