Fort Clatsop, salt works established — Patrick Gass: December 27, 1805
Strong winds up the river kept the party in camp all day at their new location, which offered the first good hunting grounds they had seen in a long time. Some men went out to hunt and returned in the evening with four deer and several squirrels. Native visitors stayed with the group, though their nation could not be identified; they were thought to be a band of the Flathead nation due to their similarly flattened heads, with the head-shaping process described in detail.
blew very hard up the river, and we remained here all day.
This is the first hunting ground we have had for a long time,
and some of our men went out. Part of the natives remained
with us ; but we cannot find out to what nation they belong.
We suppose them to be a band of the Flathead nation, as all
their heads are compressed into the same form ; though they
do not speak exactly the same language, but there is no great
difference, and this may be a dialect of the same. This sin-
gular and deforming operation is performed in infancy in the
following manner. A piece of board is placed against the
back of the head extending from the shoulders some distance
above it; another shorter piece extends from the eye brows
to the top of the first, and they are then bound together with
thongs or cords made of skins, so as to press back the fore-
head, make the head rise at the top, and force it out above
the ears. In the evening our hunters came in and had killed
4 deer and some squirrels. The wind blew hard all this day.
Read this entry in modern English AI-translated
The wind blew very hard up the river, and we remained here all day. This is the first hunting ground we have had for a long time, and some of our men went out. Part of the natives remained with us, but we cannot find out to what nation they belong. We suppose them to be a band of the Flathead nation, as all their heads are compressed into the same form; though they do not speak exactly the same language, there is no great difference, and this may be a dialect of the same.
This singular and deforming operation is performed in infancy in the following manner. A piece of board is placed against the back of the head, extending from the shoulders some distance above it; another shorter piece extends from the eyebrows to the top of the first, and they are then bound together with thongs or cords made of skins, so as to press back the forehead, make the head rise at the top, and force it out above the ears.
In the evening our hunters came in and had killed 4 deer and some squirrels. The wind blew hard all this day.
This modernization is AI-generated for accessibility. The original above is the authoritative version.
Entities mentioned in this entry
Auto-extracted from the entry text. Hover any entity for context.
