of a chief, who, according to their
expression, has more horses than he can count. The river has many
rapids, near which are situated many fishing camps; there being ten
establishments of this before reaching the first southern branch; one on
that stream, five between that and the Pawnashte; one on that river, and
two above it; besides many other Indians who reside high up on the more
distant waters of this river. All these Indians belong to the
Chopunnish nation, and live in tents of an oblong form, covered with
flat roofs.

At its mouth Lewis's river is about two hundred and fifty yards wide,
and its water is of a greenish blue colour. The Kooskooskee, whose
waters are clear as crystal, one hundred and fifty yards in width, and
after the union the river enlarges to the space of three hundred yards:
at the point of the union is an Indian cabin, and in Lewis's river a
small island.

The Chopunnish or Pierced-nose nation, who reside on the Kooskooskee and
Lewis's rivers, are in person stout, portly, well-looking men: the women
are small, with good features, and generally handsome, though the
complexion of both sexes is darker than that of the Tushepaws. In dress
they resemble that nation, being fond of displaying their ornaments. The
buffaloe or elk-skin robe decorated with beads, sea-shells, chiefly
mother-of-pearl, attached to an otter-skin collar and hung in the hair,
which falls in front in two queues; feathers, paints of different kinds,
principally white, green, and light blue, all of which they find in
their own country: these are the chief ornaments they use. In the winter
they wear a short shirt of dressed skins, long painted leggings and
moccasins, and a plait of twisted grass round the neck.

The dress of the women is more simple, consisting of a long shirt of
argalia or ibex skin, reaching down to the ankles without a girdle: to
this are tied little pieces of brass and shells and other small
articles; but the head is not at all ornamented. The dress of the female
is indeed more modest, and more studiously so than any we have observed,
though the other sex is careless of the indelicacy of exposure.

The Chopunnish have very few amusements, for their life is painful and
laborious; and all their exertions are necessary to earn even their
precarious subsistence. During the summer and autumn they are busily
occupied in fishing for salmon, and collecting their winter store of
roots. In the winter they hunt the