coos 



By Leo J. Frachtenberg 



§ 1. DISTRIBUTION AND HISTORY 



The Kusan stock embraces a number of closely related dialects 

 that were spoken by the people inhabiting (until 1857) Coos bay and 

 the region along the Coos river. Their neighbors were Siuslauan/ 

 Kalapuyan, and Athapascan tribes. On the north they came in con- 

 tact with the Umpqua^ Indians, on the east they bordered on the 

 Kalapuya, while on the south they were contiguous to the Rogue 

 river tribes, especially the Coquelle.^ In 1857, when the Rogue river 

 war broke out, the United States Government, acting in self-defence, 

 removed the Coos Indians to Port Umpqua. Four years later they 

 were again transferred to the Yahatc reservation, where they 

 remained until 1876. On the 26th day of April, 1876, Yahatc was 

 thrown open to white settlers, and the Indians of that reservation 

 were asked to move to Siletz; but the Coos Indians, tired of the 

 tutelage of the United States Indian agents, refused to conform with 

 the order, and emigrated in a body to the mouth of the Siuslaw river, 

 where the majority of them are still living. 



Of the two principal dialects, Hanis and Miluk,^ the latter is now 

 practically extinct; while the former is still spoken by about thirty 

 individuals, whose number is steadily decreasing. As far as can be 

 judged from the scanty notes on Miluk collected by Mr. St. Clair in 

 1903, this dialect exhibits only in a most general way the character- 

 istic traits of the Kusan stock. Otherwise it is vastly different from 

 Hanis in etymological and even lexicographical respects. 



The name "Coos" is of native origin. It is derived from the redu- 

 plicated stem ku'kwts south, which appears very often in phrases like 

 xkuhwi'sume prom where south is, TcusEml'tc^tc southwards, etc. 



■ Erroneously classified by Powell as part of the Yakonan family. My recent investigations show 

 Siuslaw to form an independent linguistic group consisting of two distinct dialects,— Lower Umpqua 

 and Siuslaw. A grammatical sketch of the former dialect will be found in this volume. 



3 An Athapascan tribe living on the upper course of the Coquelle river. 



« Spoken on the lower part of the Coquelle river, and commonly called Lower Coquelle. 



3045°— Bull. 40, pt. 2—12 20 305 



