Among the An-ko-me-nums, or Flathead Tribes of Indians of the Pacific CoastCrosby, Thomas
History
Among the An-ko-me-nums, or Flathead Tribes of Indians of the Pacific Coast
Crosby, Thomas
Indians of North America -- Missions; Salish Indians
One fine day on that trip a very amusing incident occurred, which
illustrates the Indian’s superstitious dread of anything which seems
unnatural. As we were paddling along the Doctor was relating a joke
about a miner and an Indian woman on the streets of Victoria. In order
to appreciate the story, one must be told that the Indians lived to
a considerable extent upon clams, which fact was made the butt of
continual jokes, while the miners, in those days, subsisted largely on
bacon and beans. The Doctor said: “An Indian woman was passing a group
of miners on the street, when one of them drawled out, ‘Cla-ms!’ in a
mocking tone of voice. The woman at once turned around very sharply
and, much to the amusement of the crowd, retorted, ‘B-b-beans!’”
As the Doctor, in relating the story, was attempting to imitate the
Indian woman’s way of saying “beans,” his set of false teeth fell out
and very nearly went overboard. The Indian in the stern, seeing the
teeth fly out, threw up both hands and very nearly went overboard
himself.
“Ah-na! ah-na-na! this man has come from the grave!” he cried.
“Spul-queet-sa! Spul-queet-sa! I can’t go on. This man is not a living
man, he is a spirit,” he told his friend in the bow.
The other man refused to believe that a man could handle his teeth, as
it was said the Doctor had done. They commenced to wrangle over the
matter and were losing time.
“Doctor, you will have to show the other fellow your teeth,” I said. In
an instant the Doctor pulled them out and held them before the man’s
face. With that he threw up his hands and screeched and screamed till
we thought he would fall overboard. Then they got a little quieted down
and paddled on, but every once in a while they would stop to discuss
the thing, whether this was really a living man or a ghost from the
grave. They watched him, especially when we went ashore to camp for the
night. When they saw that he could eat and laugh and talk like the rest
of us they could not understand it.
This reminds me of a trader’s wife, a devoted Christian, living up the
coast, who had a native servant. The girl had been with her for some
time and had become very much attached to her mistress. She used to
go home to the camp every night and return to her work early in the
morning. One morning, as the lady, whose name was Viona, was busy with
her toilet, and was in the act of brushing her teeth, the Indian maid,
returning, chanced to look in at the door. Seeing her mistress putting
her teeth in her mouth, she cried out, “Oh, Viona! Viona!” and ran
away as hard as she could run. She told her friends that the lady was
a ghost and had come from the grave, and she could not be persuaded to
return for many a day.
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