The Salish People: Volume II. Charles Hill-Tout
and thus securing the goodwill of the tribe in his son’s favour. The son, too, upon his father’s death, would also give a feast and make handsome presents to all the influential men of the tribe. From this it would seem that children took their social rank from their mother rather than from their father, which looks like a trace of matriarchate, or mother-right. It is clear from their folk-tales, however, that these class divisions were not hard and fast, but that members of a lower caste could by the performance of certain acts pass into that above it.
Of secret societies I was unable to obtain any information whatever, and whether such formerly existed among the Squamish — of which I am extremely doubtful — it seems impossible to say.
Among the chiefs there were some of higher rank than the others, as among the Thompson. The supreme siam of the tribe was known by the title Te Kiapilanoq, and had his headquarters at the mouth of the Homultcison Creek, now called Capilano by the whites. He was local chief also of the Homultcison sept. Next in rank to him came one of the Squamish River chiefs. He likewise had a proper title, being known as Te Qatsilanoq.7 I was unable to learn what special significance these titles had. It is possible we may see in them the special names of two powerful gentes. The gentile system of the Squamish, if such existed, is not at all clear. The distinction between what might be regarded as a gens, or a sept, or a mere tribal division is very difficult to determine.
I could gather nothing satisfactory from any of my informants on this head. Heraldic and totemic symbols, according to some of them, were never used in the old days; but yet I was informed by others that some of the old houses had carved posts or columns, and that the figure of a bird or some other animal would sometimes be placed on a pole in front of the house or fastened to one of the gable ends. They also, sometimes at least, used masks in certain of their dances, if we may rely on the information on these points in their folk-tales. The tribe, as my ethnographical notes show, was formerly divided into a number of subdivisions, or okwumuq. Whether each of these should be regarded simply as a tribal subdivision, as among the Thompson, or as a gens, as among the northern tribes, is doubtful. Each division had its own proper name - in every instance, I think, a geographical one —derived from some local physical peculiarity, exactly as among the Thompson. In every okwumuq there existed the same threefold division of the people into three classes, and in some instances the total number of souls in each village would amount to several hundreds. Generally speaking, each community would be made up of several families or clans. The members of these clans were not bound together, as the gentes of the northern tribes, by common totems or crests. They comprised the blood relatives of any given family on both sides of the house for six generations. After the sixth generation the kinship ceases to hold good and the clanship is broken. Under this arrangement an individual’s relatives were legion, and he would often have family connection in a score or more different okwumuq. Among the present Squamish almost all of them are related in this way to one another, and their cousinships are endless and even perplexing to themselves. Marriage within the family or clan as thus constituted was prohibited, but members of different clans in the same village could intermarry with each other. If each village community is to be regarded as a separate gens having a common origin from some common ancestor — which I think is extremely doubtful — then marriage among the Squamish was not forbidden to members of the same gens. For my own part I am disposed to regard these separate communities as mere subdivisions of the tribe, which were effected at different periods in their tribal history, and generally, probably, from the same causes which have all over the world led to the founding of new homes and new settlements, viz., increase and stress of population. The evidence for regarding these divisions as distinct gentes having each a separate origin and springing from a separate ancestor, as among the northern tribes, is scanty and doubtful. This view is strengthened by the traditional origin of the tribe, which makes them all spring from a common pair. I do not desire to be understood as asserting that totemic gentes did not formerly exist among the Squamish, as Dr. Boas seems to hold. All I say is that after diligent inquiry from several of the chiefs and others I could myself find no evidence of it. I could not learn that any particular group or family bore names peculiar to that group or family, or possessed privileges not shared by the others other than the right to certain dances and their accompanying songs the origin and source of which was some personal dream or vision or experience of their own or their parents. But the ownership of these dances differed in no way from the ownership of a canoe or any other piece of property, and constituted no kind of bond or union between the owner of them and others of the tribe or okwumuq.
The only peculiar name that I could learn other than those of the supreme chiefs was that borne by the offspring of female slaves by their masters. This was the term stacem, and was a word of reproach.
Polygamy was commonly practised among the Squamish, the number of a man’s wives being limited only by his rank and wealth. A chief would frequently have four or five wives. Each wife had her own quarters in the house, which included a fire and a bed of her own. A favourite wife would rank first. She would be regarded in consequence with jealousy and hatred by the others. The husband would sometimes eat with one, sometimes with another. Infidelity in wives was punished by cutting the soles of their feet, or in some instances, by stoning them to death.
Mortuary Customs
The burial customs of the modern Squamish are now commonly conducted in the same way as our own, few, if any, of the older ceremonies, which are discountenanced by the priests, being observed. In former days the following customs were universally practised. When life had left the body the corpse was taken out of the house and washed by some elderly friends of the family. It was then doubled up and placed in a box coffin before it had grown rigid. In the case of chiefs, the body was sometimes placed in a canoe instead of a box. It was then taken to the burial-ground whether it were day or night. If it were night-time torches would be used. The box containing the corpse was then placed in a roughly constructed cedar-slab shed, after which everybody returned home. The immediate relatives of the deceased followed the corpse, accompanied by the other members of the family or clan, together with all their friends, and a band of special mourners, who are engaged for the occasion. All those who followed the corpse to the graveyard must paint the breast of their garments with red paint. If this were not done a scarcity of fish would be the result of the next salmon run. The mourners are of both sexes, and all cry aloud. The period of mourning lasted generally about a month. If, however, the deceased were very dear to the survivors, the mourning would be kept up longer. When a chief died the whole community turned out to mourn, and almost everybody followed the corpse. The hired mourners are paid for their services with blankets or skins. If the friends of the deceased are wealthy a feast is held immediately after the disposal of the body, and the mourners are then paid. If, however, the relatives of the deceased are poor, then no feast is given at the time, and the payment of the mourners is also deferred until such occasion as a sufficient number of blankets and skins has been collected, and they are in a position to hold a feast. It was customary to choose the occasion of some big potlatch gathering, when everybody would be present.
When the relatives of the deceased have returned from the graveyard they burn cedar (Thuya gigantea) and salal-berry (Gaultheria Shallon) branches and whip the whole dwelling with boughs, particularly that part where the body lay, to drive away the presence of death, sickness, and ghosts, all of which are supposed to linger there.
Some three or four days after the burial it was not unusual for the witches and wizards of the tribe to declare that the ghost of the dead had returned from the land of spirits for something to eat. The relatives of the deceased are informed, and they immediately gather all the best food they can procure, and take it, sometimes to the burial ground and sometimes into the woods, and spread it out on a big blanket made from the wool of the mountain sheep or goat. The witches and medicine-men now invite the shade of the dead to eat. Presently they assure the relatives that the spirit is satisfied. The food is either then distributed to the poor and old, or else it is consumed in a fire built for the occasion.
The customs to be observed by the immediate survivors of the deceased differ somewhat according to sex. If a woman had lost her husband she must fast for one whole day. At the close of the day a neighbour would bring in a large piece of dried fish. The widow must now bite four mouthfuls from this