trials - it is impossible to divine what the ingredients are that compose this outlandish soup!
But to pass from the material to the personal; what strange figures! faces thickly covered with grease and dirt -heads that have never felt a comb -hands! but such hands! a veritable pair of " jack of all trades," fulfilling in rapid succession the varied functions of the comb, the pocket-handkerchief, the knife, fork and spoon - while eating, the process is loudly indicated by the crackling and discordant sounds that issue from the nose, mouth, throat, etc., a sight the bare recollection of which is enough to sicken any person. Thus you can form some idea of their personal miseries - miseries, alas! that faintly image another species infinitely more saddening; for what shall I say in attempting to describe their moral condition? There prevails among the greater part of them a kind of superstitious idolatry, (called medicine or juggling) that pays homage to the vilest animals, and even goes as far as human sacrifice. In the course of the last summer and almost before the faces of the Protestant ministers, a child was devoted to the manes of one of its companions, who died the day before. The victim was tied so cruelly that the cords entered its flesh, and exposed upon the rocks, where it would soon have perished had not a Mr. Perkins,' a humane man, succeeded, though with difficulty, in ransoming it. There is among them a degeneracy of morals which knows no stronger tie in conjugal obligations than the caprice of the moment - a vehement, inordinate passion for gambling, that is prolonged to the time of repose - a laziness which nothing can induce them to shake off but the love of play, or the pressing claim of hunger - they are, in fine, addicted to the vilest habits of gluttony, dissimulation, etc. Such is the wretched condition of the poor savage tribes along the Columbia. But amidst all this misery, there is fortunately one redeeming feature, a constant desire to discover some power superior to man;
6 Perhaps the Methodist missionary; see note, page 455•