The Salish People: Volume II. Charles Hill-Tout
Naming
A child usually received no name in babyhood, but when about three years old the elders of the child’s family or clan would choose a name for it from among those of its ancestors. This name it would bear through life if a girl, but if a boy, and the son of some person of rank and wealth, some years later his parents would give a potlatch, and then he would receive a new name. This was quite commonly that of his own father or of his paternal grandfather, whether they were alive or dead.
The names of dead people were tabooed. That is to say, it was a breach of custom and good manners to mention the name of a dead person in the presence of the deceased’s relatives or connections. This custom gave rise to inconvenience at times. It was quite common for men to be called by the name of some implement or utensil. An individual once bore the name of Skumel ‘paddle.’ When he died, as they might not use this term before his relatives, they had to make use of the term qautliwus when they wished to say “paddle.” I did not get the significance of this new term. Another person bore the name Slukcen ‘moccasin.’ When he died a new word had to be coined, and today both terms are in common use for moccasin.
The stories give us examples of the names used formerly. I append a few specimens of these here: Tciatmuq ‘owl’; Qoitcital; Atsaian; Siatlmeq ‘rain-man’; Tculq; Cauk ’skull'; Sqeils ‘copper’; Cukcuklaklos; Tetketsen.
Puberty Customs
When a girl arrived at puberty she would call her mother’s attention to her condition. The mother at once informed the father, who calls the family and relatives together. They discuss the matter and arrange what course the girl is to follow. From this statement it would seem that no two girls necessarily followed the same procedure. First of all they take two strands of the wool of the mountain sheep or goat and tie them to her hair, one on each side of her forehead. This is a public notification of the girl’s condition, which everybody understands. She is now set to “pull" wool or hair without food or drink for the space of four days. She was kept without water during this period because it was believed that if she drank water when in this condition she would spoil her teeth. She must abstain from washing or bathing, and must never go near the fire during the four days. It was believed that if she sat near the fire during her menses her skin would become red, and ever after remain so. When in this condition her mother, or grandmother, or some other woman would pull out all the irregular hairs from the edges of her eyebrows so as to make them fine and even. The denuded parts were always rubbed with the girl’s saliva to prevent the hairs growing again. When the four days were up, some old women would take her in hand, and bathe her head and body in hot water, and scrub her with branches till her skin was almost torn off and her body was sore and covered from head to foot with scratches from the severe treatment she had received. The prickly brambles of the trailing blackberry (Rubus sp.) were often employed for this purpose, and my informant told me that it was no uncommon thing for a girl to toss and turn in agony the night following this bath, unable to close her eyes in sleep for the pain and smarting of her body. If she were the daughter of a chief or a noble she would be bathed by the sqomten or siu (medicine man or woman). These would be paid for their services with gifts of blankets or skins.
The object of these heroic measures was to make the girl “bright and smart.” After the bath she was given food and drink and permitted to come to the fire. Sometimes a friend of the family would mark the occasion by putting a nice new blanket over the girl’s shoulders. After her meal her face would be painted with streaks of red paint, and the girl would then go to the forest and pull down the branches of all the cedar and spruce trees she passed and rub her face and body with their tips, and then let them spring up again. The object of this practice was to make her charming and attractive in the eyes of men. She would also take a quantity of fern-roots of the edible kind (Pteris aquilina) and offer them to the biggest trees she could find. This was supposed to give her a generous nature and keep her from becoming stingy and mean.
After a girl had arrived at puberty she was never allowed to play or mingle with the boys. She was kept indoors at work all day long. The lot of a girl among the Squamish in the olden days does not appear to have been an enviable one. A girl or woman during her monthly periods was “bad medicine"; that is, she was supposed to carry ill-luck with her. If she entered a sick-room the invalid was sure to get worse; and if she crossed the path of a hunter or a fisher he would get no luck that trip.
When people were sick they were rubbed with dog-fish oil. When the screech-owl (cam) was heard hooting around a house it was regarded as a sure sign that some of the inmates would shortly die. Caiu signifies “ghost" or “shade.”
Dwellings
The dwellings of the old Squamish were of the communal kind, whether they were the ordinary slab and cedar-board structure or the winter keekwilee-house. As far as I have been able to gather, only the upper tribes on the Squamish River used the skumin, or keekwilee-house. That this structure was known to them is clear from the name of one of their villages, which signifies in English “keek-wilee-house.” The lower tribes commonly used the cedar structure all the year round. Each village contained one and sometimes two of these placed at right angles to one another, or in parallel lines according to the local peculiarities of the village site. Some of them, in the more populous villages, were of enormous length, extending in an unbroken line for upwards of 600 feet. Houses of two or three hundred feet in length were very ordinary dwellings. In width they varied from 20 to 40 feet. The walls, too, were of variable height, ranging from 8 to 15 feet when the roofs were gabled. If the roof contained but one slope, then the higher side would rise to 25 or even 30 feet.
Both sides and roof were built of cedar boards or slabs split with hammer and wedges from the cedar trunk. The cedar (Thuya gigantea) of British Columbia lends itself readily to operations of this kind, and the task is not as difficult as might be imagined. The white settlers almost everywhere build their houses, stables, fences, and barns of cedar split by themselves in this way. I have seen boards split out as smooth and uniform as if they had been cut out with a saw and planed. In the native dwellings the boards were held in place by withes or ropes made from young cedars or from the branches of older ones. There were no windows in these buildings; sunlight and air came in through the doors or by the roof, a part of which was pulled down a few feet to let the smoke out and the air and light in during the day in fine weather.
These structures are open from end to end without partitions or divisions of any kind. The chief quite commonly occupied the centre of the building. Next to him, on either side, came his brothers and other notabilities, and beyond these the baser folk. Each family had its own allotted space at the side of the dwelling and its own fire. This space was commonly just ample enough to allow of the beds of the family being arranged around three sides of a square with an open front towards the fire and centre of the room. The bed was raised by a kind of platform or bed-stand about two feet from the ground. In the space beneath were stored roots and such-like commodities. Above and over the beds, shelves were hung. On these were stored the dried fish and utensils of the family. If the family were one of position and wealth several large cedar boxes would be found lying about. These would contain the blankets and skins and other valuables of the owners. To separate the beds of one family from another, hanging curtains of grass and reeds were suspended on either side, but the front was left open. The beds of the Squamish consisted of reed mats and slowi, i.e. the inner bark of the cedar beaten till fine and soft. Rolls of the same material formed their pillows. Their coverings were, for the poorer class, mats of the same materials. For the wealthy these were supplemented by mountain-goat blankets and dressed deer-skins. The Squamish husband and wife did not sleep side by side, but feet to feet. If the bed space was confined the feet of one would reach to the head of the other; but usually this was not the case, plenty of room being allowed.
In winter it was customary to keep the fires burning all night, large logs being placed upon them for the purpose. On the occasion of feasts and dances the hanging mats about the beds would all be taken down, the beds themselves serving for seats or platforms for the drummers and spectators.
Household Utensils