Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 9.djvu/289

 ULLOOET

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ULLOatT

food by xneaxis of heated stones. Matfi, blankets, and ba^ werp woven from nu^es, bark fibre, twisted Btnoa of skin, and various kinds of animal hair, in- cluding that of a special breed of long-haired white dog now extinct. Knives, hammers, scrapers, etc., were of stone; bowls and dishes of wood. They were skilled in the making and use of canoes, both bark and du^-out, together with snowshoes for ^-inter travel. Skms were dressed soft, but seldom smoked. Fire was obtained by means of the fire drill. Housea and much of their portable handiwork were adorned with native paint.

The dress was of skins, or fabrics woven from wool or bark fibre, and included caps, head bands, robes, shirts, belts, sashes, aprons, G-strings, leggings, and moccasins, with ornamentation of fringes, beads, feathers, porcupine quills, dentalium and abalone shells. Nose and ear pendants were worn by both sexes. The hair was cut across the forehead, and either hung loose or was bunched on top and beliind. Youne women braided their hair, and that of slaves was close cropped. The face was painted with sym- bolic designs and tattooing was common with both sexes. Head flattening was not practised, and was held in contempt. Of weapons, besides the bow, they had stone knives, stone-bladed spears, and vari- ous kinds of clubs. Protective body armour of thin boards, rods, or heavy elk skin was used, but shields were unknown. Scalpine or beheading was imcom- mon. Many villages and communal houses were in- closed bv elaborate stockades. Captives were usually enslaved and sometimes sold to other tribes. They had many games, including dice, target games, throw- ing at hoops, wrestling, horse racing and the nearly universal Indian ball game. Some of these games had song accompaniment.

They had the clan system, but without marriage restriction or fixed rule of descent, the clan being frequently identical with the village community. There were hereditary village chiefs, each assisted by a council, but no tribal head cliief. Most of the prop- erty of a deceased owner went to his widow and chil- dren, instead of being destroyed, as in some other tribes. There was a great number of dances and other ceremonials, including mask dances and the great gift distribution kno^n as Potlatch among the tribes of the North- West coast. Children and young men at certain times were subjected to a whipping ordeal to test their fortitude. Menstrual women were rigorously secluded as in other tribes, and pregnancy, birth, and puberty were attended by elaborate rites and precautions. The puberty ritual for the young woman was especially severe, involving seclusion, fast- ing, prayer, and special training for a period of two years, during which time she was allowed to go out only at night, wandering through the forest masked and shaking a rattle, and sitting alone in the puberty lodge through the day, for the first month squatting in a hole with onlv her head above the surface. The

Euberty ordeal for the young man continued for as >ng a period, while for shaman candidates the tests and training extended over several years. Young men also fast«d and prayed in solitary places to obtain visions of their guardian spirits. Marriage was pre- ceded and accompanied by considerable ceremonial, including processions and giving of presents. Com- pulsion was not usual, but the girl was free to accept the suitor or not as she chose, and in some cases was herself the suitor or proposer. Polygamy was com- mon. Widows and widowers were subj ec ted to a long period of seclusion and purification. As in other tribes, twins were dreaded as uncannv, being believed to be the offspring, not of the husband, but of a grizzly bear and partaking of the bear nature. They were never buned in the ordinary way, but in deatn were laid away in tree tops in the remote forest. The dead were usually buried in a sitting posture

with best dress, weaix>ns, and smaller personal be- longings, in graves lined ^Wth grass ana marked by circles of stones. In some cases a canoe was inverted over the grave. Among the Lower Lillooet the body was sometimes placed sitting upon the ground, and covered with a heap of stones, or deposited in a grave box, in front of which were set up wooden figures rep- resenting the deceased, and dressed in his clothes. Funeral songs were sung about the grave. His head

Eillow, together with some food, were burned near by. Lis dogs were killed and their bodies hung near the grave. If he owned slaves, one or more were buried with him, being either killed at the grave or buried alive. Children were made to jump four times over tho corpse of the dead parent, in order that they might the sooner forget their loss. In Lillooet cosmogony the East was associated with light and life, the West with darkness and death. In the beginning the world was peopled with beinss near akin to animals, many of wnom were cannibals and evil magicians. These were changed to animals, birds, and fishes bv super- natural beings, who became the gods of the tribe, cnief amon^ whom was Old Man, with nis messenger Coyote, and his subordinate helpers. Sun, Moon, and otners. The Haven brought death, daylight, and fire. The warm* 'Chinook wind'' was the result of the marriage of Beaver and Glacier. Each clan had its own tradition of origin and there is a story of a whole tribe trans- formed into deer. The stars also were transfonned beings, and thunder as usual was a bird. There were giants, but apparently no dwarfs, in their supernatural world. Sacred places were numerous, and sacrifice and propitiation ceremonies frequent, including a special rite by which the hunter asked pardon of the bear which he had killed. They had the same ceremonial feast at the beginning of the salmon fishing season which Father De Smct described as he hau seen it tfmong the Kutenai in 1S45, as also a solemn consecra- tion of the first wild berries.

The spirit world was far in the West, over a weaiy and dusty trail by which the soul travelled until it crossed alog over a stream and reached the boundary of the Land of the Dead, standing up like a wall of rock, where, after passing the challenge of the sen- tinels, it entered, to find a pleasant land and a wel- come from former friends, wuo spent their time d&no*

sometimes to the same mother. As usual the shaman was at once doctor, prophet, and master of rites. There seem to have been no secret societies. Colours had s>Tnbolic meaning, and four was a sacred number. Per- sonal names were significant, and of four classes: he- reditary family names, names derived from guardian spirits, dream names, and common nicknames.

The official report of the condition of the Lower bands in 190S is repeated almost in the same terms for the Upper : ' ' Their ncalth has been fairly good tiiroiigh- out the year. The sanitary condition of their villages is good, and many of them have been vaccinated from time to time. Their cliicf pursuits are hunting, fish- ing, packing, and farming. They also act as guides for mininj^ and timber prospectors, and the women earn considerable money at basket making. Their dwellings are mostlv all frame structures, and they have good bams and outbuildings. They have a coii- siderable number of horses and cattle, which are well cared for during wint-cr. They are fairly well supplied with farm implements, most of them owning; what they have. They arc industrious and law abiding and are making some progress. They are temperate and moral."

H. H. Bancroft. Hint. Brit. Cdumhia (San Francisco, 1887) Canadian Indian Reports AOtiawci, annually): Dawson, NoUt on the Shusun People of Brit. Col. in Proe. and Traiu. Boyal Soc Can. for J 891, IX (Montreal, 1892); Hiix-TouT^ Th4Suaaumk of Brit. Col, in Jour, Anthrop, Insl. Great Britain and Jrdandf