"Kopet: a documentary narrative of Chief Joseph's last years"

[hzenk at PDX.EDU]

>
> Nika tum tum pe mika tumtum kwak nesam cooley kahkwa; delate tilikums,
> mika pe nika.
>
> My heart and your heart always run close together so; good friends, you
> and I.  (Gidley 1981:61)
>

"kwak nesam" looks most likely to be kwahnesam, distorted perhaps as a result
of copying from an original handwritten source?  Then we'd have:

nayka tEmtEm pi mayka tEmtEm kwanisam kuli kakwa.  dilet tilixam (or, tilikams,
a frequent "pushtin" form that was picked up sometimes also by Indians), mayka
pi nayka.
= My heart and your heart always run thusly (or perhaps, kakwa means 'same'
here:  cf. khanawi-kakwa 'equal, same').  Real friends, you and I.


> >> He's quoted in one document as saying "Nica Halo Bottlum" ("I never
> >> touch
> >> the bottle", it's glossed by an Indian agent who must have though
> >> Chinook
> >> a kind of pidgin English!)  That's one example for you.

Could "Bottlum" be misconstrued for patLam 'drunk'?

--Henry