THE CHINOOK LANGUAGE OR JARGON. 257 



to health or not, it may be said that the danger of partaking of 

 such water is due, not so much to the presence of the minute in- 

 fusoria, worms, and Crustacea, as to the occurrence of putrefying 

 organic matter which has found its way into these wells and 

 there greatly favors the development of fungi. The intelligent 

 reader will not, therefore, allow the existence of a well-fauna to 

 interfere with his enjoyment in quaffing a cooling draught fresh 

 from the pump ; for, as already remarked, the organisms spoken 

 of live only in the lower depths, and as a rule never reach the 

 upper strata of the water. 



Should, however, by any accident this normal state of affairs 

 be changed, the turbid appearance of the water would indicate it, 

 and bear at once warning to rather choose water from some other 

 source until the well shall have resumed its normal condition, 

 or shall have been subjected to a thorough cleaning. — Translated 

 from Ueber Land und Meer for the Popular Science Monthly. 



THE CHINOOK LANGUAGE OR JARGON. 



By EDWARD HOLLAND NICOLL. 



I WAS about to take a trip up the S , one of the rivers which 

 flow into Puget Sound. It was early in March, yet the grass 

 was green, the trees were putting out fresh leaves, and the dog- 

 wood, salmon-berry, and wild rose were in blossom. The river 

 was swollen by the melting masses of snow on the Cascade Mount- 

 ains (a prolongation of the Sierra Nevadas), and its waters were 

 rushing rapidly toward the sound. I was considering whether it 

 would be practicable to make headway against the current, when 

 I saw Jack, an Indian, who had been with me on one or two river- 

 journeys, lying lazily in his canoe, enjoying the mild March sun. 

 I went up to him, and our conversation ran thus : 



" Klahowya," I said. " Hyas kloshe," replied Jack. " Nika 

 tikegh klatawa kopa chuck ; konsi chickamen potlatch ? " " Kwi- 

 num dollar." " Hyas skookum chuck papet canim ? " " Wake 

 hyiu." This is Chinook, and put into English would read : " How 

 do you do ? " " Very well." " I want to go up the river." " How 

 much will you give ? " " Five dollars." " Will the current make 

 it hard work ? " " Not very." 



Chinook, a language or jargon, the existence of which few 

 people living east of the Rocky Mountains know of, is the sole 

 medium of communication between the whites and Indians upon 

 the northwest coast of America, from the Columbia River to 

 Alaska, including the tribes scattered over Washington Territory 

 and Oregon. Chinook is a conventional language, and, in this 



VOL. XXXV. — 17 



