224 



Mention has already been made of the movement of part of the KHka- 

 tat southward at a very recent period, and of the statement, by the Willo- 

 pah, that the KLatskanai had hkewise changed their location. In addition, 

 I have been informed that the Tsemakum and Toanhuch once lived on the 

 upper waters of the Niskwalli and Kowlitz Rivers, and the Satsop and the 

 Satsall upon the south fork of the latter; but the Indians who made this 

 statement declared that their own people, the Staklamish, had never moved. 

 Their country, they said, was the "navel of the world". On the other side 

 of the mountains, it is well known that the Snakes have, in modern times, 

 been driven southward; and Dr. Suckley was positively assured by aged 

 Indians that the Klikatat and Yakama, branches of the Sahaptin family,* 

 had pushed their way into the country formerly occupied by members 

 of the SeHsh. This latter extension, being to the northward as well as west- 

 ward, is out of the usual line of travel. Sufficient investigation has not 

 been made jei to determine with certainty the routes followed in many 

 cases; still less to ascertain the relative periods at which the various offsets 

 from the great families have moved. Some have, in all probability, after a 

 temporary stay in one place, passed over others of an earlier date, and 

 located themselves beyond. The subject is capable of much curious specu- 

 lation, and possibly of a near approach to a correct conclusion. 



If I may hazard a conjecture at present, it is that the Tah-kali and 

 Selisli families, with, perhaps, the Shoshonee and some others, originated 

 east of the Rocky Mountains; that the countrj^ between that chain and the 

 great lakes has been a center from which population has diverged; that 

 these two tribes crossed by the northern passes of the mountains; and that 

 their branches have since been pushing westward and southward. Whether 

 the southern branches of the Tahkali have been separated and driven on by 

 the subsequent irruption of the Selish, or whether they have passed over 

 their heads, can, perhaps, be ascertained on a severe comparison of the dif- 

 ferent dialects into which each has become divided; it being reasonable 

 to infer that those which differ most from the present are oldest in date and 

 emigration. 



The route of the Selish has obviously been along the courses of the 

 two great rivers, the Frazer and the Columbia. By the former, they seem to 



* Tlie Yakama aro elsewbero referix'd to tlio Selish.— [Ed.] 



