ornamented with their nets, gigs, and other fishing-tackle,
as well as the bow of each inmate, and a large quiver of arrows, which
are headed with flint.

"The Sokulks seem to be of a mild and peaceable disposition, and live in
a state of comparative happiness. The men, like those on the Kimooenim,
are said to content themselves with a single wife, with whom the
husband, we observe, shares the labors of procuring subsistence much
more than is common among savages. What may be considered an unequivocal
proof of their good disposition, is the great respect which is shown to
old age. Among other marks of it, we noticed in one of the houses an
old woman perfectly blind, and who, we were told, had lived more than
a hundred winters. In this state of decrepitude, she occupied the best
position in the house, seemed to be treated with great kindness, and
whatever she said was listened to with much attention. They are by no
means obtrusive; and as their fisheries supply them with a competent, if
not an abundant subsistence, although they receive thankfully whatever
we choose to give, they do not importune us by begging. Fish is, indeed,
their chief food, except roots and casual supplies of antelope, which
latter, to those who have only bows and arrows, must be very scanty.
This diet may be the direct or the remote cause of the chief disorder
which prevails among them, as well as among the Flatheads on the
Kooskooskee and Lewis' rivers. With all these Indians a bad soreness
of the eyes is a very common disorder, which is suffered to ripen by
neglect, till many are deprived of one of their eyes, and some have
totally lost the use of both. This dreadful calamity may reasonably, we
think, be imputed to the constant reflection of the sun on the waters,
where they are constantly fishing in the spring, summer, and fall, and
during the rest of the year on the snows of a country which affords no
object to relieve the sight.

"Among the Sokulks, indeed among all the tribes whose chief subsistence
is fish, we have observed that bad teeth are very general; some have the
teeth, particularly those of the upper jaw, worn down to the gums, and
many of both sexes, even of middle age, have lost them almost entirely.
This decay of the teeth is a circumstance very unusual among Indians,
either of the mountains or the plains, and seems peculiar to the
inhabitants of the Columbia. We cannot avoid regarding as one principal
cause of it the manner in w