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
I was “in journeyings oft”; sometimes on foot, overland, or on the
back of an Indian “cayuse” (pony); more frequently by canoe, and,
occasionally, on the deck of a steamer. At one time I was acquainted
with nearly every settler within the bounds of my large field--about
160 miles wide by as many long.
After travelling some thirty miles and preaching at different points
on the journey, I arrived one evening at an island where I had often
preached before. As the day had been stormy and I had worked all the
way, I was very wet. The old chief and his wife, both of whom were very
kind and hospitable, made me welcome in their home. Piling up wood,
they built a big fire, and I hung my wet blankets around the fire on
poles to dry.
“How glad we are the ‘laplate’ (missionary) has come,” the old wife
commenced to say, in an undertone, as if to herself. “It is a long time
since he was here before. We forget many of the good words he has said
to us. Why don’t you come oftener, missionary, and tell us more of the
good story, that wonderful thing, you tell us, about the Great Chief on
High who gave His Son?” And then, as if recollecting the needs of her
guest, she said: “Oh, I must get some supper for him.”
By this time she had a small basket that would hold water, threw in
some potatoes, gave them a roll around in the water, and then put them
into a pot on the fire. Reaching down a dried salmon from a pile which
was stored on a platform over the bed, where the cats and rats and
other animals ran over them, she gave it a big slap against the post to
knock the thickest of the dirt off, and then held it up before the fire
to warm and heat it, so that the skin would peel off.
Very soon the potatoes were boiled and rolled out in a little
trough-like dish about two feet long, the salmon was broken in pieces
and laid on top of the potatoes, and the whole was set before the
Indian boy and myself.
All this time she was talking away to herself: “How good it is for the
missionary to come. He has come through all the storm, and we must be
kind to him.”
Having washed our hands, I asked a blessing upon the food, and were
soon at our supper of salmon and potatoes. We were sure that one side
of the salmon was fairly clean, for the skin had been torn off it,
and as for the potatoes, they had their jackets on, but we had to eat
without a bit of salt.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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