The Salish.—The Salish language falls into three dialects; those of a, the Kullelspelm or Ponderays (Pend' oreilles), b, the Spokan, improperly called Flat-heads (since they have no such habit as the one suggested by the name), and c, the Okanagan.
A fair sample of the Salish traditions is the following. A ceremony called by them (the Salish) Sumash, "deserves notice for the strangeness of the idea on which it is founded. They regard the spirit of a man as distinct from the living principle, and hold that it may be separated for a short time from the body without causing death, or without the individual being conscious of the loss. It is necessary, however, in order to prevent fatal consequences, that the lost spirit should be found and restored as quickly as possible. The conjuror, or medicineman, learns, in a dream, the name of the person who has suffered this loss. Generally there are several at the same time in this condition. He then informs the unhappy individuals, who immediately employ him to recover their wandering souls. During the next night they go about the village from one lodge to another singing and dancing. Towards morning they enter a separate lodge, which is closed up, so as to be perfectly dark; a small hole is then made in the roof, through which the conjuror, with a bunch of feathers, brushes in the spirits in the shape of small bits of bone, and similar substances, which he receives on a piece of matting. A fire is then lighted, and the conjuror proceeds to select out from the spirits such as belong to persons already deceased, of which there are usually several; and should one of them be assigned by mistake to a living person he would instantly die. He next selects the particular spirit belonging to each person, and causing all the men to sit down before him, he takes the spirit of one (i.e., the splinter of bone, shell, or wood, representing it), and placing it on the owner's head, pats it, with many contortions and invocations, till it descends into the heart and resumes its proper place. When all are thus restored the whole party unite in making a contribution of food, out of which a public feast is given, and the remainder becomes the perquisite of the conjuror.
"Like the Sahaptin, the Salish have many childish traditions connected with the most remarkable natural features of the country, in which the prairie-wolf generally bears a conspicuous part. What could have induced them to confer the honours of divinity upon this animal cannot be imagined; they do not, however, regard the wolf as an object of worship, but merely suppose that in former times it was endowed with preternatural powers, which it exerted after a very whimsical and capricious fashion. Thus, on one occasion, being desirous of a wife (a common circumstance with him), the wolf, or the divinity so called, visited a tribe on the Spokan River and demanded a young woman in marriage. His request being granted, he promised that thereafter the salmon should be abundant with them, and he created the rapids which give them facilities for taking the fish. Proceeding further up, he made of each tribe on his way the same request, attended with a like result; at length he arrived at the territory of the Skitsuish (Cœur d'alène); they refused to comply with his demand, and he therefore called into existence the great falls of the Spokan, which prevent the fish from ascending to their country."[109]
In the Salish tribes we have the best sample of a true inland Oregon family, a section of the American Indians distinguished by certain negative as well as positive characters which require notice.
a. As contrasted with the Indians to the north of them they have a milder climate, are south of the true fur-bearing countries, and below the line of the rein-deer.
b. From the islanders and coast tribes of the Pacific they are distinguished by the necessary absence of maritime habits, and a diet consisting to a great extent of sea fish.
c. To the families on the east of the Rocky Mountains they stand in the remarkable opposition of being imperfect agriculturists rather than hunters. In other words, in getting beyond the range of the Rocky Mountains we get beyond the country of the prairie and the localities of the buffalo; as a set-off to which, although the botany of the Oregon is at present but imperfectly known, the whole district is described as being preeminently productive of edible roots; not, however, in respect to the number of individuals (for the land is poor), but in respect to the variety of their species.
Oregon, then, at least in its central parts, is the area of an undeveloped agriculture; and (probably like other tribes besides) the Salish look to the returning seasons not, as in Siberia, Arctic America, and the parts to the east of the Rocky Mountains, with a view to the migrations of the buffalo and the rein-deer, but with respect to the production of their successive vegetable esculents; added to which their river-system gives them, in its season, a supply of fish.
Upon this point, even if external evidence were wanting, we might find proof in the Salish names of the seasons (with which the Piskwaus agree), a list which gives us in the months of the camass-root and the exhausted salmon the extreme seasons of want and plenty.
| MEANING IN PISKWAUS. | SALISH. | ENGLISH. | ENGLISH MONTH. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Skwusús | Siistikwo | December and Jan. | |
| Skiniramun | Skwusus | cold | January and Feb. |
| Skuputskiltin | Skiniramun | a certain herb | February & March. |
| Skasulku | Skaputru | snow gone | March and April. |
| Katsosumptun | Spatlom | bitter-root | April and May. |
| Stsaok | Stagamawus | going to root-ground | May and June. |
| Kupukkalotltin | Ittlwa | camass-root | June and July. |
| Silump | Saanttllkwo | hot | July and August. |
| Tshepomtum | Silamp | gathering berries | August and Sept. |
| Parpattllitlen | Skilues | exhausted salmon | September and Oct. |
| Skaai | Skaai | dry | October and Nov. |
| Siistkwu | Keshmakwaln | snow | November and Dec. |