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

[Dave Robertson]

Thank you, Ross, for these selections.  One point -- these passages tend to prove that Chinook Jargon <iskom>, in the _Kamloops Wawa_ account of Boas' meeting with Le Jeune, ought to be translated as 'took' (some copies of _KW_), rather than 'subscribes to' _KW_.  A tip of the hat to Henry Zenk for suspecting that already.  The Rohner book must be a great read, judging by the fairly personal tone showing through here.

For our list members who aren't students of anthropology, maybe it should be mentioned that when Boas said he 'measured Indians', he was probably doing it with a tape-measure.  That is, he was one of the early anthropologists who investigated the possibility of quantifying racial differences into scientific laws.

Boas (a German Jew, for what it's worth) ended up denouncing such methods and the racialist ideas that underlay them.  Quite an interesting thinker all around.

Dave

"Ross Clark (FOA LING)" <r.clark at AUCKLAND.AC.NZ> wrote:

>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
>
--
"Asking a linguist how many languages she knows is like asking a doctor how many diseases he has!" -- anonymous



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