108 



ATFALATI ATHAPASCAN B^AMILY 



[b. a. e. 



Atfalati {Atfctlati). A division of the 

 Kalapooian family whose earliest seats, 

 so far as can be ascertained, were the 

 plains of the same name, the hills about 

 Forest Grove, and the shores and vicin- 

 ity of Wappato lake, Oreg. ; and they are 

 said to have extended as far as the site 

 of Portland. They are now on Grande 

 Ronde res. and number about 20. The 

 Atfalati have long given up their native 

 customs and little is known of their 

 mode of life. Their language, however, 

 has been studied by Gatschet, and our 

 chief knowledge of the Kalapooian 

 tongue is from this dialect. The follow- 

 ing were the Atfalati bands as ascer- 

 tauied by Gatschet in 1877: Chacham- 

 bitmanchal, Chachanim, Ghachemewa, 

 Chachif, Chachimahiyuk, Chachimewa, 

 Chachokwith, Chagindueftei, Chahelim, 

 Chakeipi, Chakutpaliu, Chalal,Chalawai, 

 Chamampit, Chapanaghtin, Chapokele, 

 Chapungathpi Chatagithl, Chatagshish, 

 Chatakuin, Chatamnei, Chatilkuei, Cha- 

 wayed. (l. f. ) 



Atfalati.— Gatschet in Jour. Am. Folk-lore, xii, 

 212,1899. Fallatahs.— Slocum in H. K. Rep. 101, 

 2.=ith Cong., 3d sess., 42, l.s3y. Fallatrahs.— Slocum 

 in Sen. Doc. 24, 2.3th Cong., 2d ,sess., 1.5, 1838. 

 Follaties.— Hale in U. S. Expl. Exped., vi, 569, 

 1846. Jualati.— Gatschet in Mag. Am. Hist., vin, 

 2.56, 1882. Snalatine.— Lane (1849) in Sen. Ex. 

 Doc. 52, 31st Cong., 1st sess., 172, 1850. Sualatine.— 

 Lane in Ind. Aff. Rep., 160, 1850. Tualati.— Gat- 

 schet in Jour. Am. Folk-lore, xii, 212, 1899. Tua- 

 latims.— Taylor in Sen. Ex. Doc. 4, 40th Cong., 

 spec, sess., 27, 1867. Tualatin, — Palmer in Ind. 

 Aff. Rep., 260, 18.54. Tuality.— Tolmie in Trans. 

 Oreg. Pi(m. Assn., 32, 1884. Tuhwalati.— Hale in 

 U. S. Expl. Exped., vi, 569, 1846. Turlitan.— 

 Huntington in Ind. Aff. Rep. 1867, 62, 1868. Twala- 

 ties.— Ind. Aff. Rep., 221, 1861. Twalaty.— Pres. 

 mess., Ex. Doc. 39, 32d Cong., 1st .sess., 2, 1852. 

 Twalites.— Ind. AiT. Rep. 1864, .503, 1865. Twal- 

 lalty.— Ibid., 20.5, 18.51. Twaltatines.— Meek in 

 H. R. Ex. Doc. 76, 30th Cong., 1st sess., 10, 1848. 

 Wapato lake,— MeClane in Ind. Aff. Rep., 184, 

 1887. Wapatu.— Gatschet in Jour. Am. Folk-lore, 

 IV, 143, 1891. Wapatu Lake.— Gatschet in Cont. N. 

 A. Ethnol.,n,pt. 1, xlvi, 1890. Wapeto.— Ind. Aff. 

 Rep., 492, 1897. "Wapoto Lake.— McClane in Ind. 

 Aff. Rep., 269, 18S9. Wappato.— Smith in Ind. Aff. 

 Rep., 56, 1875. Wappatoo.— Victor in Overland 

 Mo., vii, 346, 1871. Wapto. — Meacham, Wigwam 

 and Warpath, 117, 1875. 



Athabasca (Forest Cree: aihnp 'in suc- 

 cession,' -askaw 'grass,' 'reeds'; hence 

 ' grass or reeds here and there. ' — Hewitt ) . 

 A northern Athapascan tribe, from which 

 the stock name is derived, residing around 

 Athabasca lake. Northwest Ter., Canada. 

 Ross (MS., B. A. E. ) regards them as a 

 part of the Chipewyan proper. They do 

 not differ essentially from neighboring 

 Athapascan tribes. In 1902 (Can. Ind. 

 Aff., 84, 1902) 326 were enumerated at 

 Ft Chipewyan. 



Arabaskaw.— Lacombe, Diet, des Cris, 1874 

 ("Athabasca" Cree name). Athabaskans. — Peti- 

 tot. Diet. Dene-Dindji<?, xx, 1876. Athapascow, — 

 Drake, Bk. Inds., vi, 1848. Athapuscow.— Hearne, 

 Journ. N. Ocean, 177, 1795. Ayabaskau.— (iatschet, 

 MS., B. A. E. (Cree name). Kkpay-tpele-Ottine. — 

 Petitot, Autour du lac des Eselaves, 363, 1891 

 ('people of the willow iioor, ' i. e., of Ft Chipe- 



wyan). Kkpest'ayle-kke ottine. — Petitot, Diet. 

 Den6-Dindjie, xx, 1876 ('people of the poplar 

 floor'). Yeta-Ottine. — Petitot, Autour, op. cit. 

 ('people fnjm above'). 



Athapascan Family. The most widely 

 distributed of all the Indian linguistic 

 families of North America, formerly ex- 

 tending over parts of the continent from 

 the Arctic coast far into n. Mexico, from 

 the Pacific to Hudson bay at the n., and 

 from the Rio Colorado to the mouth of 

 the Rio Grande at the s. — a territory ex- 

 tending for more than 40'^ of latitude and 

 75° of longitude. 



The languages which compose the Atha- 

 pascan family are plainly related to each 

 other and, because of certain peculiari- 

 ties, stand out from the other American 

 languages with considerable distinctness. 

 Phonetically they are rendered harsh and 

 difficult for European ears l)ecause of 

 series of guttural sounds, many continu- 

 ants, and frequent checks and aspirations. 

 JNlorphologically they are marked by a 

 sentence verb of considerable complexity, 

 due largely to many decayed prefixes and 

 to various changes of the root to indicate 

 the number and character of the subject 

 and object. Between the various lan- 

 guages much regular phonetic change, 

 especially of vowels, appears, and while 

 certain words are found to be common, 

 each language, independently of the 

 others, has formed many nouns by com- 

 position and transformed the structure 

 of its verbs. The wide differences in 

 physical type and culture and the differ- 

 ences in language point to a long separa- 

 tion of the family, certainly covering 

 many centuries. Geographically it con- 

 sists of three divisions: Northern, Pacific, 

 and Southern. 



The Northern division, known as the 

 Tinneh, or Dene, the name they apply to 

 themselves, consists of three groups: The 

 eastern, the northwestern, the southwest- 

 ern. The eastern group occupies a vast 

 extent of continuous territory, bounded 

 on the E. by the Rocky mts. and lower 

 Mackenzie r., on the s. by the watershed 

 between the Athabasca and lower Peace 

 rs., Athabasca lake, and Churchill r. To 

 the E. and n. a narrow but continuous 

 strip of Eskimo territory bars them from 

 Hudson bay and the Arctic ocean. Their 

 neigh liors on the s. are members of the 

 Algonquian family. This group seems to 

 constitute a culture area of its own, 

 rather uniform and somewhat limited on 

 its material side. Very little is known 

 of the folklore and religion of the people 

 of this region. The principal tribes are 

 the Tatsanottine or Yellowknives, e. of 

 Yellowknife r., the Thlingchadinne or 

 Dogribs, between Great Slave and Great 

 Bear lakes; on Mackenzie r., beginning 



