Chinook is a queer jargon. It is said to have been manufactured many
years ago by an employe of the Hudson Bay Fur Company, who taught the
principal chiefs of various Indian tribes to speak it in order to
facilitate traffic with them. From that time it has grown and spread
until almost every Indian of the North Pacific Coast, and many inland
tribes of Washington, British Columbia, and Oregon speak it. White men
of all nations who live in this country speak it, and even the
almond-eyed Chinaman learns it soon after locating here. In short, it is
the court language of the Northwest, as the sign language is of the
plains. It is made up from various Indian tongues, with a few English,
or rather pigeon-English, French, and Spanish words intermixed. There
are only about 1,500 words in the language and it is very easy to learn.
Of course, it is woefully lacking in strength and beauty. You will often
want to say something that can not be said in Chinook, because there are
no words in that jargon with which to say it. But it is made to answer
the purposes of trade, travel, and barter, in common forms. For
instance:
"Kah-tah si-ah ko-pa Frazer chuck?" would be, "How far is it to the
Frazer river?"
"Yutes kut klat-a-wa la-pe-a," "Only a short walk." If you wish to say
good-morning or good-evening to an Indian you say:
"Kla-how-ya, six."
"Chah-co yah-wa" is "Come here."
"Mi-ka tik-eh mam-ook?" "Do you want to work?"
"Ik-ta mi-ka mam-ook?" "At what?"
"Mam-ook stick." "Cut some wood."
"Na-wit-ka." "Certainly."
"Kon-si dat-la spose mi-ka mam-ook kon-a-way o-koke stick?" "What do you
want for cutting that lot of wood?"
"Ikt dol la." "One dollar."
The numerals are ikt (one), mox (two), klone (three), lock-it (four),
kwin-num (five), tagh-kum (six), sin-na mox (seven), sto te-kin (eight),
twaist (nine), tah-tlum (ten), tah-tlum pee-ikt (eleven), tah-tlum
pee-mox (twelve), mox-tah tlum (twenty), klone tah-tlum (thirty), ikt
tali-kamo-nux (one hundred), tah-tlum to-ka mo-mik (one thousand), etc.
It is often difficult to get accurate information from these Indians as
to distances or time, as they have little idea of English miles or of
the measurements of time, and very few of them own or know how to read a
watch or clock. Under Pean's tutelage I learned rapidly, and was soon
able to carry on quite an interesting conversation by the aid of the
little dictionary.
By the light of a rousing camp-fire I cut a large quantity of cedar
boughs and made for myself a bed a foot deep. On this I spread my
sleeping-bag, crawled into it and slept the sleep of the weary hunter.
Pean cut only a handful of boughs, spread them near the fire, threw his
coat over them, and lay down. Then he folded his two blankets and spread
them over him, mostly on the side away from the fire, leaving that part
of his body next to the fire exposed so as to catch its heat direct.
During the night, whenever he turned over, he would shift his blankets
so as to keep them where most needed. At frequent intervals he would get
up and replenish the fire from the large supply of dry wood we had
provided. The night was bitter cold, at this high altitude, and snow
fell at frequent intervals. A raw wind blew, and the old man must have
suffered from the cold to which he exposed himself.
There are few of these savages that understand and appreciate fully the
value of a good bed when camping. In fact, many white hunters and
mountaineers go on long camping trips with insufficient bedding, simply
because they are too lazy to carry enough to keep them comfortable. I
would rather get into a good warm, soft bed at night without my supper,
than eat a feast and then sleep on the hard ground, without covering
enough to keep me warm. After a hard day's work a good bed is absolutely
necessary to prepare one for the labor and fatigue of the following day.
"In bed we laugh, in bed we cry,
And born in bed, in bed we die;
The near approach, a bed may show,
Of human bliss to human woe."
Any ablebodied man may endure a few nights of cold, comfortless sleep,
but it will tell on him sooner or later; while if he sleep comfortably
and eat heartily, he may endure an incredible amount of labor and
hardship of other kinds. You may tramp all day with your feet wet, and
all your clothing wet, if need be, but be sure you crawl into a good,
warm, dry bed at night.
Old Pean complained of feeling unwell during the evening, and in the
morning when we got up said he was sick. I prepared a good breakfast,
but he could not, or at least would not, eat. Then he told me that he
had once fallen down a mountain; that his breast-bone had been crushed
in by striking on a sharp rock, and that it always hurt him since when
doing any hard work. He said the climb up the mountain with the pack was
too hard for him and he was played out, that he could go no farther.
Here was another bitter disappointment, as we were yet two miles from
the top of the mountain, and in going that distance a perpendicular
ascent of from 2,000 to 3,000 feet must be made. I deliberated,
therefore, as to whether I should go up the mountain alone and let Pean
go back, but decided it would be useless. I could not carry more load
than my sleeping-bag, gun, etc., and therefore could bring no game down
with me if I killed it, not even a head or skin. Beside, if he went back
he would take his canoe, and I would be left with no means of crossing
the lake. So the only thing to be done was to pack up and retrace our
steps. On our way down we stopped and took the head and skin off of the
deer killed the day before, and I carried them to the canoe. Arriving at
the lake, we pulled again for Chehalis in a cold, disagreeable rain. I
stopped at the hot springs on my way down, and took my leave of my
host, Mr. Brown, who had been so kind to me, and who regretted my ill
luck almost as much as I did.