Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 17.djvu/31



THE INDIAN OF THE NORTHWEST 23

frighten the salmon away. Thompson at Kettle Falls found that these things were not superstition, but based upon the fact that salmon ran off when any pollution was thrown into the river. Farther down the Bella Coola, Mackenzie was re- quested not to discharge fire-arms for the same reason. If a Nootka ever ate bear meat, according to Jewitt and others, he abstained from eating salmon for two months, or the salmon would hear of it and come no more. Lewis and Clark 106 report that at the Falls of the Columbia, the first salmon was divided up, one piece for each child in the camp, to hasten the arrival of the salmon run. Ross 107 says that for the first ten days the salmon among the Chinooks must not be cut crosswise nor boiled, but roasted; must not be sold without the heart being taken out, and must be eaten the same day they are taken from the river. Franchere 108 adds that if these regulations were not observed, the river would be obstructed and the fishing ruined. Many similar superstitions are recorded by later ob- servers. The salmon played such an important part in their lives that no wonder the cry, "Salmon have come! Salmon have come!" was caught up with joy and uttered with ani- mation by every person in the village, as told so graphically by Harmon. 109.

Music was closely related to religion. A common method of expressing joy was drumming with sticks on roofs and sides of houses ; but the Indian had a better way of expressing his deeper religious feelings. The chants of the Hoonids reminded La Perouse 110 of the "plain songs" of the churches of France. "The air of these songs greatly resembled those which I have heard sung in the Roman Catholic Church," writes Har- mon. 111 . Mackenzie speaks of the Atnahs' soft, plaintive tones, and modulation that was rather agreeable; it had, he said, somewhat the air of church music. Hoskins 112 reports that by

106 Original Journals: Vol. IV., p. 300.

107 Adventures: p. 97.

1 08 Narrative: p. 260.

109 Journal: p. 223. no Voyage: p. 88. in Journal : p. 305. 1 1 a Narrative : p. 99.