t; The appearance produced by this unnatural operation,” says Mr. Townsend,
" is almost hideous, and one would suppose that the intellect would be materially
affected by it. This, however, does not appear to be the case, as I have never
seen (with a single exception, the Kayouse) a race of people who appeared more
shrewd and intelligent.”*
In the month of January of the present year, (1839,) I was gratified with a
personal interview with a full-blood Chenouk, then on a visit to this city in the
hospitable care of my friend Dr. William Blanding. This Indian was a young
man twenty years of age. He had been three years in charge of some Christian
missionaries, and in that period had acquired great proficiency in the English
language, understanding it when spoken to, and replying with a good accent and
general grammatical accuracy. He appeared to me to possess more mental
acuteness than any Indian I had seen, was communicative, cheerful and well-
mannered. Mr. Townsend knew this young man (who is now called William
Brooks) in his own country, and they recognised each other when they met in
Philadelphia. He possessed marked Indian features, a broad face, high cheek
bones, large mouth, tumid lips, a large nose, depressed at the nostrils, considerable
width between the eyes, which, however, were not obliquely placed, a short
stature, and robust person. His complexion was neither copper colored nor
brown, but reasonably fair, such as are seen in white men who have been exposed
in the harvest field. What most delighted me in this young man, was the faqt
that his head was as much distorted by mechanical compression as any skull of
his tribe in my possession, and presented the very counterpart to the Kalapooyah
figured on the annexed plate.f He cheerfully consented to such measurements
of his head as I desired to take, and of which the following are the results :
Longitudinal diameter 7.5 inches.
Parietal diameter 6.9 inches.
Frontal diameter 6.1 inches.
Breadth between the cheek bones 6.1 inches.
Facial angle about 73 degrees.
At the time of Lewis and Clark’s expedition, the Sokulks, at the western
base of the Rocky Mountains, also flattened the heads of their children. “ Their
stature is low, their face broad, and their heads flattened in such a manner that
Journey to the Columbia River, &c., p. 175. t See Plate 47.