SHU SWAP PEOPLE OF BEITISH COLUMBIA. 23 



comes out as a flat black mass, which is eaten aud said to taste very sweet. The licheu 

 may be gathered at any season. 



The yellow lichen (Evernia vulpiiia), generally found in abundance on the trees at 

 elevations exceeding 3,000 feet above the sea in the southern interior of British Columbia, 

 was formerly used as a dye-stuff for hair, cloth, etc. It was boiled in water to extract the 

 colouring matter, and is named ta-kiiml-a-vivk'-oo by the Shoo-whâ'-pa-mooh. 



A black dye is said to bt obtained from the root of a fern which grows in damp 

 places (either Asplenium felix-fœmina or Aspidium munilum). Another black dye was pro-' 

 duced by boiling together alder bark with roasted iron pyrites. A red dye is obtained 

 from the bark or twigs of the alder boiled in a wooden vessel or basket, also from the 

 stem of a plant which produces a yellow flower (species not recognized). Another red 

 dye consists of the juice of the seeding-head of Clienopodium capitalum- 



The leaves of the syringa [Philadelphus Lewisii), which abounds in some parts of the 

 country of the Shuswaps, are said to have been formerly employed in lieu of soap in 

 washing clothing. 



The poisonous plant best known to the Shuswaps as such, is the white helebore 

 (Veratrum viride), which grows abundantly only at a considerable height in the mountains. 



A native substitute for tobacco was in early times, before the arrival of white traders, 

 collected in some parts of the Shuswap country and much prized. It is almost certain 

 that this was the Nicotiana atlemiata, which is still found occasionally, and^appears to be 

 native. It is not supposed that this plant was at any time cultivated by these Indians. 

 I was informed that the Sho-wha'-pa-mooh name of this native tobacco (also now applied 

 to the imported tobacco) is simin-min-hooh'-a-looh. The N-tla-kfi-pe-mooh name of the 

 native tobacco was variously given to me as skuk-v:ai' -dl-uh and skwa-y'i-ow. 



The ordinary custom of mixing the leaves of the bear-berry {Arclosf.aphylos Vva-ursi) or 

 bark of the red osier dog- wood {Cornus slolonifera) with tobacco in smoking, is also prac- 

 tised by the Shushwaps. 



The principal fibre plant employed in the construction of nets, cord, thread, etc., was 

 the large Asclepias {A. speciosa), named in N-tla-ka-pe-mooh sp7p'-siim, from which the 

 name of Spatsum Station on the railway is derived. The common nettle of the country 

 (^Urtica Lyallii) was also doubtless used for similar purposes, as mentioned by Dr. Boas. 



Historical Notes. 



Respecting the origin of the Shuswap people or the quarter whence they arrived to 

 take possession of what is now their territory, I am unable to offer anything of definite 

 value. The circumstance that the chief work of their principal mythological hero, 

 Skil-âp, consisted in descending the Fraser to open a way for the salmon, may be sup- 

 posed to embody the history of some early conflict with the people living along that river 

 for the possession of its valuable fisheries. This may be accounted a legitimate conjecture, 

 but is certainly at present nothing more. 



It may further be noted, however, that the name given to the place where the Indian 

 reservation on the Thompson now is (forty-two miles up that stream), is susceptible of a 

 concordant explanation. This name is Tsuk-tsuk-kwâlik' , said to mean the " place of red 



