Jack the Young Canoeman: An Eastern Boy's Voyage in a Chinook Canoe

by George Bird Grinnell

They landed and found that the man was mending some cracks in his canoe by fastening over them strips of tin, seemingly cut from an old tin can, by means of tacks and a primitive stone hammer—a cylinder of stone with enlarged flat ends.

Hamset began to talk with him in Chinook, but the man apparently did not understand, and replied by a speech in some language which Hamset could not comprehend. There was a long talk, in which each of the two Indians made a speech, which was not understood by the other. Fannin tried the old man in Canadian French, and Hugh made signs to him, but there seemed to be no common ground of communication. After each remark by the old man, Hamset would hopelessly reply after hearing him through: "Wake nika kumtux-mika wahwah" (I don't understand your talk).

Within a rude fence near one of the houses was what looked like a garden, in which were growing plants that resembled potatoes. Presently a bright thought came to Jack, and he walked down to the canoe, took from the provision box a potato and handed it to the old man. It was amusing to them all to see the expression of perplexity clear away from the old Indian's face and understanding and satisfaction appear. He laughed delightedly and shouted to the women at the house, and a little later two of them came down carrying a large basket of potatoes—and very good ones too. These were put into the canoe, and paid for by "four bits." Then at Hugh's suggestion Jack gave the old man a piece of tobacco. They wandered up to the houses, looked into them, and presently returned to the neighborhood of the canoe. Leaning against one of the houses was a two-pronged salmon spear, which Jack wanted and which the old man sold him for half a dollar. Jack thought that the implement might be useful a little later, as the salmon were now beginning to run into the fresh water streams in considerable numbers. Hamset said that these Indians were called Hanéhtsin. He declared that most of the people must be away fishing, and said that there must be many of them who could speak Chinook, although this man could not.

Next morning as they were eating breakfast a canoe came in sight from the direction of the village, and when it landed the paddlers proved to be their friends of the night before, who brought them some more potatoes and several salmon just from the water. These having been duly paid for at the rate of twenty-five cents each—for a twenty pound salmon—they brought forth from the canoe a large basket of berries which a small boy who was with them, and who had some knowledge of the Chinook jargon, announced was a "potlatch," or gift—very likely in return for the bit of tobacco that Jack had given to the old man the night before.

A little later, the canoe being loaded, the party pushed off from the shore, and, leaving the Indians sitting idly in their canoes, paddled back down the inlet.

"What I can't understand, Mr. Fannin," said Jack, "is how it is that these Indians don't understand one another. Of course, I don't suppose that all the different tribes on this coast speak the same language, any more than our Indians out on the plains, but I should suppose that there would be some common way of talking to each other, just as the plains Indians all understand the sign language."

"Well," said Fannin, "you'd think so, of course, but that's one of the queer things about this country. While often you'll find a great many villages that speak the same language, and while you'll find in most of the villages a number of people that can talk Chinook, it's nevertheless the fact that stowed away in bays and inlets all along this coast are little tribes that speak a language that is not understood by any other tribe. I have talked with a few people out here who were regular Indian 'sharps,' and who had been among Indians over most of the country, and they say that there are a number of Indian languages spoken here that are absolutely different from each other and different from any other languages in North America. This is a mighty queer thing, and I can't understand it at all. I've always supposed that it was this fact that obliged the Indians to get up this Chinook jargon, which is a kind of a trade talk, used all up and down the coast and a good way inland, too, to enable these people to talk among themselves. I have never seen any of these Indians here using the sign language, and you can see for yourself that this old chap did not understand what it was that Hugh was trying to say to him with his hands. They do say that this Chinook jargon was gotten up before the white men came here to this country, and you can see how necessary it would be to people coming in contact with others who spoke a language different from their own. Now, I suppose that in the old times there used to be considerable travel along this coast, north and south, and considerable intercourse between the different tribes of Indians. And while we know that the northern Indians could not talk with the southern ones, yet they visited and traded, and made war and made peace again. It must have been necessary for them to understand each other in some way, and that's the way this jargon came to be invented. Of course, it's changed a lot, I fancy, and especially since the white people got in here."

"But about this Indian here," said Hugh, "it seems to me that he ought to be able to understand our Indians. Their villages cannot be more than a hundred miles from one another, and to an Indian a hundred miles is nothing. These Ucletah must sometimes come up to the head of this Inlet, and these people who live up here, Hanéhtsin,—don't you call them,—must go down the inlet and go up and down the shore. It would seem as if they must have met sometimes, and as if they would have some common speech."

"Yes," said Fannin. "They ought to, but I don't believe they have. Of course I know no more about them than you do, but you saw the experiments that were tried upon that old chap that we've just left."

"Yes," said Hugh, "there's no going back on that. He didn't understand, no matter how much he ought to have understood."