Chinookans of the Lower Columbia River

John Beierle

Chinook, Cheenook, Tsinúk, Tchinouks, Tsniūk, Clackamas, Clatsop, Cathlamet (Kathlamet), Lower Chinookans, Multnomah, Shoalwater Chinook, Wahkiakum.

This collection focuses on the Chinookan language speakers of the Lower Columbia River including the Chinook proper, the Clackamas, Clatsop, Shoalwater Chinook, Wahkiakum, and the Cathlamet (Kathlamet). The name "Chinookan" derives from Tsinù, their Chehalis name. The Chinookans lived on the Pacific coast of the United States from Willapa Bay in the north to Tillamook Head in the south. Eastward they extended along both banks of the Columbia River in the states of Washington and Oregon from its mouth to just beyond the Willamette River to its falls, and along the Clackamas River. In the mid-nineteenth century, following the smallpox epidemics in 1782-1783, 1830-1833, and 1853, which decimated the tribe, the remaining Chinookans united with other tribes of Oregon and Washington and especially with the Chehalis Indians. We will refer to the Chinookans of the Lower Columbia River as Chinookans throughout this article.

By the late twentieth century, Chinookans had divided into three groups: the Wahkiakum Chinook on the Quinault Reservation, the Shoalwater Bay Chinook who were granted federal recognition in 1979, and the Chinook Indian Tribe that has been granted Washington State recognition (Hillstrom 1998: 280).

In 1780 Mooney estimated that the combined Chinookans and Killaxthokl (a group believed to have been living on Willapa Bay at the time) were 800 in number. Lewis and Clark, in 1806, estimated the population on the lower Columbia River at 1,100, a figure that Gibbs considers as too low. Wilkes' total for 1841 was 509. According to Gibbs, following the smallpox epidemic of 1853, there were only 66 Chinookans remaining on the river with 34 on Willapa Bay. In 1855, Swan's estimate of the population was 112, at which time they were thoroughly mixed with the Chehalis, a Salish tribe. Although these figures are only approximate, the rapid rate of depopulation is apparent (Ray, 1938, no. 1). Despite the rapid decline in population as mirrored in the statistics listed above, Chinookans have increased in number. In 1980 the population was about 900 (Ruby and Brown, 1986: 24) and in 1990 the population was 1,700 (Hillstrom, 1998: 276).

The Chinookan languages are classified as a branch of Penutian phylum of languages. The languages are divided into two branches -- Upper and Lower Chinookan. Of these, Lower Chinookan was subdivided into two minor dialectal variations -- Chinook proper and Clatsops. The Chinookans near the mouth of the Columbia river were Lower Chinookan speakers. There is disagreement about the placement of the Kathlamet. Ray (1938, no. 1) considered them to be Lower Chinookan speakers; whereas Silverstein (1990, no. 9) and Ruby (1976, 5) consider Kathlamets to be Upper Chinookan. Upper Chinookan consisted of numerous speech variations. Although on a cultural basis the Chinookans, Clatsops, Wahkiakkums, and Kathlamets, were ethnically similar, the latter two groups spoke the Kathlamet language, which some consider to be Upper Chinookan.

Ethnologue (14th ed.) reports that in 1996 there remained only 12 speakers of the Kiksht dialect of Lower Chinookan.

First mention of the Chinookans of the lower Columbia River was made in 1792 by Robert Gray, and John Boit, captain and mate of the ship Columbia, and later in the same year by the English navigator and explorer George Vancouver. Lewis and Clark first described the Chinookans in 1805, although known to traders for at least 12 years before that date. They described in detail the region, its people, and their material culture; data which were confirmed in large part by the early fur traders, such as Gabriel Franchère, Alexander Ross, Ross Cox, and Alexander Henry during the early period of the Astoria trading post in 1811-1814. Long before large-scale Euro-American immigration to the Columbia and Willamette regions, traders had carried on a lucrative trade with the Chinookans of the Lower Columbia River populations of the area, exchanging European manufactured goods, for furs and dressed hides. The items obtained from the Europeans, served by both their novelty and utility as functional alternatives to those objects of aboriginal manufacture. These European goods were much sought after, and commanded high prices in intertribal trade. Through the acquisition of these goods the down-river groups of Chinookans (those closest to the mouth of the Columbia River and the European trading posts) acquired prestige for themselves and a feeling of independence from the up-river groups, in the sense of trade, by freeing them from dependence on items no longer considered as essential to their culture. So strong was the economic competition between up-river and down-river Chinookan groups at this time that those Chinookans, especially those under Chief Concomly, who were in the closest contact with the Astorian traders, sought in every way to prevent and frustrate direct contact between the Europeans and their up-river and inland rivals (Silverstein, 1990, no. 9). From their close proximity to Astoria and their intimate relations with the early traders, the Chinookans soon became well known and their language formed the basis of a common trade language known as "Chinook jargon" that formed a common means of communication which eventually stretched from California to Alaska.

During the period of 1830-1855, accounts by settlers, missionaries, and explorers reflect the severe depopulation of the region due in large part to epidemics of measles, malaria, and other diseases introduced in large part by contact with Europeans. Survivors of the epidemics adapted as best they could to the changing conditions, but by the 1850s the Clackamas, Multnomah and other Upper Chinookan speaking groups were encouraged by treaty, to adopt reservation life in exchange for residual fishing rights. By 1900 several of the Clackamas and Multnomah groups were settled on the Grand Ronde Reservation in Oregon and in several of the towns of the lower Willamette Valley and had intermarried extensively with other ethnic groups, as for example, the Kalapuya and Molala.

By the late nineteenth century, Chinookan society as seen by Lewis and Clark no longer existed. By 1900 many of the groups had merged with one another; the Chinookans proper and Shoalwater Chinookans, and probably also the lowermost Cathlamet-speaking tribes had merged with the Willapa Bay Salishans and a number of Clatsop groups had merged with the Tillamook even adopting their language.

The Shoalwater Bay Chinook were granted federal recognition in 1979 (Hillstrom 1998: 280) and the Chinook Indian Tribe was recognized by the State of Washington and they have been working with other Native Americans in Washington to gain federal recognition (Hillstrom 1998: 280).

Chinookan villages and clusters of villages were located along the Pacific seacoast and the banks of the Columbia River to a point above the Willamette River. These areas provided not only an abundance of fish, game, and sources of eatable shoots, roots, and berries, but also easy access to water as a source of transportation. Villages varied in size from single dwellings to as many as 50 (at the height of the fishing season). Villages were of two basic types, the more permanent winter village consisting of oblong, gabled-roof, upright-cedar-plank houses, and the temporary summer village, used at fishing, hunting, and root-gathering camps, which consisted of cattail-mat-sided structures, sometimes with cedar bark roofs, laid over a light framework. The houses of the permanent village were quite large in size, ranging from single-family structures of about 12 by 20 feet, to extended family patrifocal dwellings of from 40 by 100 feet. Some of these extended family households would lodge anywhere from three to fifteen nuclear families, each with their own individual fireplaces. Early writers, such as Vancouver and Lewis and Clark, noted that the ends of the house were painted or sometimes carved in relief, in the form of a human-like figure with open mouth, or legs, straddling the doorway, and holding up the roof. Later writers, however, fail to mention this and the practice had apparently fallen out of use. Interiors of the structures were excavated to a depth of three to four feet, accessible from the door by a ladder. Spaces between each mid-line support were excavated an additional foot in an eight foot square. This was framed for the nuclear family fireplaces, with smoke holes being removable planks in the roof. Beds, elevated three to four feet off the floor, were located along two or three sides of the dwelling. These were used not only for sleeping but also for storage of household goods (Silverstein, 1990, no. 9).

Hunting, fishing, and gathering were the primary subsistence activities of the Chinookan people.

Although the Pacific Ocean formed the entire western boundary of the Chinookan area, little or no ocean fishing was done the preference being for the more productive and more accessible fishing grounds offered by Wallapa Bay and the Columbia River.

The great seasonal runs of salmon (five species), sturgeon, steelhead trout, eulachon, and herring generally took place in late spring or summer. Fishing areas, with many sites, were traditionally controlled by a given group who would move to these locations during the peak fishing season. This group had the right of use but not of ownership of the site. Fishing techniques involved the use of various types of nets, spears, and detachable gaff hooks on long lines. First salmon ceremonies, lasting several days, were observed for the first of the Chinook salmon caught, and similar rites were held for the first sturgeon. Shellfish, such as clams, were an important food source in the Wallapa Bay region. Clams were also dried and traded to various groups along the Columbia River.

Beached whales, as well as seals, sea lions, and porpoises, which were speared, provided meat, blubber, and oil. These products were utilized not only for home consumption but also as important commodities in trade.

Elk, deer, bear, and other large game animals were hunted for food; raccoons, squirrels, beavers, rabbits, otters, and other small animals provided both food and skins out of which robes were made. These animals were traditionally taken by the use of deadfalls, pit traps, snares, spears, bows and arrows, and muskets. In addition to the various berries, spring shoots and roots that were gathered and eaten, by the Chinookans, the WAPATO tuber was an important vegetable staple in the diet and an item of trade. Also gathered were camas, edible thistle, lupine, bracken fern, horsetail, cattail roots, wild celery, and wild crabapple.

In the late twentieth century fishing in the Columbia River and the Pacific Ocean was still a major subsistence activity. Some Chinookans of the Lower Columbia River traveled to Alaska to fish or work in the canning industry. In 1989 the tribe opened a bingo establishment on Long Beach Peninsula, Washington (Hillstrom, 1998: 280), which, according to Beckham (1996: 110), has been thriving.

Household items included a variety of carved, woven, and shaped utensils. Carved objects of wood included boxes with watertight inverted covers, troughs and canoe-shaped trenchers, extensively carved and painted spirit-power figurines and reliefs on the framework of houses, and elegant bowls and serving pieces. Little use was made of stone except as net weights and heat radiators for boiling and steaming in the process of shaping wood. Other manufactured items were baskets of several varieties used in the transportation of food, for trade, or for the storage of pounded salmon. Sewn cattail mats were used for floor coverings, as rainwear, for wrapping bodies for burial, and as temporary shelters. Many of these mats were elaborately decorated with bear grass designs (Silverstein, 1990, no. 9).

Commerce formed a significant part of Chinookan life. Trade routes, north and south along the coast, along the Columbia River, and from the interior all centered at the mouth of the Columbia as the center of trade in the region. Trade goods from a variety of sources in the area tended to concentrate here and were dispersed by the Chinookans who became the middlemen in all transactions. The selection of this point as the center of early European fur trading activities reflected the commercial importance of the site in native life.

The standard medium of evaluation and exchange in trade relations was the dentalium shell (Dentalium pretiosum Nuttall), called HIGUA by the Chinookans, which was obtained from Vancouver Island and the Strait of Juan de Fuca region. These shells were used in great quantity in the daily routine of trade and also furnished the bulk of the supply used in the southern Plateau and western Oregon. The shells varied in size from one-fourth of an inch to three inches and were valued according to how many were required to make a fathom (six feet) when strung together.

Items circulating in trade within the region included dried shellfish, dried meat and fish, furs, blubber, canoes, dried berries, WAPATO and camas (from the up-river groups), dressed elk, deer and otter skins, slaves, and of course, the ever present dentalia shells.

The effects of the European traders on Chinookan society has been noted above in the section entitled "History and Cultural Relations".

The division of labor tended to follow the usual gender lines, but there was an unusually broad sharing of tasks between men and women. Women were the gatherers, basket makers, fabricators of various household items from natural products (e.g., rushes, cattails, bear grass, etc.), food preparers, and servers of the food. They also assisted in the fishing activities of the community, and shared responsibility for the management of the canoes while they were under way. Men gathered firewood, made the fires, manufactured all wooden utensils, constructed canoes, and built houses. Men also assisted in the cleaning and preparing fish, which were served at almost every meal. For feasts and when special guests were present, the food was prepared, cooked, and served exclusively by men. Lesser household activities were shared equally by both genders (Ray, 1975, no. 6).

All hunting, fishing, and gathering areas in Chinookan territory were exploited in common by all the local groups. As previously noted, however, certain groups would control the use of, but not own rights to specific, very productive fishing sites. In general, it is the rights of use rather than the actual ownership of land that forms one of the basic tenets of the Chinookan property system. Property ownership was conceived of only in terms of personal goods and chattel (e.g., slaves).

Following puberty a boy's parents began to gather sufficient property so that his marriage could be arranged. In this they were aided by relatives for the amount of goods transferred was directly related to the family's social position in the community. These goods, often consisting of slaves, canoes, blankets, robes, and dentalia, were tentatively offered to the head of the prospective bride's house. If the gifts were accepted the groom's family was then invited to the bride's village for a feast and elaborate mutual presentation. When the visitors departed the bride and groom accompanied them. The next formal relations between the parents of the bride and groom occurred a year later. At this time the bride's family visited the groom's bringing with them large quantities of food that they had been accumulating all year long. Presents were interchanged between the families followed by feasting and dancing which lasted for the next two or three days. A similar presentation of goods to the groom's family took place after the birth of the first child, which preferably took place in the bride's village. Since residence was uniformly patrilocal, shortly after the birth, the mother and child returned to the husband's home, accompanied by large quantities of food, and subsequent feasting. For the established men in the community, those frequently referred to as "chiefs", subsequent wives were obtained by payment to the bride's father or other responsible relative. The number of wives that a man had was an important symbol of rank in the society. Both levirate and sororate marriages were strictly observed by the Chinookans. Infant betrothals sometimes occurred with the simple expedient of the exchange of a few presents to bind the bargain. Divorce was optional only to the husband, and was not accompanied by the return of presents.

The basic domestic unit among the Chinookans was the extended family, dwelling together in a large three-generation house. This family consisted of a man's wife or wives, sons or blood relations, and their dependents and slaves. The head of this household was the highest man by class and rank, who was still in his prime, and who was also the owner of the house.

There is little information in the literature on the inheritance patterns of the Chinookans. Apparently, on the day following the death and burial of an individual, the personal property or articles intimately associated with the deceased are given away to friends and relatives. Guardian spirit paraphernalia were taken into the deep woods and left there by young men of the tribe. Other goods of the deceased, such as bed and blankets were burned. The house of the deceased was generally abandoned, at least for a time. Sometimes the house was torn down and reconstructed in a different location. On rare occasions the house was burned down, but this usually marked the death of a person of high rank.

Shortly after birth the newborn infant was placed in a cradle. Two types of cradles were used. The first of these was a flat board cradle with a hinged and padded board, which was held firmly against the child's head by thongs to produce head flattening. The second type was a dugout cradle, usually made of cedar, with two basketry pads filled with thin cedar bark to produce the flattening. The children of freemen were all subject to extensive head flattening, a practice forbidden to slaves, because it represented a distinctive mark of status in the society. A child was kept in a cradle until it was able to walk. Nursing continued for two or three years, and sometimes longer. At about one year of age, the child was given a name, in a ceremony arranged by the grandparents. On the day the ceremony was to be held guests arrived early in the day at the parent's house, and a period of singing and dancing preceded the actual naming. At last a person was selected to name the infant who held it high in the air and shouted out its name, which was always an ancestral one. The paternal grandmother conferred the name in the case of a male child, the maternal grandmother in the case of a female. The individual who held the child aloft then announced who it was that bestowed the name, and to which ancestor it had originally belonged. That ancestor was then eulogized and good wishes for the child's future were expressed. The ceremony then concluded with additional singing and dancing, the distribution of presents, and a feast. At about the age of six or seven the parents sometimes changed the name of the child, but no ceremony was associated with this name change. Later in life an individual might wish to change names based on an unusual experience, a serious illness, or the acquisition of shamanistic power. In addition to ancestral names, the Chinookans commonly possessed guardian spirits or ceremonial names.

As with many other hunting, fishing, and gathering societies it can be reasonably assumed that parents instructed their children in those gender skills deemed most appropriate for their roles as adults in the society.

At puberty and the first menses a girl was secluded for a five-month period and had to observe numerous taboos. This period of seclusion was marked by two ceremonies, one at the beginning of the five-month period that included singing, dancing, and feasting, and another at the end of this period that included the same basic elements but was somewhat more elaborate. There was no formal recognition of the puberty period in boys.

The basis of Chinookan social organization was centered around class structure and rank, as for example between the ascribed status of free men and slaves, between the upper class and commoners or lower class, and between those of prestigious rank, such as chiefs, and those individuals of lower rank in the society. In general, high status, class, and rank were associated with wealth, which was exhibited, consumed, or bestowed according to the social situation. This linkage, through wealth, provided the means of enterprising commoners to elevate themselves to the fringes of the upper class. Since chiefly families and slaves formed a hereditary maximal dichotomy in the society, it was commoners, who, as individuals, elevated or lowered their status through personal achievements or reverses (Silverstein, 1990, no. 9). In addition to factors of wealth and birth, another variable in distinctions of rank was that directed against neighboring groups. For example, upland and inland people were considered of lower rank than those on the coast, the differential largely depending on distance from the Chinookans proper.

Slaves constituted the lowermost segment of Chinookan society. They were treated as articles of property, or chattels, which were bought and sold, thrown into makeshift graves or the water when dead, and sometimes killed at the burial of their owner. Lacking any rights, slaves were nevertheless generally well treated in the household of their owners. To them fell the heaviest work in the community, with the division of labor being the usual one according to gender. Because of their lowly status it was the worst loss of face in Chinookan society to be made fun of by slaves, or to be publicly called "slave". Slaves did not have their heads flattened at birth, thus symbolizing their inherited status as aliens. Most slaves were obtained by sale or trade with neighboring groups, although some were taken as the result of slave raids on other people. One of the special privileges of chiefs and other members of the upper class was the seizure of orphaned children to be sold into slavery to other groups.

Each village had its own chief with succession to office passing from father to eldest son. In cases of polygynous marriage in which a chief had sons by different wives of different social standings, it was the son of the highest-ranking wife who succeeded to the chieftainship. Usually a chief's authority extended only to his own village, but in cases of particularly able, well-liked, or even greatly feared chiefs their sphere of influence could extend over a much greater region. This was true in the case of chief Concomly of the village of QWATSA'MTS near the mouth of the Columbia River who extended his influence through trade control and military strength as far north as Willapa Harbor. Distinct duties of the chief included the judging and peaceful settlement of quarrels within the community, supervision of economic movements, and the supervision of all activities associated with war, except the actual military maneuvers themselves, although he indirectly controlled them through his appointment of a war chief. In addition to the above the chief also had the power to appropriate the property of others without respect to the wishes of the owner. In theory this type of property appropriation was a general privilege of the upper classes, but in actual practices, it was only the chief who dared to do it. Sub-chiefs or dual chieftainship were unknown among the Chinookans, but apparently a council did exist. This council was highly informal and relatively unimportant. A spokesman who was selected for his ability at oratory served each chief. This individual not only added strength of presentation to the words of the chief, but also served as intermediary between classes, since the Chinookans believed that a chief should not speak directly to the lower class.

There is little information in the literature on social control among the Chinookans, but what little there is seems to indicate that chiefs seemed to exert some degree of control over their fellow villagers to keep conflict at a minimum. Just how much control, however, is a moot question (Ray, 1938, no. 1).

In intra-village hostilities the chief functioned to keep peace in the village and as a judge in the arbitration of disputes. Generally the formal institution of the payment of blood money settled serious torts. Wrongs of a lesser nature were handled by the payment of fines to the injured person, as assessed by the chief.

Warfare for the settlement of disputes between individuals of different villages resulted only when more peaceful modes of solution were exhausted, or in the event of persistent friction over an unresolved point. In general, warfare among the Chinookans was relatively infrequent and usually quite bloodless, but highly formalized. Battles were preceded by a "dance of incitement" in which warriors in full war regalia and shamans danced and sang. The shamans predicted the outcome of the battle and interpreted the visions of the dancers. Before joining battle with members of the hostile village all attempts were made to bring about reconciliation, often through the use of a neutral mediator. If peaceful relations were still not achieved, then the actual fighting began. The battle was terminated when a few individuals on either or both sides had been killed. Eventually peace was restored through the exchange of presents. If at this point the feud was still not settled, then a woman was married to a man of th e other side and peace was restored.

Traditional religious life among the Chinookans centered primarily on the quest for guardian spirits sought through fasting and prayer during adolescence. There was no class or gender restrictions for those seeking guardian spirits, boys, girls, slaves, the upper class, and commoners were all encouraged to acquire supernatural helpers through the vision quest. For boys and girls the period of vision seeking began around ten years of age, ending abruptly for girls at their first menses, and for boys after marriage, which generally occurred shortly after puberty. Children were sent on vision quests at any time of the year to traditional locations favored for spirit seeking -- hills, mountains tops, swampy areas, etc. Many animals, birds, inanimate objects such as rocks and bodies of water, and various other natural phenomena such as whirlwinds, thunder, and clouds all served as guardian spirits. If any of these spirits "adopted" the vision seeker they endowed that individual with latent powers and talents which did not come to full fruition until that person attained "maturity" many years later. At that time the spirit returned to the individual and became an active tutelary. Shamanistic power was acquired in the same manner as any other power. When a vision quest resulted in a successful contact with a guardian spirit it was not known whether the powers received could be used for shamanistic purposes or not. One individual might receive cougar power and become a great hunter while another with the same spirit might become a great shaman. In addition to the powers received from the guardian spirit, this tutelary would often convey a song and dance to the visionary that was to be used at the time of initiation into the winter dance, and later at subsequent dances.

Shamans were both male and female and functioned primarily as curers of the sick, although some were better at this in the treatment of certain diseases than others depending on the characteristics of their tutelaries. On occasion shamans were called on for the purposes of sorcery, predicting future events, and even to find lost objects. As noted above shamanistic powers received through the vision quest did not immediately lead to practice. It was necessary for the aspiring shaman to undergo a long period of apprenticeship lasting up to five years under the tutelage of a more experienced mentor. At first the novice was only allowed to assist in the treatment of a patient, until finally, with more experience, he or she was permitted to treat a patient alone, but always with the teacher present. When the novice shaman was judged experienced enough to practice alone, and without supervision, an initiation ceremony was held at the next winter dance. At this time the person or persons who had been cured by the new shaman gave testimony as to his or her's abilities. The initiate then danced, sang spirit songs, and joined the ranks of the other shamans. In some cases similar ceremonies were held at the beginning and one at the end of the training period.

The major religious ceremony of the Chinookans was the guardian spirit or winter dance, shared in common with the people all along the entire length of the Columbia River. The dance season ran from September until the following spring. Each dance lasted only five days, but many were held in various parts of the territory, thus requiring the dancers to move from one area to another. Individuals possessing guardian spirit power individually sponsored these dances. Although shamanistic or power performances formed part of the dance program, they apparently were relatively unimportant in contrast to the dance performances using "power sticks", or "power boards", objects infused with supernatural power that were used not only for ceremonial purposes but also for ritual searches for lost articles and drowned persons. It was also during this winter dance period that myths were narrated, spirit-power songs, dances, and magical feats were demonstrated, and public recognition ceremonials were held for new shamans. Appropriate feasts and distribution of goods accompanied all of these events. This dance marked the winter season as a sacred period of spiritual preparation and renewal for the return of spring's economic pursuits (Silverstein, 1990, no. 9).

Apparently secret societies existed among the Chinookans, especially those living farthest down-river on the Columbia and on Willapa Bay. Members consisted of upper-class people who possessed a "secret society guardian spirit", underwent a long period of indoctrination by one of the established members that lasted several years, and finally the initiation ceremony itself in which the novices demonstrated their spirit powers through various dramatic performances including such feats of magic, as fire walking, instantaneous self-curing, etc.

In association with the secret societies were ceremonies held for purposes other than initiation. An example of one of these was a ceremony of reconciliation to end enmity between two members of the society. Before a gathering of members the two quarreling individuals would pit their "spirit powers" against one another until one admitted defeat and recognized the "superiority" of the other person. This supposedly ended the friction between the two members.

Artistic decorations among the Chinookans were simple and mostly geometric in design, consisting primarily of triangles and rectangles, with occasional stylized animal figures. These designs appeared principally on vessels used for feasts that were elaborately carved, painted, and inlaid along the edges with shells. Similar geometric patterns also appeared on wooden or bone mat creasers, and were woven into baskets by using contrasting natural colors of basketry material. Burial canoes and boxes were also richly decorated with the designs noted above.

Tattoo designs consisted of parallel lines of dots arranged either around the limbs or linearly. Tattooing was done with charcoal and water and pricked into the skin with needles.

Facial painting was used for war, religious ceremonials, relief from illness, or simply as decoration. It seems very likely that the body was also painted, but less extensively than the face. On the face solid colors were mostly used and varied with bands across the cheeks and around the chin. When the face painting was used for therapeutic purposes, generally red, black, and white were employed in special designs designated by the guardian spirits.

The Chinookans believed that illness was caused by the intrusion of a foreign object into the body, either inadvertently or by sorcery, by soul loss, or by natural causes (not subject to shamanistic treatment. If the shaman diagnosed the cause of the illness as being an intrusive object, treatment involved rubbing, aspersion, drawing the object out with the hands, or by sucking. Any of the first three methods were used when the diagnosis indicated that the illness was not caused by sorcery. Sucking was the only adequate treatment if witchcraft were involved. The treatment for soul loss might involve one or more shamans working together in a more elaborate curing ceremony in which they placed themselves in trance-like states, followed the trail of the lost soul, and attempted to recapture it before it entered the land of the dead. The soul hunting ritual lasted most of the night. The recaptured soul could not be returned to the patient before dawn, and if captured earlier was retained by the shaman until the proper time.

At the death of a freeman in Chinookan society, the body was washed, dressed in blankets or furs, and placed in a prominent position on the bed platform where, for the upper class, it lay in state for a period of five days (less time for commoners). During this period the corpse was visited by friends and relatives and funeral arrangements made. Formal wailing occurred intermittently each day during this period from dawn to sunset. Close relatives, but not the immediate family, cut their hair as a sign of grief. The chief mourners changed their names at this time accompanied by public announcement to that effect. It was now forbidden to use the name of the deceased and all words phonetically similar to his or her name were dropped. References to the corpse were made by the use of synonyms for a long period of time until the name was eventually bestowed on a descendent.

On the fifth day, early in the morning, the body was prepared for burial by wrapping it in cattail mats and binding it in extended position to the pole with which it was to be carried to the burial ground. Interment for all but the slaves was invariably in a richly decorated canoe or carved burial box placed on a platform or staging some six feet above the ground. Sometimes a slave was killed at the gravesite and buried in a shallow grave beneath the owner or master.

Formal mourning continued for a year after the death including brief periods of wailing during the day, certain taboos related to foods and bathing, and the wearing of the poorest clothes available by the mourners. A public ritual in which the wife of the deceased notified all interested parties that her dead husband was forgotten and that she was now available as a wife marked the termination of mourning for the widow. After a year or two the remains of an upper class person were reburied in a new canoe. Wailing accompanied the reburial observances followed by feasting, singing, and dancing.

Documents referred to in this section are included in the eHRAF collection and are referenced by author, date of publication and eHRAF document number.

The Chinookans of the Lower Columbia River collection consists of 10 English language documents dealing with the Chinookans of the Lower Chinook region. The major time focus of the collection is from the late eighteenth century through the nineteenth. The most comprehensive documents for a general understanding of the traditional ethnography of the Chinookans will be found in Ray (1958, no. 1), and Silverstein (1990, no. 9), supplemented with much historical information in Ruby (1976, no. 2). Other major topics discussed in this collection are: Chinookan songs in Boas (1888, no. 3); beliefs about sickness and death in Boas (1893, no. 4); and humor and verbal irony in Chinookan narratives in Hymes (1987, no. 8).

For more detailed information on the content of the individual works in this collection, see the abstracts in the citations preceding each document.

This culture summary, synopsis, and indexing notes were prepared by John Beierle in January-February 2003. It was revised in 2006.

• CLAMONS -- protective armor -- category 714

• ETAMINUAS -- priests -- category 793

• KEELALLES -- doctors, sometimes women who administer medical and spiritual aid -- categories 756, 759

• mat creasers -- categories 413, 285

• power sticks -- as used in musical accompaniment -- category 534; as sacred objects -- category 778; used in curing -- category 755

• TAMANAWAS -- those spirits sought in the vision quest -- categories 787, 776

Beckham, Stephen Dow. Chinook. IN Native America in the Twentieth Century: An Encyclopedia. Edited by Mary B. Davis. New York, London: Garland Publishing, Inc., 1996. pp. 107-110.

Gibbs, George. Report on the Indian tribes of the territory of Washington. Pacific Railroad Report, 1. Washington: 1890. 419-65.

Hillstrom, Laurie Collier. Chinook. IN The Gale Encyclopedia of Native American Tribes, Vol. IV. Edited by Sharon Malinowski, Anna Sheets et al. Detroit, New York, Toronto, London: Gale, 1998, pp. 276-280.

Mooney, James. The aboriginal population of America north of Mexico. Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collection, Vol. 80, no. 7. Washington, D.C.: 1928.

Ray, Verne F. The Chinook Indians in the early 1800's. The Western Shore: Oregon country essays honoring the American Revolution, edited by T. Vaughan. 120-149. Portland, Oregon: Oregon Historical Society, 1975.

Ray, Verne F. Lower Chinook ethnographic notes. University of Washington Publications in Anthropology, Vol. 7, no. 2. 29-165. Seattle, 1938.

Ruby, Robert H. and John A. Brown. The Chinook Indians: traders of the Lower Columbia River. Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press, 1976.

Ruby, Robert H. and John A. Brown. A Guide to the Indian Tribes of the Pacific Northwest. Norman and London: University of Oklahoma Press, 1986.

Silverstein, Michael. Chinookans of the Lower Columbia. In Handbook of North American Indians. Northwest Coast, Vol. 7. 533-546. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution, 1990.

Summer Institute of Linguistics. Ethnologue 14th edition. http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=CHH. August 6, 2003.

Swan, James G. The Northwest Coast; or, three years' residence in Washington territory. New York: 1857.

Swanton, John R. The Indian Tribes of North America. Smithsonian Institution, Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin 145. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1953.

Wilkes, Charles. Narrative of the United States exploring expedition during the years 1838, 1839, 1840, 1841, 1842. 5 vols. Philadelphia: 1845.