The Ethnology of the British Colonies and DependenciesLatham, R. G. (Robert Gordon)
History
The Ethnology of the British Colonies and Dependencies
Latham, R. G. (Robert Gordon)
Ethnology
The chief authority is Dr. Scouler. The whole of his valuable remarks
upon the North-western Indians, is a commentary upon the assertion
already made as to the extent which we have formed our ideas of the
Aboriginal American upon the Algonkins and Iroquois exclusively; and his
facts are a correction to our inferences. In what way do the moral and
intellectual characters of the Western Indians differ from those of the
Eastern? I shall give the answer in Dr. Scouler's only terms. They are
less inflexible in character. Their range of ideas is greater. They are
imitative and docile. They are comparatively humane.[77] No scalping. No
excessive torture of prisoners. No probationary inflictions.
Now--whether negative or positive--there is not one of those
characteristics wherein the Western American differs from the Eastern,
in which he does not, at the same time, approach the Eskimo. In the
absence of the scalping-knife, the tomahawk, the council fire, the
wampum-belt, the hero chief, and the metaphorical orator, the Eskimo
differs from the Ojibway, the Huron, and the Mohawk. True. But the
Haidah and the Chimsheyan do the same.
The religion of the Algonkin and Iroquois is Shamanistic; like the Negro
of Africa they attribute to some material object mysterious powers. As
far as the term has been defined, this is Feticism. But, then, like the
Finn, and the Samoeid of Siberia, they either seek for themselves or
reverence in others, the excitement of fasting, charms, and dreams. As
far as the term has been defined this is Shamanism. Now lest our notions
as to the religion of the Indians be rendered unduly favourable through
the ideas of pure theism, called up by the missionary term _Great
Spirit_, we must simply remember, in the first place, that the term is
_ours_, not _theirs_; and that those who, by looking to facts rather
than words, have criticised it, have arrived at the conclusion that the
creed of the Indians of the St. Lawrence and Mississippi is neither
better nor worse than the creed of the Indians of the Columbia. Both are
alike, Shamanistic. And so is the Eskimo.
The names in detail of the Indians of British Oregon, over and above
those of the Athabaskan family already enumerated, are as follows; Dr.
Scouler still being the authority, and, along with him, Mr. Tolmie and
Mr. Hale.
1. The _Chimsheyan_, or _Chimmesyan_, on the sea-coast and islands about
55° North lat. Their tribes are the _Naaskok_, the _Chimsheyan Proper_,
the _Kitshatlah_, and the _Kethumish_.
2. The _Billichula_, on the mouth of the Salmon River.
3. The _Hailtsa_, on the sea-coast, from Hawkesbury Island to
Broughton's Archipelago, and (perhaps) the northern part of Quadra's and
Vancouver's Island. Their tribes are the _Hyshalla_, the _Hyhysh_, the
_Esleytuk_, the _Weekenoch_, the _Nalatsenoch_, the _Quagheuil_, the
_Ttatla-shequilla_, and the _Lequeeltoch_. The numerals from Fitz-Hugh
Sound will be noticed in the sequel.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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