Description
This article shows the author's racism. The Indians of the Puget Sound are described as not like the rest of the Indians west of the Mississippi. The Siwashes are physically "put together"; they have fortitude; can bear adversity; have much skill at construction, harvesting, fishing; care of the sick; but are cowed by the "superior race" of the white man. Roused, they might be formidable warriors.
Their chief Seschi was bold, daring, sagacious, and duplicitous. Toward the close of the war of 1856-57, he was taken prisoner and executed.
Although the "Siwash" are still formidable warriors, they seem to be submitting to the superior whites. Many families employ Indians as servants, and their cabins near houses of whites "suggest a certain institution generally supposed to exist south of Mason's and Dixon's line." The author consigns the natives to history, suggests that the Indians deserve their new subservient status, and urges the conquerors to be magnanimous.
Abstract
This newspaper article describes the culture and character of Puget Sound Indians, using the collective term "Siwash," and commenting on their declining position in history.
Bibliographic Citation
Vol. XV, Iss. 98, Pg. 1, Col. C