TACOMA AND THE INDIAN LEGEND OF HAMITCHOU 



that the divine afflatus may stir within them. The 

 siwashes appreciate, according to their capacity, the 

 inspiration of lonely grandeur, and go upon the moun- 

 tains, starving and alone, that they may become seers, 

 enchanters, magicians, diviners, what in conven- 

 tional lingo is called "big medicine." For though the 

 Indians here have not peopled these thrones of their 

 world with the creatures of an anthropomorphic 

 mythology, they yet deem them the abode of Tama- 

 noiis. Tamanoiis is a vague and half-personified type 

 of the unknown, of the mysterious forces of nature ; 

 and there is also an indefinite multitude of undefined 

 emanations, each one a tamanous with a small t, which 

 are busy and impish in complicating existence, or 

 equally active and spritely in unravelling it. Each 

 Indian of this region patronizes his own personal 

 tamanous, as men of the more eastern tribes keep a 

 private manitto, and as Socrates kept a daimon. To 

 supply this want, Tamanous with a big T undergoes 

 an avatar, and incarnates himself into a salmon, a 

 beaver, a clam, or into some inanimate object, such as 

 a canoe, a paddle, a fir-tree, a flint, or into some ele- 

 mental essence, as fire, water, sun, mist ; and tamanous 

 thus individualized becomes the "guide, philosopher, 

 and friend" of every siwash, conscious that otherwise 

 he might stray and be lost in the unknown realms of 

 Tamanous. 



Hamitchou, a frowzy ancient of the Squallyamish, 

 told to Dr. Tolmie and me, at Nisqually, a legend of 

 Tamanous and Tacoma, which, being interpreted, 

 runs as follows : 



Hamitchou's Legend 



"Avarice, O Boston tyee," quoth Hamitchou, study- 

 ing me with dusky eyes, "is a mighty passion. Now, 

 be it known unto thee that we Indians anciently used 

 not metals nor the money of you blanketeers. Our 

 circulating medium was shells, wampum you would 



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