Fitzgerald, Emily. "An Army Doctor's Wife on the Frontier" (msg 1)

[Dave Robertson]

[Please look especially at the last passage below.  What do think "kleck" is:  Chinook Jargon, Tlingit, or other?--Dave]

Fitzgerald, Emily.  “An Army Doctor’s Wife on the Frontier:  Letters from Alaska and the Far West, 1874-1878.”  Pittsburgh:  University of Pittsburgh Press, 1962.

Page 42-43:  Sitka, Alaska, August 23, 1874:  “There is a dirty little town scattered around the post full of Russians.  Then, off to one side, is the Indian village…They come to your backdoors every day with things to sell:  venison, birds, fish, berries, etc.  One woman quite frightened me yesterday by stopping  to speak to Bess.  She saw her and came back and said, ‘Your papoose?’  I said, ‘Yes.’  She pointed out the gate to a little Indian baby off on the grass and said, ‘My papoose.’”

Page 90:  Sitka, January 23, 1875:  “I sent by this mail an Indian dollie…The little papooses here play with these charming dollies.”

Page 91-92:  Sitka, February 8, 1875:  “Noah, our cook [a black man, I believe—but I didn’t photocopy the page describing him—ed.], has to do all the bargaining, for I can’t understand a thing they say or make them understand me.  ‘Sitkum dollar’ is 50 cents.  That I do know, for their price for almost everything is a half dollar.  ‘Cleck’ means you don’t want what they have and they must go away.”



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



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