"Lillooet Stories" told by Charlie Mack, Baptiste Ritchie, et al.

[Mike Cleven]

David Robertson wrote:
>
> (Ed. by Randy Bouchard and Dorothy Kennedy..."Sound Heritage", vol. VI,
> no. 1, Victoria, BC, 1977.)
>
> p. 28:  "The Whale in Anderson Lake" story has the word <Wo-NEESH>
>         "floaters" being misunderstood by the whale as <Qua-NEESH>
>         "whale".  Note that this Salish term for "whale" wound up in
>         Chinook Jargon usually in the pronunciation <kwadis>.

Haven't read the story, although I've heard of it.  There's another
monster story in adjoining Seton Lake; the manonman, but that (whatever
it is) isn't a whale.....
>
> p. 37 ff:       "Chasing the Souls of the Dead" story features a shaman
>         named In-kee-YOOSH-kin from D'Arcy at the south end of Anderson
>         Lake, as well as Cayoosh Creek.  The terms look to be related, if
>         I may speak as a non-expert in Lillooet Salish, and to have no
>         connection with the Chinook Jargon term "cayuse".  I'm not finding
>         it now, but I believe I read in this same book about another Place
>         called "Cayuse" Creek or Pass or some such.

The preferred spelling of this local toponymic word (cayoosh/cayuse),
according to the official history text published by the St'at'imc, is
"Cayoose"; although a sign adjacent to the tribal office uses
"Kiy-oose"; local prononciation tends towards cayoosh, although it's
true that 'oose' is heard locally, even though the 's' sound varies
towards "sh" quite a bit even in non-native speech in the area.

The other reference in the same book to "Cayuse Creek" would be the same
stream as Cayoosh Creek; just an older-period spelling as is quite
common; 19th century publications use three or four spellings for the
same/name word interchangeably.  Can't say I've heard of a Cayuse Pass
but it wouldn't surprise me; there's lots of passes in the whole
region.  But it's not on the local topos if there is such a term, which
would most likely only be known to hunters and prospectors if it's
there; there _is_ the Cayoosh Range, however, which is the range between
Anderson Lake and Cayoosh Creek and which dominates the view in D'arcy
as well as Mt. Currie....

>From my experience of this kind of thing so far, I don't think a Jargon
word would be adapted into St'at'imcets by mutation (instead of direct
borrowing like labutai), unless there are other examples of using a
Jargon root with St'at'imcets affixes I'm unaware of.  It _would_ (or
could) make sense for someone from Nequatqua (D'arcy) to have a name
meaning "having to do with the Cayoosh Range"; by this I mean instead of
"having to do with horses" (although there's good horseflesh at
D'arcy).  My reason for this is that the Cayoosh Range is spoken of
locally simply as "the Cayoosh", a term which includes the basin of
Duffy Lake and Cayoosh Creek and the adjoining wilderness.


>
> p. 50: "Hunter Jack and the Chilcotins" narrative tells of this Lillooet
>         chief (a.k.a. In-KICK-tee) communicating with enemy Athapaskan-
>         speaking Chilcotins using Chinook Jargon, probably in the mid-
>         1800's.

Well, nobody's _real_ sure exactly how old Jack was, but he was pretty
old.  According to Terry Glavin the Jargon played an important role in
the forging of a tripartite truce between the Shuswap, Chilcotin and
Lillooet, which may be the same set of negotiations; Hunter Jack's own
hunting and prospecting territory was that which was the region disputed
between the Chilcotins and Lillooets, namely most of the upper Bridge
River Valley, so he would have of course been a major player in dealing
with any Chilcotin neighbours.  Even though the Bridge River Valley is
officially St'at'imc territorial claim now, the environmental/recreation
community has ironically reappropriated the Chilcotin designation for
the upper Bridge River Valley; it would better and more p.c. called "the
West Lillooet" (a term which could include Mt. Currie-Port Douglas, come
to think of it).
>
> p. 61: "The Outlaws" narrative has the following exchange between a White
>         judge and a witness:
>         -"Cultus Jack, doesn't 'Cultus' mean 'bad'?"
>         -"Yes it does."
>         -"Why are you called 'bad'?"
>         -"When I was young, I used to chase the girls a lot."
>         This exchange seems to be about, not in, Chinook Jargon.

Most quotations seem to fall in this category; which is why you can find
scattered references and tidbits on the Jargon in local histories, but
it's very hard to find an actual complete document or article, as if any
existed or were published (other than the KW).

MC