1892-93.] NOTES ON THE WESTERN DENES. 23 



Lake. Nay more, until recently the Tsi[Koh'tin did not even extend as 

 far as the Fraser. Some 25 years ago the bulk of the tribe inhabited 

 Na'kunt'[ijn, a village on the lake of that name (52° 40' lat. by 

 125° 5' long.) close by the Hilqulis' territory, whence they migrated 

 almost in a body to the more fertile lands they now occupy.* 



From a sociological standpoint they might be divided into the quasi- 

 sedentary and the nomadic TsiiKoh'tin. The former dwell on the north 

 banks of the Tsi^Koh, called by the whites Chilcotin River. They are 

 divided into two groups, viz.: the Tps-Y.oh-tin (people of the Splint River) 

 with one village on that creek close by the Fraser, population about 

 75 ; and the T^jd-then-Y^oJi-tin (people of the river that trails through 

 the grass) who have two villages near the Chilcotin 35 and 45 miles 

 respectively west of the Fraser. Total population 190. An independent 

 band of some 35 individuals, an offshoot of the same sub-division, has 

 established itself near the Fraser facing Fort Alexander. 



All of these Tsi[Koh"tin have abandoned their original semi-sub- 

 terranean huts to dwell in log houses covered with mud according to the 

 fashion prevailing among the neighbouring whites. They also cultivate 

 wheat and other cereals, peas and potatoes with moderate success. 



The nomadic TsijKoh'tin are called by the whites "Stone TsiiKoh'tin" 

 by allusion to their fovourite haunts, the rocky spurs of the Lillooet 

 mountains and of the Cascade range where they live, largely on marmots. 

 They have no fixed abode and except during the winter, they are 

 constantly shifting from their southern to their northern borders, that is 

 from the Aforesaid mountains to the Chilcotin River, where they generally 

 pass a few weeks of the fair season. I know of no more primitive 

 people throughout the whole of British Columbia. 



Apart from the above regular subdivisions their still remain at 

 Na'kunt'[un, or in the proximity of that lake, a few straggling members 

 of the same tribe. 



In his late paper on "the Shushwap people of British Columbia," Ur. G. 

 M. Dawson gives f after Mr. J. W. Mackay, Indian agent, an interesting 

 account of a hostile excursion of TsijKoh'tin warriors into the country of 



* Were native testimony rei^arded as an insufficient proof of this, philology might still furnish 

 us with corroborative evidence of imquestionable character. Thus the most remarkable feature 

 of the present territory of the TsiiKoh'tin tribe is its magnificent bunch grass ( Agropyrum 

 {Triticum'\ repens L.). Now they call it QLntia-t'jd, or "grass of the foreigners," i.e., the 

 Shushwap. This particular species of grass is not met with north of the valley and bordering 

 tablelands of the Chilcotin River. 



t Notes on the Shushwap people of B. C. ; Transact. R. S. C. Sec. 11, p. 24, 1891. 



