The power of combination is greatly developed. Almost every verb and adjective may receive a modification in its meaning by the prefixion of the word mamúk=make or cause. Thus—
| Tsháko[117] = come | mamúk | tsháko = bring. |
| Klátawa[117] = go | " | klátawa = send. |
| Kikwili[118] = below | " | kikwili = bury. |
| Pepa = paper | " | pepa = write. |
That of composition is equally so; e.g. ship-man=sailor, ship-stik=spar, stik-skin=bark, sél-haus (sail-house) = tent, &c.
"The place at which the jargon is most in use is at Fort Vancouver. At this establishment five languages are spoken by about five hundred persons—namely, the English, the Canadian French, the Tshinúk, the Cree or Knisteneau, and the Hawaiian. The three former are already accounted for; the Cree is the language spoken in the families of many officers and men belonging to the Hudson's Bay Company, who have married half-breed wives at the posts east of the Rocky Mountains. The Hawaiian is in use among about a hundred natives of the Sandwich Islands, who are employed as labourers about the fort. Besides these five languages there are many others—the Tsihailish, Wallawalla, Kalapuya, Naskwali, &c., which are daily heard from natives who visit the fort for the purpose of trading. Among all these individuals, there are very few who understand more than two languages, and many who speak only their own. The general communication is, therefore, maintained chiefly by means of the jargon, which may be said to be the prevailing idiom. There are Canadians and half-breeds married to Chinook women, who can only converse with their wives in this speech; and it is the fact, strange as it may seem, that many young children are growing up to whom this factitious language is really the mother tongue, and who speak it with more readiness and perfection than any other."
CATHLASCOU.
Locality.—From the Falls of the Columbia to Wappatoo Island, falling into a number of small tribes.
The third of the larger divisions of the Oregon Indians is that of the—
SAHAPTIN.
Area.—The northern bank of the Columbia from the Tshinúk country, at the mouth, to the junction of the river Lewis. The valley of the river Lewis (or Snake River). As far east as the Rocky Mountains.
Conterminous with the Salish Tsihaili to the north, the Upsaroka (Crows) to the east, the Paducas and Wailatpu to the south, the Skwali Tsihaili and the Watlala Tshinúks to the west.