A tiny note on soapberries...

[Theresa Kishkan]

> SALAL BERRY - was a source of medicine.  It has a foamy juice often
>   called "Soap a lal" - boile up for tonic and a refreshing drink.  Pitch
>   from the trees was used for heating.  [Mrs. Edwards is confusing salal
>   with xoosum/Soapberry here; xoosum looks a lot more like huckleberry
>   BTW; modern Band members exclusively use the term "xoosum"; Soap a lal
>   must be a Chinookism]

I've always understood Soopolallie, the common name for soapberry, or
Shepherdia canadensis,  to be Chinook. It is also the name used for the
dessert prepared with the berries and I remember it was specialty of a
restaurant called Muckamuck in Vancouver -- maybe in the late 70s, early 80s.

p.s. If any of you are in Sechelt on Friday evening, come along to the
Sechelt Public Library and help me celebrate the publication of Inishbream,
my new book! 7:00....
Theresa Kishkan
RR1 Site 20 C11
Madeira Park, B.C.
V0N 2H0
(604)883-2377
Red Laredo Boots (1996); Sisters of Grass (2000); Inishbream (2001)

"The grey geese circled Inishbream and the population fled, leaving their
tables laid for another stranger to discover, leaving a brand of turf to
burn away to cold ash."