Section II., 1897. [ 85 ] Tbans. E. S. C. 



II. — Notes on the Cosmogony and History of the Squamish Indicms of 



British Columbia. 



By Professor C. Hill-Tout, Buckland College, Vancouver. 

 (Communicated b}' Dr. G. M. Dawson, June 23, 1897.) 



The following notes on the cosmogony and history of the Squamish 

 Indians of British Columbia, a sept of the great Salishan stock, were 

 gathered by myself from an aged Indian of that sept some time last 

 summer. Through the kindness of the Koman Catholic bishop of the 

 district, Bishop Durieu, I received a cordial reception at the hands of the 

 chief men of the tribe, and on learning what I Avanted they brought out 

 of his retirement the old historian of the tribe. He was a decrej^it 

 creature, stone-blind from old age, whose existence till then had been 

 vuiknown to the good bishop, who himself has this tribe in charge. I 

 am disposed, therefore, to think that this account has not been put into 

 English before. I tirst sought to learn his age, but this he could only 

 approximately give by informing me that his mother was a girl on the 

 verge of womanhood when Vancouver sailed up Howe Sound at the close 

 of last century. He would, therefore, be about 100 years old. His 

 native name, as near as I could get it, is " Mul'ks." He could not under- 

 stand any English, and as his archaic Squamish was beyond my poor 

 knowledge of the language, it was necessary to have re-sort to the tribal 

 interpreter. The account will, in consequence, be less full and literal. 

 Before the old man could begin his recital, some preparations were 

 deemed necessary by the other elderly men of the tribe. These consisted 

 in making a bundle of short sticks, each about six inches long. These 

 played the part of tallies, each stick representing to the recitera particular 

 paragraph or chapter in his story. They apologized for making these, 

 and were at pains to explain to me that these were to them what books 

 were to the white man. These sticks were now placed at intervals along 

 a table round which we sat, and after some animated discussion between 

 the interpreter, who acted as master of the ceremonies, and the other old 

 men as to the relative order and names of the tallies, we were ready to 

 begin. The iirst tall}^ was placed in the old man's hands and he began 

 his recital in a loud, high-pitched key, as if he were addressing a large 

 audience in the open air. He went on without pause for about ten 

 minutes, and then the interpreter took up the story. The story was 

 either beyond the interpreter's power to render into English, or there 

 was much in it he did not like to relate to a white man, for I did not 

 unfortunately get a fifth of what the old man had uttered from him. and 

 it was oidy by dint of questioning and cross questioning that I was 



