Page:The Columbia river , or, Scenes and adventures during a residence of six years on the western side of the Rocky Mountains among various tribes of Indians hitherto unknown (Volume 1).djvu/77

 subject myself to the charge of plagiarism, or book-making, if I touched on them. To those therefore who feel anxious for farther information on these subjects, I would recommend the above authorities, in which they will have their curiosity amply gratified.

The vice of thieving attributed to the male inhabitants is rather exaggerated. It is certainly true, that numbers of those who visit trading ships are not scrupulous in appropriating to their own use every trifling article on which they can conveniently lay their hands; but it should be observed, they do not consider such abstractions in the same light as if they robbed each other. This circumstance I think it necessary to mention, without attempting to justify it; for were we to consider all their petty thefts in the same point of view that we are accustomed to regard such offences in civilised countries, we should form a very poor opinion of their honesty.

The women, too, have been generally accused of lasciviousness; but from what I saw, joined to the information I obtained, I am induced to think the charge too general. It must, indeed, be admitted, that the deportment of those who are in the habit of frequenting trading ships is not calculated to impress a stranger with a high