We have already, in speaking of the Salish, met with the word _Flat-head_, and, although in that particular case, it was misapplied, it is still an important term in American ethnology, since more than one family of American Indians has the practice of _artificially flattening the head_. This we meet with, for the first time, amongst the Tshinúks, the true _Flat-heads_ of those parts.
The process itself was witnessed by Pickering. In one of the stockaded villages of the Chinúks, where the influence of the missionaries had so far found its way as for some of the houses to stand in a small cultivated enclosure, of about a quarter of an acre in size, an infant was confined to a wooden receptacle, with a pad tightly bandaged over the forehead and eyes, so that it was alike impossible for it to see or move. He also observed that when the child was suspended according to usage, the head was actually lower than the feet.
So much for the children. The adults improve upon Nature by piercing the septum of the nose and putting a ring through it, by earrings, and by painting the face--in default of paint, by smearing it with soot, the marks being after a pattern. A black and dull red paint, with which they ornament their canoes, hats, and masks, are aboriginal, the others procured from traders. A sail, also, seen in one of the larger boats was considered not native, but copied from the Russians. In other respects the management of their canoes, as well as the construction, was skilful; so were some of the contrivances both for fowling and fishing. For the former purpose tall masts were set up to intercept by means of connecting nets(?) the water-fowl at night. Sturgeon were speared or noosed; the darts used for killing fish being double-headed. The capture of whales, an exploit never attempted by even the most enterprising of the Polynesians, is attempted by the Chinúks.
The art, however, of platting, or weaving, seems to be that wherein the Chinúks have the best claim for excellence. Still it is doubtful whether, in this respect, they are above the level of the American tribes in general. The mats are made of the _scirpus lacustris_ placed side by side, and strung at intervals. The wool of the mountain goat is woven into blankets, marked, in the way of pattern, with angular figures, coloured black and red. The former seem to be made by changing the material, and substituting the black hair of the dog for that of the goat.