(_a_) LANGUAGES.
One great difficulty in the missionary work is the number of languages
used by the people. The Clallams have one, the Twanas another; about one
sixth of the people on the reservation had originally come from Squaxin,
and spoke the Nisqually; the Chinook jargon is an inter-tribal language,
which is spoken by nearly all the Indians, except the very old and very
young, as far south as Northern California, north into Alaska, west to
the Pacific Ocean, and east to Western Idaho. It was made by the early
traders, especially the Hudson’s Bay Company, out of Chinook, French,
and English words, with a few from several other Indian languages, for
use in trade. It serves very well for this purpose, and is almost
universally used in intercourse between the whites and Indians. Very few
whites, even when married to Indian women, have learned to talk any
Indian language except this. But it is not very good for conveying
religious instruction. It is too meager. Yet so many different languages
were spoken by the seven or eight hundred Indians connected with the
agency that it seemed to be the only practicable one, and I learned it.
I have learned to preach in it quite easily, and so that the Indians say
they understand me quite well. The Twana language would have been quite
useful, but it is said to be so difficult to learn that no intelligent
Indian advised me to learn it. The Nisqually is said to be much easier,
and one educated Indian advised me to learn it, but it did not seem to
me to be wise, for while nearly all the Twana Indians understood it, as,
in fact, nearly all the Indians on the upper sound do, yet it was spoken
by very few on the reservation.
Hence I have often used an interpreter while preaching on the Sabbath at
Skokomish, for then usually some whites, old Indians, and children were
present who could not understand Chinook. At other times and places I
constantly used the Chinook language. But a good interpreter is hard to
obtain. “It takes a minister to interpret for a minister,” was said when
Mr. Hallenback, the evangelist, went to the Sandwich Islands, and there
is much truth in it. The first interpreter I had was good at heart, but
he used the Nisqually language. While most of them understood it, yet
this person had learned it after he was grown, and spoke it, the Indians
said, much like a Dutchman does our language. Another one, a Twana, cut
the sentences short, so that one of the school-boys said he could have
hardly understood all that I said had he not understood English. A third
could do well when he tried, but too many times he felt out of sorts and
lazy, and would speak very low and without much life. Hence sometimes I
would feel like dismissing all interpreters, and talking in Chinook, but
then I was afraid that it would drive away the whites, who could not
understand it, but whose presence, for their examples’ sake, I much
desired. I feared also that it would drive away the very old ones, who
sometimes made much effort to come to church, and also that the
children, whose minds were the most susceptible to impressions, would
lose all that was said. So there were difficulties every way.
The medley of services and babel of languages of one Sabbath are
described as follows: The opening exercises were in English, after
which was the sermon, which was delivered in English, but translated
into the Nisqually language, and a prayer was offered in the same
manner. At the close of the service two infants were baptized in
English, when followed the communion service in the same language. At
this there were present twelve white members of the Congregational
church here, and one Indian; two white members of the Protestant
Methodist church; one Cumberland Presbyterian, and one other
Congregationalist. There were also present about seventy-five Indians as
spectators. The Sabbath-school was held soon after, seventy-five persons
being present. First, there were four songs in the Chinook jargon; then
three in English, accompanied by an organ and violin. The prayer was in
Nisqually, and the lesson was read by all in English, after which the
lessons were recited by the scholars. Five classes of Indian children
and two of white children were taught in English, and one class partly
in English and partly in Chinook jargon. There was one Bible-class of
Indian men who understood English, and were taught in that language, a
part of whom could read and a part of whom could not, and another of
about forty Indians of both sexes whose teacher talked English, but an
interpreter translated it into Nisqually; and then they did not reach
some Clallam Indians. Next followed a meeting of the Temperance Society,
as six persons wished to join it. A white man who could do so, wrote his
name, and five Indians who could not, touched the pen while the
secretary made their mark. Three of these were sworn in English and two
in Chinook. The whole services were interspersed with singing in English
and Chinook jargon.
This was soon after I came here. During the past year we have often sung
in English, Chinook jargon, Twana, and Nisqually, on the same Sabbath.
Another medley Sabbath is given under the head of the Jamestown Church,
in connection with its organization.
(_b_) THEIR RELIGION.
Another great difficulty in the way of their accepting Christianity is
their religion. The practical part of it goes by the name of
_ta-mah-no-us_, a Chinook word, and yet so much more expressive than any
single English word, or even phrase, that it has almost become
Anglicized. Like the _Wakan_ of the Dakotas, it signifies the
supernatural in a very broad sense. There are three kinds of it.
First. The Black Tamahnous. This is a secret society. During the
performance of the ceremonies connected with it, all the members black
their faces more or less, and go through a number of rites more savage
than any thing else they do. They do not tell the meaning of these, but
they consist of starving, washing, cutting themselves, violent dancing,
and the like. It was introduced among the Twanas from the Clallams, who
practised it with much more savage rites than the former tribe. It is
still more thoroughly practised by the Makahs of Cape Flattery, who join
the Clallams on the west. It was never as popular among the Twanas as
among some other Indians, and is now practically dead among them. It
still retains its hold among a portion of the Clallams, being practised
at their greatest gatherings. It is believed that it was intended to be
purifical, sacrificial, propitiatory.
[Illustration: BLACK TAMAHNOUS RATTLE.]
[Illustration: BIRD MASK USED IN THE BLACK TAMAHNOUS CEREMONIES BY THE
CLALLAMS.]
Second. The Red, or Sing, Tamahnous. During the performance of its
ceremonies, they generally painted their faces red. It was their main
ceremonial religion. During the fall and winter they assembled, had
feasts, and performed these rites, danced and sang their sacred songs;
it might be for one night, or it might be for a week or so.
[Illustration: SWINE MASKS USED IN THE BLACK TAMAHNOUS CEREMONIES BY THE
CLALLAMS.]
Sometimes this was done for the sake of purifying the soul from sin.
Sometimes in a vision a person professed to have seen the spirits of
living friends in the world of departed spirits, which was a sure sign
that they would die in a year or two, unless those spirits could be
brought back to this world. So they gathered together and with singing,
feasting, and many ceremonies, went in spirit to the other world and
brought these spirits back. This spirit-world is somewhere below, within
the earth. When they are ready to descend, with much ceremony a little
of the earth is broken, to open the way, as it were, for the descent.
Having traveled some distance below, they come to a stream which must be
crossed on a plank. Two planks are put up with one end on the ground and
the other on a beam in the house, about ten feet above the ground, in a
slanting direction, one on one side of the beam, and the other on the
other side, so that they can go up on one side and down on the other. To
do this is the outward form of crossing the spirit-river. If it is done
successfully, all is well, and they proceed on their
[Illustration: MASK USED IN THE BLACK TAMAHNOUS CEREMONIES BY THE
CLALLAMS.
[The markings are of different colors. The wearer sees through the
nostrils.]]
journey. If, however, a person should actually fall from one of these
planks, it is a sure sign that he will die in a year or so. They
formerly believed this to be so, but about twelve years ago a man
[Illustration: BLACK TAMAHNOUS MASK.]
did fall off, and did die within a year, so then they were certain of
it. Having come to the place of the departed spirits, they quietly hunt
for the spirits of their living friends, and when they find what other
spirits possess them, they begin battle and attempt to take them and are
generally successful. Only a few men descend to the spirit-world, but
during the fight the rest of the people present keep up a very great
noise by singing, pounding on sticks and drums, and in similar ways
encourage those engaged in battle. Having obtained the spirits which
they wish, they wrap them up or pretend to do so, so that they look like
a great doll, and bring them back to the world and deliver them to their
proper owners, who receive them with great joy and sometimes with tears
of gratitude.
At other times they go through other ceremonies somewhat different. This
form has now mostly ceased among the Twanas, but retains its hold among
a large share of the Clallams. The Christian Indians profess wholly to
have given it up.
Third. The Tamahnous for the sick. When a person is very sick, they
think that the spirit of some bad animal, as the crow, bluejay, wolf,
bear, or similar treacherous creature, has entered the individual and is
eating away the life. This has been sent by a bad medicine-man, and it
is the business of the good medicine-man to draw this out, and he
professes to do it with his incantations. With a few friends who sing
and pound on sticks, he works over the patient in various ways.
This is the most difficult belief for the Indian to abandon, for, while
there is a religious idea in it, there is also much of superstition
connected with it. As the Indian Agent at Klamath, Oregon, once wrote:
“It requires some thing more than a mere resolution of the will to
overcome it.” “I do not believe in it now,” said a Spokane Indian, “but
if I should become very sick, I expect I should want an Indian doctor.”
It will take time and education to eradicate this idea. It is the only
part of tamahnous, which I think an Indian can hold and be a Christian,
because it is held partly as a superstition and not wholly as a
religion. Some white, ignorant persons are superstitious and, at the
same time, are Christians. The bad spirit which causes the sickness is
called a bad tamahnous. Soon after I first came here, we spent several
evenings in discussing the qualifications of church membership, the main
difference of opinion centering on this subject of tamahnous over the
sick. I took the same position then that I do now, and facts seem to
agree thereto; for, among the Yakamas, Spokanes, and Dakotas, who have
stood as Christians many years through strong trials, have been some who
have not wholly abandoned it, it remaining apparently as a superstition
and not a religion.