FACULTY m ABORIGINAL RACES. 9â 



yond the Rocky Mountains. In the confluence of the nomad hunters to common centres 

 of trade, speech accordingly tails them for all purposes of intercommunication ; and tra- 

 vellers and fur-traders have long been familiar with the growth of a common language 

 at more than one of the chief meeting-places of diverse tribes and races on the Pacific 

 coast. The Clatsop, in so far as it is native, is a dialect of the Cowlitz language ; but, as 

 now in iise, it is one of the jargons or " trade languages" of the Pacific. But Fort Van- 

 couver, long one of the largest trading posts of the Hudson's Bay Company, has been the 

 special Babel where, out of the strangest confusion of tongues, a new language has been 

 evolved. 



The recent organization of part of the territory west of the Itocky Mountains into the 

 province of British Columbia is rapidly modifying the character of its native population ; 

 and the change will be greatly accelerated on the completion of the Canada Pacific Rail- 

 way. But in recent years there were frequently to be found at Fort Vancouver upwards 

 of two hundred voyageurs with their Indian wives and families, in addition to the factors 

 and clerks. Thither also resorted for trading purposes, Chinook, Nootka, Niscjually, 

 Walla-walla, Klikatat, Kalapurgas, Klackamuss, Cowlitz, and other Indians. A discordant 

 babel of languages accordingly preA'ailed ; and hence the growth of a patois by which all 

 could hold intercourse together. The principal native tribe of the locality is the Chi- 

 nook, a branch of the Flathead Indians on the Columbia River. They speak a language 

 rivalling that of the Hottentots in its seemingly inarticulate character. Some of its 

 sounds, according to Dr. Charles Pickering, could scarcely be represented by any combina- 

 tion of known letters ; and Paul Kane, who traA'elled as an artist among them, described 

 it to me as consisting of harsh spluttering sounds proceeding from the throat, apparently 

 unguided either by the tongue or lips. This language accordingly repelled every attempt 

 at its mastery by others. The Crée is the native language most familiar to the traders, 

 many of their wives being Crée women. Both French and English are spoken among 

 themselves ; while, in addition to the tribes already named, natives of the Sandwich 

 Islands, Chinese, and other foreigners, add to the strange character and speech of this mis- 

 cellaneous community. Out of all those elements the " Chinook jargon " or trade-language 

 of the locality has fashioned itself 



Vocabularies of the Oregon, or Chinook jargon have been repeatedly published since 

 1838, when the Rev. Samuel Parker made the first attempt to reduce it to writing. But 

 it is necessarily in an unstable condition, with local variations, and a changing vocabulary. 

 The latest " Dictionary of the Chinook Jargon, or Trade-Language of Oregon," is that of 

 Mr. George Gil)bs, published by the Smithsonian Institution in 18G3, and includes nearly 

 five hundred words. When studied in all its bearings, it is a singularly interesting- 

 example of the ellbrt at the development of a means of intercommunication among such 

 a strange gathering of heterogeneous races. In an analysis of the various sources of its 

 A'ocabulary, Mr. Gibbs assigns about two fifths of the words to the Chinook and Clat- 

 sop languages. But in this he includes one of the most characteristic elements of the 

 jargon. The representatives of so many widely dissimilar peoples, in their efforts at 

 mutual communication, naturally resorted to diverse forms of imitation ; foremost among 

 which was onomatopœia. There are such mimetic words as hee-hee, '' laughter ; " hoh-hoh, 

 " to cough ; " tish-tish, " to drive ; " Up-lip, " to boil ;"' poh, " to blow out ;"" lik-tik, " a watch;" 

 tin-linoT ting-ling, "a bell ;" tum-tum, " the heart," from its pulsation ; and hence a number 



