"Oiee" Clams, "Potlach" in NORTHWEST COAST (1857)

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Fri Nov 15 00:47:03 UTC 2002


THE NORTHWEST COAST;
OR, THREE YEARS' RESIDENCE IN WASHINGTON TERRITORY
by James G. Swan
New York: Harper Brothers
1857

   An important book with a "Chenook" glossary.  Is this cited by OED or DARE?
   I tried to get Elwood Evans' WASHINGTON TERRITORY (Olympia, 1877).  Try that on NYPL's CATNYP.  There's no call number!  So I had another day of conferences with librarians...


Pg. 47:  ...salmon-berry, or wild raspberry (_Rubus spectablis_)

Pg. 61 illustration (caption):  OYSTERMEN WAITING FOR THE TIDE.

Pg. 85:  The large clams and quahaugs are more prized by the Indians than oysters.  The large clam called by them metar or smetar are found in the sand about a foot deep. (...)
   The quahaug or hard-shell clam, called by them clolum, is found near the surface, and in some locations perfectly bare.

Pg. 86:  My favourite method of cooking these shell-fish was to make a chowder of the quahogs, and after cleaning the great sea clam, roll them in meal, and fry them with salt pork.  The long sand clam or razor-fish was also cooked by frying.  Another clam, resembling the common clam of Massachusetts in shape, is also found, and usually eaten raw by the Indians.  This is called by them aryuk, and, fried in butter, is very nice.

Pg. 103:  The Chenook salmon...

Pg. 140:  There are several varieties of fall salmon, the most plentiful of which is the hawk-nosed, or hook-billed, or dog-tooth salmon (for it has all those names).

Pg. 165:  There is many a poor fellow who has lost his health by living on "flippers" fried in pork fat because he could not get any saleratus, that might have saved the troubles consequent upon sickness in the miner, had he known this simple recipe.

Pg. 174:  Crows, eagles, owls, blue jays, and various beasts and reptiles, are the representations of bad spirits, or devils, and are called _skookums_.


(Various entries in a Chenook or Jargon Glossary follow--ed.)
Pg. 412:
   Ar'yuck, small clams.
Pg. 413:
   Chett'low, oysters.
   Clo'lum, quahaug clam.
   Metar or sme-tar', large sea-clams.
Pg. 416:
   Boston, _Eng._, American
   Clo-Clo, _Che._, oysters.
Pg. 418:
   Muck'a-muck, _Che._, food, to eat.
Pg. 419:
   Oiee, _Che._, small clams.  (The origin of "geoduck"??--ed.)
   Oo'moor, _Che._, large sea clams.
   Pot'lach, _Che._, give or gift.
   Si-wash', _Fr._ (sauvage), Indian.
   Skoo'-kum, _Che._, strong.
   Skoo-kum' or Sku-kum', _Che._, evil spirits.



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