614 EEroRT— 1892. 



Colloquial expressions, wliich are not regarded as quite correct, are the following : — 



tina'mfi, ' butter.' 



ni'tlkO, ' bell.' Lit. ' iron, metal.' 



tlao'kwe, ' eleven.' For e'tiiwOtlau'hvS. And so with ' twelve,' &c. 



aqldnk-u'ku', ' match.' For ijqktc'mOtl. 



kitki'nk'd, ' medicine man.' For ni'pik-dk'-d'td. 



PUNNING AND WORD-DISTOETION. 



The Kootenay Indians are certainly acquainted with the art of punning, and the 

 Indian A'mElu took great delight in repeating over and over again the distortions of 

 certain words. Following examples will show the nature of these puns : — 



Foi pdjMl he would say frequently pdpl'yd. 



„ sditva' slid \ C sduwa'tcko ; sduma'sM ; 



(spec, dragon-fly)/ " " \sd'i)vasu'k>v' ; sduwase'ko. 



¥01 ffu'tcdtc\ „ „ yuca'tcko ; g'utla'tskO. 



(chipmunk)/ 



The Indians are very much amused at the mistakes made by whites in trjdng to 

 learn their language, and laugh long and heartily at their expense. A few of these 

 errors which came under the writer's notice might be chronicled here. 



For hanku'jitoP-, ' bread baked in a frying-pan,' was said tdnMi'ptce, which reminded 

 the Indians of fdnk'uts, ' grouse,' and set them in a roar of laughter. The same 

 efEect was produced by — 



Qd'Qas, ' skunk,' said for Qd'od, ' crow.' 

 a'qiiam, 'pine,' „ A'qk'dm, ' Fort Steele.' 



i«'i'5f«,' horsefly,' „ iwi'smm, ' rainbow.' 

 li'u'j)i, ' owl,' „ k'u'puk, ' woodpecker.' 



Even the seemingly trifling mistake of saying d'qkOtla'kj)ek' for d'qkotla'kpe'k, 

 ' leaf,' was provocative of much merriment. 



BORROWED WORDS. 



There appear to be but very few borrowed words in the Kootenay language. These 

 are as far as ascertained — 



From Nez Perce sneapo, Kootenay svyd'pi, 'white man.' 



„ ? Klikatat noolisi, ' otter,' Kootenay nn'ksak, ' marten,' or vice versa, 



„ French le caput, Kootenay tlVMpu' {dll'kdpo'), ' coat.' 



„ Chinook jargon Bo'stEn, Kootenay Bo'stEn, ' American.' 



)> ,1 ,, Khidzdtc, ,, Xhidjdtc, ' Canadian.' 



„ French de la soie, Lower Kootenay dld'swa, ' silk.' 



„ a Salishan dialect, std'tldm, canoe. 



Appendix. 

 SHUSHWAPS. PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS. 



The measurements of the three females here recorded were made at the mission of 

 St. Eugene, where they were attending the mission school. The measurements of the 

 Shushwap Antoine were made at the penitentiary of New Westminster, B.C., by Dr. 

 F. Boas, and were kindly placed at the writer's disposal by him. From so few cases 

 nothing absolute can be determined. The stature of the women resembles that of 

 the Kootenay women, and the cephalic indices of the three individuals are practically 

 identical 84 (or 82 on the skull), the index of the male being 82-9 (or 80-9 on the 

 skull), all being brachycephalic. These data go towards strengthening the view 

 that the Shushwaps resemble the coast tribes {sec ' Reijort,' 1890, p. 632). The 

 females belong to the colony of Shushwaps on the Columbia, within the Kootenay 

 country. 



