Can you identify these fish? (_Kamloops Wawa_) (fwd)

[Mike Cleven]

At 09:22 AM 10/22/99 -0700, Pass/Kishkan/High Ground Press wrote:
>At 05:28 PM 21/10/99 -0700, David Robertson wrote:
>> *
>>the term mamet in Thompson is corresponds to either mountain whitefish
>>(Prospoium williamsoni) or Northern Pike Minnow "Squawfish"
>>(Ptychocheilus oregonensis).  The exact fish is not known.
>>
>
>>From British Columbia Place Names by the Akriggs:" Mamit Lake, N. of Merritt
>(C-9). From an Okanagan Indian word applied to the whitefish found in the
area."

That's interesting, because Merritt is in the heart of Nlaka'pmx territory,
rather than Okanagan, although certainly there's no reason why the Nicolas
(as the Merritt-area Nlaka'pmx are sometimes called) could not have adopted
an Okanagan word for a fish that was more common in the bigger valley; why
they didn't have a Nlaka'pmx word is another question, although the Akriggs
were not known for the ethnological sensitivities and might have overlooked
a similar Nlaka'pmx word, citing instead the Okanagan.

Another odd fish name - and odd fish - are the "semele" of Seton Lake
(Tsalalh); in the spelling I saw (prob. from Teit) there were a couple of
circumflexes on two of the 'e's.  The word is supposed to mean "floater" in
St'at'imcets; at a certain time of the year, thousands (once millions) of a
fish something like a kokanee would float to the surface of the lake near
the shore, allowing them to be scooped up prolifically.  I don't know much
more about this, and didn't have a chance to talk to any elders on the
subject when I was at Seton; any ideas from you Salishanists on its
etymology or true meaning (as with "mamit" or "mamet" in Nlaka'pmx or
Okanagan)?