130 CRUISINGS IN THE CASCADES 



could not himself answer, and a question or remark 

 that in our tongue liad taken a dozen words to 

 express he would repeat in a cough, a throat-clearing 

 sound, and a grunt or two. Seymour' s answer would 

 be returned in a half sneeze, a lisp, a suppressed 

 whistle, a slight groan, and an upturning of the eye. 

 Then John would look thoughtful while framing 

 the answer into his pigin English, and it would 

 conie back, for instance, something like this: 



" Seymo say he tink we ketch plenty sheep up dat 

 big mountain, on de top" Or, " He say he tink 

 maybe we get plenty grouse down de creek. To- 

 morrow we don't need carry meat," etc. John 

 seemed to regard Seymour as a perfect walking 

 cyclopedia of knowledge, and, in fact, he was well 

 informed on woodcraft, the habits of birds and 

 animals, Indian lore, and other matters pertaining to 

 the country in which he lived, but outside of these 

 limits he knew much less than John. 



I was disgusted with his pretended inability to 

 speak or understand English, for on one of my 

 former visits to the village I had heard him speak 

 it, and he did it much better than John could. 

 Beside, Pean had told me that Seymour had 

 attended school at the mission on the Frazer river, 

 and could even read and write, but now that he had 

 an interpreter he considered it smart, just as a great 

 many Indians do, to affect an utter ignorance of our 

 language. I asked him why he did not talk; told 

 him I knew he could talk, and reminded him that I 

 had heard him speak good English; that I knew he 

 had been to school, etc. He simply shook his head 

 and grunted. Then I told him he was a boiled-down 



