The Salish People: Volume I. Charles Hill-Tout
of the Sequapmuq [Shuswap], and have also some half-score villages in the Nicola valley. They possess altogether some sixty-two villages throughout this area: eleven on the Thompson, nine in the Nicola valley, eleven on the Fraser above Lytton (Tlkumtcin), their headquarters from time immemorial, and thirty-one below. These are respectively:2
Thompson River: (1) Tlkumtcin (present Lytton), meaning unknown; (2) Nkaumen [Thompson station], meaning unknown; (3) Nhaiiken [Drynock], meaning unknown; (4) Nkumtcin (Spences Bridge), meaning unknown; (5) Nkoakoaetko ‘yellow water’; (6) Pimainus ‘grassy hills’ [Pimainus Creek]; (7) Pkaist ‘white rock,’ contracted from stpek ‘white’ [Pukaist Creek] ; (8) Cpaptsen ‘place where spatzin grows’ — Asclepias, or great milkweed, from which natives make their thread, string nets, etc. [Spatsum] ; (9) Cnpa ‘barren or bare place’[Black Canyon] ; (10) Sklalc [Cornwall Creek] - where the Indians secured a certain mineral earth, with which they covered the face to prevent it from chapping; (11) Ntaikum ’muddy water.’
Nicola Valley: (1) Klukluuk ‘a slide’[Kloklowuck Creek] ; (2) Cqokunq ‘a stony place’; (3) Nhothotkoas ‘place of many holes’; (4) Koaskuna [Petit Creek]; (5) Culuc ‘open face’; (6) Ncickt ‘little canyon’; (7) Zoqkt [Shuta Creek] ; (8) Koiltcana [Quilchena] ; (9) Stcukosh ‘red place(?).’
On Fraser above Lytton: (1) Nhomin; (2) Stain (Stein Creek); (3) Nokoieken; (4) Yeot; (5) Stcaeken; (6) Nklpan ‘deep’; (7) Ntako ‘bad water’; (8) Ncekpt ‘destroyed’— refers to the incidents of a story; (9) Tceueq; (10) Tsuzel ‘palisaded enclosure containing houses’; (11) Skaikaieten.
On Fraser below Lytton: (1) Spapium ‘level grassy land’ — river bench opposite Lytton; (2) Nkaia [Nikaia Creek] ; (3) Skapa ’sandy land’ [Skuppa Creek]; (4) Kokoiap ‘place of strawberries’; (5) Siska [Siska Creek, Cisco] ; (6) Ahulqa; (7) Nzatzahatko ‘clear water’; (8) Sluktlakten ‘crossing place’ — Indians crossed the river in canoe here [Kanaka Bar] ; (9) Statciani ‘beyond the mountain’ (Jackass Mountain); (10) Nkoiam ‘eddy’ [Boston Bar]; (11) Nkatzam ‘log bridge across stream’ [opposite Keefers station] ; (12) Kapasloq ’sand roof — a great settlement in former times; (13) Cuk ‘little hollow or valley’; (14) Skmuc ‘edge of the flat’; (15) Cntaktl ‘bottom of the hill’; (16) Speim ‘pleasant, grassy, flowery spot’; (17) Tzauamuk ‘noise of rolling stones in bed of stream’; (18) Npektem — where the Indians obtained the white clay they burnt and used for cleaning wool, etc.; (19) Timetl ‘place where red ochre was obtained’; (20) Klapatcitcin ’sandy landing’ (North Bend); (21) Kleaukt ‘rocky bar’; (22) Tkkoeaum; (23) Skuzis ‘jumping’ — the people were formerly much given to jumping; (24) Ckuokem ‘little hills’; (25) Tcatua; (26) Skuouakk ‘skinny people’; (27) Tikuiluc [Tikwalus Creek, Chapmans Bar]; (28) Ckuet; (29) Cuimp ‘strong’ head village of the Lower Thompson just above Yale; (30) Cpuzum or Spuzum [Spuzzum] — name has reference to a custom prevalent here in the old days: the people of one place would go and sweep the houses of the people of another, and they would return the compliment next morning at daybreak — this was a constant practice; (31) Nkakim ‘despised’ — name has reference to the poor social condition of the inhabitants of this village in former days: they were much looked down upon by the Spuzzum people.
Social Organisation
The primitive customs of the Thompson, like those of their neighbours, have for the most part given way to new ones borrowed from the whites. Some few are retained in a more or less modified form, and are still practised by the older people. The social system of the Thompson seems to have been a very simple one. I could hear of nothing in the way of secret societies, totemic systems, or the like. The whole group was comprised under one tribal name, and spoke the same tongue with slight dialectal differences. They were, however, divided into numerous village communities, each ruled over by an hereditary chief. Of these latter there were three of more importance than the rest, viz., the chief of the lower division of the tribe, whose headquarters was Spuzzum; the chief of the Nicola division, which was called by the lower division Tcuaqamuq; and the chief of the central division, whose headquarters was Tlkumtcin (Lytton).3 Of these three the most important was the chief of the central division. He was lord paramount. The conduct of affairs in each community was in the hands of the local chief, who was assisted by a council of elders. In all the relations of life the elders of the bands played an important part, and in all family consultations their advice was sought and listened to with the greatest deference and respect. In addition to the hereditary chiefs, martial chiefs or leaders were temporarily elected during times of warfare from among the warriors. It was a rare thing for the district or communal chief to lead or head a war party. The only part it seems they played was in sanctioning fights and in bidding them cease.
My informant told me that the Lytton chiefs were, as a rule, peace-loving men, always more anxious to prevent wars than to bring them about; and that the grandfather of the present Lytton chief would go out after a battle and purchase the prisoners taken captive in the fight, who were held as slaves by their captors, and set them free and send them back to their own people again.4 How far this was general I cannot say. That war, however, with the neighbouring tribes was not an unusual occurrence is clear from the fact that it was found necessary to fortify their villages or some particular portions of them by palisades, inside of which the people would retire when hard pressed by the enemy. The name of one of the upper villages close to the boundary of the Stlatlumh [Lillooet] bears testimony to this fact, as it signifies in English “a palisaded enclosure with houses inside,” and the old men of Lytton can recall the old fort of their village. These protective measures would seem to bear out my informant’s statements that the Thompson were not a warring people, and all the notes that I could gather of past encounters with other tribes show the Thompson to be the defenders and not the attackers.
Weapons of Warfare
The warrior’s weapons were the bow and arrow, stone swords, and clubs, etc. Of these latter there were several kinds. One of these was a sling-club formed by inclosing a round stone in a long strip of elk-hide. The stone was placed in the centre of the strip and securely sewn there, the ends of the hide being left to swing the weapon by. This was a deadly weapon in the hands of a skilful person, but awkward to handle by those not accustomed to its use; for if not properly wielded it was just as likely to damage the holder as the person he struck at. A wooden club fashioned from the wood of the wild crab-apple tree was another effective weapon much used by the warriors. This would sometimes be studded with spikes of stone or horn. It was fastened to the wrist by a thong when fighting (see fig. 1). Besides these there were also stone-tipped spears or javelins, and elk-horn or stone tomahawks. Poisoned arrows were used in warfare, and these were always put in a special quiver of dogskin. The stone tips of these arrows were always larger than those used for game. The poison was obtained either from the rattlesnake or from certain roots. For protection the fighting men wore a short sleeveless shirt of double or treble elk-hide, which hung from the shoulders, and was fastened at the sides by thongs. This shirt was called ntsken in the Thompson tongue. It was usually covered with painted figures and symbols of war (see fig. 2) in black, white, and red paint. The two latter colours were mineral products. Red ochre is found in considerable quantities within their boundaries. The white paint was obtained by burning a certain kind of mineral clay which, when burnt, produced a fine white powder easily converted into paint by mixing with oil or fat. This powder was also employed by the women in the weaving of their goat-hair blankets.
A trivial matter or misunderstanding would sometimes bring about a fight. It is recorded that a party of Indians from the interior paid the Thompson a visit once upon a time. The visitors wore soles of pitch upon their feet to protect them. This novel style of foot-gear excited the mirth of the Thompsons so much that their visitors became deeply offended, and a big fight was the result.
Fig. 1 Ancient war club made from wood of the wild crab-apple tree, after drawing by Chief Mischelle of Lytton, B.C.
