NORTHWESTERN AMERICA. 209 



receives on a piece of matting. A fire is then lighted, and the con- 

 juror proceeds to select out from the spirits such as belong to persons 

 already deceased, of which there are usually several ; and should one 

 of them be assigned by mistake to a living person, he would instantly 

 die. He next selects the particular spirit belonging to each person, 

 and causing all the men to sit down before him, he takes the spirit of 

 one (i. e. the splinter of bone, shell, or wood, representing it), and 

 placing it on the owner's head, pats it, with many contortions and 

 invocations, till it descends into the heart, and resumes its proper 

 place. When all are thus restored, the whole party unite in making 

 a contribution of food, out of which a public feast is given, and the 

 remainder becomes the perquisite of the conjuror. 



Like the Sahaptin, the Salish have many childish traditions con- 

 nected with the most remarkable natural features of the country, in 

 which the prairie-wolf generally bears a conspicuous part. What 

 could have induced them to confer the honors of divinity upon this 

 animal cannot be imagined. They do not, however, regard the wolf 

 as an object of worship, but merely suppose that in former times it 

 was endowed with preternatural powers, which it exerted after a very 

 whimsical and capricious fashion. Thus, on one occasion, being 

 desirous of a wife (a common circumstance with him), the Wolf, or 

 the divinity so called, visited a tribe on the Spokan River, and 

 demanded a young woman in marriage. His request being granted, 

 he promised that thereafter the salmon should be abundant with 

 them, and he created the rapids, which give them facilities for taking 

 the fish. Proceeding farther up, he made of each tribe on his way 

 the same request, attended with a like result. At length he arrived 

 at the territory of the Skitsuish ( Caeur d'alene) ; they refused to 

 comply with his demand, and he therefore called into existence the 

 great Falls of the Spokan, which prevent the fish from ascending to 

 their country. This is a fair sample of their traditions. 



G. SKITSUISH, OR CO3UR D'ALENE INDIANS. 



We saw, at Fort Colville, the chief of this tribe, whose name was 

 Stalaam. He told us that his tribe could raise ninety men, and the 

 whole number of souls in it may therefore be estimated at between 

 three and four hundred. They live about the lake which takes its 

 name from them, and lead a more settled life than the other tribes of 

 this region. As the salmon cannot ascend to their lake, on account of 



53 



