638 REPORT— 1890, 
whole tribe set ont and begin to pick berries, the field being divided up 
among the tribe. After they are through picking, the berries are divided 
among the families of the tribe. The chief receives the greatest portion. 
In the same way an overseer is set over the salmon fisheries, and the 
catch is divided among the whole tribe. It seems that the various tribes 
of the Shushwap had no separate hunting grounds, but that they hunted 
over the whole territory, wherever they liked. I do not think, however, 
that the fisheries and berry patches belonged to the whole people m 
common. Disputes arising between members of the same tribe were 
generally settled by arbitration. For instance, where a number of men 
had driven deer into a lake and a dispute arose as to who had driven 
one particular deer, an arbitrator was appointed, who had to track it and 
whose decision was final. The old were well treated and respected. In 
some instances when a man believed himself slighted he would commit 
suicide. 
The tribes and families had separate hunting grounds originally. The 
custom still holds to some extent among the Nicola Indians, but is now 
almost forgotten by the Kamloops people. 
The chief was not leader in war, the war-chief being elected among 
the ‘braves.’ The hostile tribes would meet, but sometimes, instead of a 
battle between the whole parties taking place, the war-chiefs would fight 
a duel, the outcome of which settled the dispute. Their weapons were 
bow and arrow; a lance; a bone club with a sharp, sabre-like edge; a 
stone axe having a sharp point, the stone being fastened in a perforated 
handle ; and a stone club, consisting of a pebble, sewed into a piece of 
hide, and attached to a thong, which was suspended from the wrist. 
They protected themselves with armours of the same kind as those used 
on the coast—coats made of strips of wood, which were lashed together, 
or jackets of a double layer of elk-skin, and a cap of the same material. 
In time of war a stockade was made near the huts of the village. A 
cache was made in it, and baskets tilled with water were kept in it: 
When an attack of the enemy was feared, the whole population retired to 
the stockade, the walls of which were provided with loopholes. Captives 
made in war were enslaved. At the end of the war, captives were 
frequently exchanged. 
The following tale of a war may be of interest. One summer, about 
eighty years ago, the Seka’uma, who live near the head waters of North 
Thompson River, stole two Shushwap women at Stlie’tltsuq (Barriére) 
on North Thompson River. Their brothers pursued the Szka/uma, but. 
were unable to overtake them. In the fall, when the snow began to 
cover the country, they started out again and soon found the tracks of 
their enemies, who were travelling northward. One of the women wore, 
at the time when they were surprised by the enemies, a white-tail deer 
blanket. She had torn it to pieces and put them into split branches of 
trees, which she broke and turned in the direction in which they were 
travelling. The Shushwap found these, and knew at once that they were 
on the right track. Finally the Shushwap reached a camp which the 
Srka’umg had left on the same morning. They followed them cautiously. 
While they were travelling a troop of deer passed close by, and they 
wounded one of them with their arrows. Among the party of the 
Srka/umg was a blind old man, who was led by a boy, and, as he was not 
able to walk as fast as the others, followed them at some distance. The 
wounded deer ran past them and the boy observed the Shushwap arrow. 
