CJ-English-French "mix" @ Kamloops, 1866

[Dave Robertson]

>From Beadle's Magazine, 1866, "page 211" (I'm not sure which issue):

"An old Indian came, introduced himself, in a mixed jargon of French, 
English, and Chinook, as Captain St. Paul, and inquired who we were.  We 
told him we...were starving...He said we should have abundance immediately; 
but that we must pay 'un piastre chaque.'"

A worldly listener could've described regular old Chinook Wawa as "a mixed 
jargon of French, English, and Chinook".  But the added quotation, " 'un 
piastre chaque' " ('a piastre [coin] each') suggests this description was 
intended otherwise.  Apparently St. Paul, a well-known figure in Secwepemc 
history, was blending Wawa with additional English and French material.  

This is kind of interesting in light of Bill Turkel's work suggesting Wawa 
didn't catch in the old fur-trading areas, such as Kamloops, until after 
the big gold rushes--about 1858 onwards.  I don't know when the above 
anecdote happened, but it was probably not long before 1866.  Seems as if 
St. Paul wasn't too fluent in the Wawa yet.  

That situation had definitely changed within a generation.  By 1890, the 
local people had begun writing in Wawa shorthand.  

--Dave

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