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From: Steady Eddie
Date: 2/18/2002
Time: 8:32:17 AM
Remote Name: 204.245.250.160
We have posted here before, about the things that the Chinook did not have. They did not have clothes until after contact with the white man. They found no need to raise and use horses until much later on. They had no knowlege of the wheel, although The Hudson's Bay Company and others had the famous York handcarts. Certainly, after contact with the whites, they would have seen wheels aboard ships, etc.---but it seems to not have "clicked" with the Chinook. One of the things that the Chinook quickly adopted was the use of the sail. Their canoes sported sails right after they discovered that they could trade furs for sail-cloth.
One of the Chinookan "oddities" that I have noted: They carried daggers. Fancy ones. And they knew how to use one. Originally, these daggers had the blade made of black obsidian stone, which is not found locally, but had to be "imported". Later on, of course, the blades were of steel.
These facts are strange by themselves. However, get this, I have not seen any evidence that shows or refers to, the Chinook using a sheath or belt-mounted holder for their daggers. They actually carried them in their hand, oft-times behind the back, just out of view. They did not have a "tomahawk"---did not have a "machete"---they had a dress dagger! How this use of daggers came about, we may never know. We do know that many other civilizations used the dress dagger as part of their dress uniform...for instance, the Romans.
Odd.
Steady Eddie