The Piskwaus.—"On the main Columbia, between the Salish proper, and the Wallawallahs below Fort Okanagan. A miserable, beggarly people, great thieves. Their country very poor in game and roots."—Transactions of the American Ethnological Society, p. 13.
The Skitsuish.—Cœur d'alène.—"About 400 souls live on the lake of that name above the falls of the Spokan, have no salmon, raise potatoes, and have a tendency to cultivate."—Transactions of the American Ethnological Society, p. 13.
The Kawichen, Skwali, Checheeli, Kowelits, Kwaintl, Kwenawitl and Núsdalum.—The exact relations of these tribes to each other, as well as their position in the Tsihaili family, is unascertained.
Geographically they agree in forming the south-western division of the stock, and in occupying the peninsula (or acté) between the mouth of the Columbia, Puget's Sound, and Cape Flattery; where, in the latter locality, they are in contact with the Wakash Klassets and Klallems, and, in the former, with the Tshinúks.
Philologically the Atna, as tested by the first known vocabulary of the language, a short one of M'Kenzie's, is closely allied to the Núsdalum. But, then, on the other hand the Núsdalum, Kawichen and Skwali (or Squallyarnish) are by no means so like each other as are the two vocabularies first mentioned.
Again, Dr. Scouler gives reasons against disconnecting this branch of the Tsihaili from the Wakash dialects of Quadra and Vancouver's Island, with which he shows that they have at least the following words in common.
| ENGLISH. | CHEKEELI. | WAKASH. |
|---|---|---|
| Plenty | haya | aya. |
| No | wake | wik. |
| Water | chuck | tchaak. |
| Good | closh | hooleish. |
| Bad | peshak | peishakeis. |
| Man | tillicham | tchuckoop. |
| Woman | cloochamen | tlootsemin. |
| Child | tanass | tannassis. |
| Now | clahowiah | tlahowieh. |
| Come | sacko | tchooqua. |
| Slave | mischemas | mischemas. |
| What are you doing? | ekta mammok | akoots-ka-mamok. |
| What are you saying? | ekta-wawa | au-kaak-wawa. . |
| Let me see | nannanitch | nannanitch. |
| Sun | ootlach | opeth. |
| Sky | saya | sieya. |
| Fruit | camas | chamas. |
| To sell | makok | makok. |
| Understand | commatax | commatax. |
For the particular dialect spoken by another Tsihaili tribe, and placed by Dr. Scouler in the present section, we have no vocabulary, viz.: the Commagsheak in the northern part of the Gulf of Georgia.