The mystery of the Stuwix - an Athapaskan or Chinookan people amongst the Secx'emc (fwd)

[David Robertson]

Hayu mersi, Dell; khanawi-lhaksta, according to a book on (Montana Salish)
legends of the northern Rockies, there are old stories of a people who
came from the ocean, up the Columbia and perhaps the Snake River, and
settled among the Selish.  They are reported to have had powerful canoes,
a strange language, and flat heads.  They were "not Su-appi [suyepi,
'Whites'] and not true Indians."  The arrival of these "Mystery People"
predated that of Whites by a long time; "when the first Su-appi came, they
saw with the Salish a few old Mystery men with flat heads."  The Mystery
People knew of traveling by sailboat.

Sounds a little like Chinooks, maybe, amd their women are said to have
been Coast Indians.  But these men did insist that their forefathers came
from across the Pacific Ocean.

I have heard that the Salish also talk about the "stupid people".  The
word is...um.../smtew's/, "stupid; uncivilized; a lost tribe of Indians
occurring in legends", and while I'm checking the dictionary, I'd like to
mention that the (Spokane) Salish word for whale (!) is /smtus/.  Hmm.
Lastly, I will wonder whether somebody older and wiser knows if these
folks were /stIk shawash/, Salish /sc'weney'ti/, "Stick Indians".

References for the interested:

Clark, Ella E.  "Indian Legends of the Northern Rockies."  Norman:  U. of
Oklahoma Press, 1966.

Carlson, Barry F. and Pauline Flett.  "Spokane Dictionary."  Missoula:  U.
of Montana Press, 1989.

Jacobs, Melville.  Those priceless Chinook Jargon texts that he published
	around 1932 with U. of Washington Press (?).  This is what you get
	for having a tired moderator.  :-)


Best,
Dave

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---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Mon, 17 Jan 2000 13:25:52 -0500
From: Dell Hymes <dhh4d at virginia.edu>
To: David Robertson <drobert at tincan.tincan.org>
Subject: Re: The mystery of the Stuwix - an Athapaskan or Chinookan people               amongst the Secx'emc

Louis Simpson told the story to Sapir in 1905. The people who left were
said to still speak the language.  I heard a version or two of this in the
1950s at Warm Springs from Hiram Smith, a Wasco speaker (same language as
Wishram), and I think someone else.  The idea that far away there were
others who still knew one's language seemed to be appealing.  How far away
could be enlarged.

The Coos of the coast of Oreogn have a story about people going the other
way, across the Pacific, if I recall rightly.

>Lha'Xiyem.
>
>The story of the people who left the Columbia Gorge area to resettle in
>the north around the current Washington - BC boundary is known to many
>indigenous people of this region, it seems.
>
>The "Wishram" people apparently said that these folks were Salish, or am I
>misremembering from Sapir's and Spier's ethnography?
>
>SIk-tEmtEm nay pus wek dret nay wawa.  Alaxti nay khapIt kEmtEks ukuk
>ya7im.
>
>Dave
>
> *VISIT the archives of the CHINOOK jargon and the SALISHAN & neighboring*
>		    <=== languages lists, on the Web! ===>
>	   http://listserv.linguistlist.org/archives/salishan.html
>	   http://listserv.linguistlist.org/archives/chinook.html