Note 91 — Chapter II · GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF SLAVERY.

The Chinooks had slaves. Bancroft says: “Slavery, common to all the coast families, is also practised by the Chinooks; … the slaves are obliged to perform all the drudgery for their masters, and their children must remain in their parents’ condition, their round heads serving as a distinguishing mark from freemen”. Kane also gives many particulars about their slave system91. Equally Swan, describing the Chinooks and neighbouring tribes, makes mention of slavery as practised by them92. Lewis and Clark speak of a war, in which the Killamucks took several prisoners. “These, as far as we could perceive, were treated very well, and though nominally slaves, yet were adopted into the families of their masters, and the young ones placed on the same footing with the children of the purchaser”. This short note is not sufficient for us to arrive at any definite conclusion, the less so, as these writers themselves declare that they had not the opportunity of making a close study of the tribes of the Pacific Coast93.