The tribe of Clallams, as they are usually called by the residents of
Washington Territory--by the neighboring Indians named S'klal'am, and
denominated by themselves N[=u]s-klai y[=u]m--inhabit the southern shore
of Fuca Strait, from about the Ok[)e]ho River on the west, to Port
Townshend on the east, bordering in the first direction on the Makahs,
sometimes called Classets (the Klaizzart of Jewitt), a tribe of the
Nootka family who inhabit Cape Flattery, and in the other on the
Chemakum, like themselves a branch of the Selish, though a yet more
remote one. Their language is the same, with some dialectic differences
only, as that of the Songhus and Sokes of Vancouver Island opposite. It
is this which has been referred to by Drs. Scouler and Latham as the
"Nusdalum," undoubtedly, in the first instance, a misprint.
The Clallam differs materially from the other Selish languages of the
Puget Sound country, though less from the Lummi than the rest. Its
noticeable feature is the frequent occurrence of the nasal _ng_.
The Lummi tribe live on the lower part of a river heading in the Cascade
Range, north-east of Mount Baker, and emptying by two mouths, one into
Bellingham Bay, the other into the Gulf of Georgia, the upper waters of
which are inhabited by the Nook-sahks (N[=u]k-sak). They are, however,
intruders here, their former country having been a part of the group of
islands between the continent and Vancouver Island, to which they still
occasionally resort. Their own name is N[=u]kh'lum-mi. The Skagits call
them N[=u]kh-lesh, and some of the other tribes Ha-lum-mi. Their
dialectic affinities are rather with the Sannitch of the south-eastern
end of Vancouver Island than with any of the Indians of the main land,
and the two probably at one period formed a single tribe, which more
remotely was connected with the Clallams and Songhus. The Simiahmoo
(Si-mi-a-mu), a small remnant, living on the bay of that name, north of
them, belong likewise to this group. On the south the Lummi adjoin the
Samish and other bands of the Skagits, who in language approach the
Nisquallies.
Like the Clallam, their language abounds with the nasal _ng_, both as a
prefix and a termination. It has another peculiarity, in great measure
its own, in the broad sound of the letter _a_, somewhat as in the words
_mass_, _pass_, but even more prolonged. I have distinguished this in
the vocabulary by the italic. The letters _f_, _r_, _v_, _z_, are
wanting in both languages.
The Clallam and Lummi, as will be observed, contain three classes of
cardinals, which I have distinguished as _simple_, _personal_, and of
_valuation_, although these terms are not strictly accurate; certain
objects, besides men, being counted by the second, and others, as well
as money, by the third; I have never fully ascertained the distinctions
which govern their use. The words _animate_ and _inanimate_ do not
apply; those of _noble_ and _ignoble_, by which the French Missionaries
designated the names of objects in the Algonquin languages, probably
indicate the idea. Mr. Gallatin, in his "Notes on the Semi-Civilized
Nations of Mexico," &c.,[A] mentions the same peculiarity as existing in
the Mexican and Maya, in the former of which there are three different
terminations suffixed to the simple numbers, according to the objects
denoted. A similar distinction is found in the Makak language, and
traces of it, at least, are observable in the Pima. I imagine that by
inquiry the fact would be found to exist in other Indian tongues.
Singularly enough, this feature also characterizes some of the languages
of Micronesia.
[A] Trans. Am. Eth. Soc., vol, i., p. 54.
The affinities of the Clallam and Lummi with the Selish are too obvious
to require demonstration. Indeed Dr. Latham has already classed the
former with the Shewhapmukh, or, as he terms it, Atna, of Frazer River,
the northernmost of the Selish dialects. The term Atna, it may be
mentioned, is improperly applied as a family name to these languages, as
it is a Takulli (Athabascan or Chepewyan) word, signifying, according to
Mr. A. C. Anderson, "strangers."
These two vocabularies were collected, the first at Port Townshend,
during a residence of a few months, the other at Simiamoo Bay, while I
was connected with the N. W. Boundary Commission. Neither of them
underwent more than a partial revision, and inaccuracies have therefore
doubtless crept in. They are, however, sufficiently reliable to afford
the basis of extending comparisons with the other Selish and the more
northern coast families.
Transcriber's Note: For greater legibility the letters originally marked
as _a_ and _u_ have been replaced with ae and ue in the vocabularies,
except where this would cause a conflict with an existing diacritical.