The Natural History of the Varieties of ManLatham, R. G. (Robert Gordon)
Science
The Natural History of the Varieties of Man
Latham, R. G. (Robert Gordon)
Ethnology
_Conterminous_, with the _a._ Hailtsa, _b._ Nass, _c._
Athabaskan Taculli and Tsikunni on the north; _d._ Kitunaha,
on the east; _e._ Sahaptin; _f._ Tshinúk on the south.
The isolated Tsihaili surrounded by Tshinúks, Tlatskanai
(discontinous Athabaskans) and Jakons.
The _Shushwap_, or _Atnahs_, are the northernmost of the Tsihaili,
and are conterminous with the Taculli. Their number, according to Mr.
Hales, is about 1200, increased from 400.
_The Salish._--The Salish language falls into three dialects; those of
_a_, the Kullelspelm or Ponderays (Pend' oreilles), _b_, the Spokan,
improperly called Flat-heads (since they have no such habit as the one
suggested by the name), and _c_, the Okanagan.
A fair sample of the Salish traditions is the following. A ceremony
called by them (the Salish) _Sumash_, "deserves notice for the
strangeness of the idea on which it is founded. They regard the
spirit of a man as distinct from the living principle, and hold that
it may be separated for a short time from the body without causing
death, or without the individual being conscious of the loss. It is
necessary, however, in order to prevent fatal consequences, that the
lost spirit should be found and restored as quickly as possible. The
conjuror, or medicineman, learns, in a dream, the name of the person
who has suffered this loss. Generally there are several at the same
time in this condition. He then informs the unhappy individuals, who
immediately employ him to recover their wandering souls. During the
next night they go about the village from one lodge to another singing
and dancing. Towards morning they enter a separate lodge, which is
closed up, so as to be perfectly dark; a small hole is then made in the
roof, through which the conjuror, with a bunch of feathers, brushes in
the spirits in the shape of small bits of bone, and similar substances,
which he receives on a piece of matting. A fire is then lighted, and
the conjuror proceeds to select out from the spirits such as belong
to persons already deceased, of which there are usually several;
and should one of them be assigned by mistake to a living person he
would instantly die. He next selects the particular spirit belonging
to each person, and causing all the men to sit down before him, he
takes the spirit of one (_i.e._, the splinter of bone, shell, or wood,
representing it), and placing it on the owner's head, pats it, with
many contortions and invocations, till it descends into the heart and
resumes its proper place. When all are thus restored the whole party
unite in making a contribution of food, out of which a public feast is
given, and the remainder becomes the perquisite of the conjuror.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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