SHUSWAP PEOPLE OP BEITISH COLUMBIA. 27 



Late iu the autumn Pila-ka-mu-la-uh went into winter quarters with his Similka- 

 meen wife at Penticton. He seems to have been a good raconteur, and from his vivid 

 descriptions of the white men, their sayings and doings, became a centre of attraction, and 

 was welcomed and feted wherever he went. The Shuswaps invited him to Spallnm- 

 sheen, where it took him a month to narrate all he knew about the whites. He was next 

 invited to the Kuaut, Halkam and Halaut camps on Great Shuswap Lake, and, after spend- 

 ing a mouth at each of these places, he was further invited to Kamloops, where Tokane, 

 the chief, gave him a grand reception. As the spring was now advancing into summer, 

 and Pila-ka-mu-la-uh had not time to prepare for the summer buffalo hunt, he next 

 accepted Tokane's invitation to spend the summer season at the Shuswap fishery at the 

 foot of Pavilion Mountain, on the Fraser. He had there a new opportunity of relating 

 his wonderful stories about the whites. 



At one of the feasts given on his behalf by his host, he met the Stlat-limuh (Lillooet) 

 chief of the Fountain band, who asked him to come to his camp at Fountain {Hah-iJp). 

 Many strangers from the Fraser below Lillooet and from the lakes behind Lillooet col- 

 lected at this place to hear the tales he told of the extraordinary people he had seen ; but 

 on one occasion, when he had nearly exhausted what he had to say, a chief from Seton 

 Lake arose and advised the people to pay no more attention to these stories. The chief 

 went on to declare that what they had heard must be false ; that there were no human 

 beings who had white skins, blue eyes, and light, short, curly hair, who covered them- 

 selves with woven material which kept them warm without encumbering their move- 

 ments ; that there was no weapon with which birds could be killed in their flight ; that 

 there were no shoes with which one could walk over cactns without being pricked, nor 

 any such thing as a metal tube by which animals could be killed at a distance equal to 

 the width of the Fraser ; that no missile could be projected so fast that the eye could 

 not follow it, and that there was no weapon which made a noise like thunder and at the 

 same time produced a smoke like fire. He further denied that there was any animal on 

 which men could ride safely and be carried faster than the swiftest buffalo. He said, in 

 fine, that Pila-ka-mu-la-uh was a liar and should not be listened to by men and warriors. 



This insult could only be avenged by the life of the offender, and Pila-ka-mu-la-uh, 

 enraged, reached for his bow and arrows ; but his opponent was too quick for him, and 

 mortally wounded him with two arrows. His friends the Shuswaps bore him away to 

 their camp, where he died. Before his death he expressed a wish that his son, N-kua- 

 la, then a lad, should subsequently avenge his death, thus treacherously brought about. 



At a later date the white traders established a post a Spokane, and formed outposts 

 therefrom in difiTerent directions. One' of these, in charge of a Mr. Montigny, assisted by 

 a man named Pion, was placed on the peninsula between the two arms of Okanagan 

 Lake, near its head. Here Mr. Montigny made a very successful winter's trade, and left 

 with the returns iu the spring, taking them to the coast. Before leaving he cached what 

 remained of his trading goods, and left the whole in charge of N-kua-la, who had now 

 grown to manhood and had become a chief of great importance among his people. On 

 Montigny's return in the following autumn he found the goods safe, and rewarded 

 N-kua-la for his fidelity by presenting him with ten guns, a suitable supi»ly of ammuni- 

 tion, and some tobacco, pipes and vermilion. 



During the winter N-kua-la trained the best men of his tribe in the use of the guns. 



