"Dr. Franz Boaz" [sic] in _Kamloops Wawa_, Dec. 1894 (no. 123 )

[Ross Clark (FOA LING)]

I wondered whether Boas had left any account of his view of the meeting.
Here are a couple of bits:

Kamloops, September 17, 1894
[Letter to his parents]

Today I visited the missionaries, who are very amiable and well educated.
This morning I went out to the Mission, a half German mile from here, and
met a missionary making hay. It turned out that he was the missionary for
the whites, and therefore I had to return to "town" where I saw the other
one, Father LeJeune, who already knew who I was, and he was very obliging. I
had to have lunch (dinner) with him, and we went together to the Indian
school in the afternoon, again a half mile off. There I measured twenty-five
children....Such a poor priest really leads a miserable life. His house is
poor, and he has no quiet time all year round because he has to go from
village to village. Since the Indians speak so many different languages, a
personal relationship can never develop with any of them. In short, I can't
see what these people get out of their lives except religion.

North Bend, September 23, 1894
[Letter to his wife]

Yesterday I played a piano which is in the hotel. I also wrote a letter to
Putnam and copied my notes. Then I measured Indians. Strangely enough I
could not get any men, whereas I had no difficulty with the women. I
measured eighteen women and children. When I was all finished and had my
dinner, I went to the missionary, Father LeJeune, and asked him to explain
to the people in church what I wanted. He not only promised to do this but
told me to come right after the mid-day service and measure the people in
church. So I hope to get some men this afternoon. I stayed last night until
ten o'clock with the missionary, and we discussed the Indians. He makes a
"hobby" of teaching the children writing in shorthand, and strange to say
they learn it much more quickly [than by longhand] because the signs are
much simpler. I had studied the alphabet the day before and read something
to the Indians; they enjoyed it very much.

from: The Ethnography of Franz Boas: Letters and Diaries of Franz Boas
Written on the Northwest Coast from 1886 to 1931. Edited by Ronald P.Rohner,
Translated by Hedy Parker. University of Chicago Press.

Not a word about CJ or Kamloops Wawa, though the shorthand does get a
mention. Clearly "measuring Indians" was Boas's main preoccupation at this
point.

Ross Clark