tribe names from 1817 Thomson atlas

[Dave Robertson]

Klahowya, shiks,

Some of those names look easy to identify, while others are probably misplaced on the map.  Given the minimal amount of knowledge among Europeans of our region's geography circa 1817, it's not surprising to see some of the inaccuracies that are exemplified in the examples cited by Mike.

For example:  <Skilut> would appear to be the "Skilloot" of Lewis & Clark, Chinookans of the lower Columbia River, *not* Puget Sound.

"Ear Bob Lake" for Pend d'Oreille is not so hard to interpret, as it's the contemporary English translation of the French name.  That is, the term for "earring" at that time was "ear bob".  One wonders whether the name "Lacouteray"/"Lac Court Oreilles" etc. in Wisconsin might have been influenced by a mistaken translation *back from* English into French, taking "bob" to mean "cut"!

"Flat Bow" sounds familiar, but I'm away from home now and can't find a reference...

Cheers,
Dave

Mike Cleven <ironmtn at BIGFOOT.COM> wrote:
>
> The frontispiece of the relatively new Historical Atlas of British
> Columbia and the Pacific Northwest is the northwest part of the
> "America" map from Thomson's New General Atlas, John Thomson, 1817.  The
> caption comments on irregularities in the geography shown.  More
> interesting for linguists and ethnologists are some tribe names shown -
> Slouacus Indians along the coast from the Skeena northwards, Nanscud
> Indians in the area between the Peace and Fraser River basins, Snare
> Indians in what should be the Cariboo, the Nagiler Indians just to their
> south, shown were the Chilcotin actually is but possibly refering to the
> Nlaka'pamux and the Skilut at the head of Puget Sound (Olympia, more or
> less); any comments on these names and their etymologies or sources?
> The other national names shown are easy enough to guess - Snake,
> Cal-la-poe-wah, Wil-lewan and Flatheads.  Flathead Lake is shown as Flat
> Bo L. and Pend d'Oreille Lake is shown as - (!) - Ear Bob Lake.
>
> MC
>

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