139 



The Lu.mmi Indians. 



AlBEKT B. Rb'AGAN. 



The Luniuii Indians ocnipy the Luinnii Penhisuhi just across Belling- 

 ham Bay west I'loni the City of Bellinghani, ^Yashiugton. The peuiusllh^, 

 contaiiiiug about two townships, is their reservation. They number in 

 all about three hundreil and seveuty-tive, most of whom are half-breeds. 

 These reseml)le the mulattoes of the south A'ery much as to physical ap- 

 pearance and color ; their hair, of course, is black and straight. The full- 

 breeds are nearly all old Indians, most of whom are blind. They ai'e all 

 fishing Indians Iiy nature. Formerly they lived almost wholly by fishing 

 for salmon and trout ; but since they took their allotments some years ago 

 they live on their farms and till the ground most of the year, fishing only 

 in August and September. At this time they sell fish to the canneries and 

 also dry it for their own use. In old times they made flour from the fern 

 root, but now the white-man's flour has taken its place. Their farming is 

 very well done and their liouses are often better than those of their white 

 neighbors, thouch usually not kept so neat inside. The tribe as known to- 

 day is made up of Nooksaclc, Lumnii, Snowhommish and British Columbia 

 Indians. Tliey ijelong to the Salish linguistic stock, and now all talk the 

 Lummi branch of that language. Wlien that fails they use tlie Chenook 

 jargon as a means of communication. The .young people all speak English. 

 They are advanced in civilization almost to our standard; many of them 

 even take daily newspapers. 



In old times these Indians practiced all the ceremonies known to their 

 linguistic group. They waged war for the sole purpose of capturing slaves. 

 They flattened their babies' foreheads so that a modern hat fits them better 

 cross-wise than the way we wear it. They had mortuary dance cere- 

 monies. They believed in the sujierhuman power of medicine men. They 

 slashed themselves with knives and thrust their arms through with arrows 

 and elk bones in the medicine ceremonies. They had give-away dance feasts 

 at whicli the man who gave away most was made chief. And they carved 

 or painted their special dreams or visions (called in Chenook "tomanawis") 

 in conspicuous places in their "plaiUv" houses, usually on totem poles, as a 



