Page:Wishram by Henry J. Biddle.djvu/17

126 English ship. x—like ch in German ach, but pronounced rather farther back."

So the pronunciation might be represented by Wish'-gham. But few people can produce the latter sound, even after prolonged practice. The writer, many years ago, spent some time in the New Mexican village of Zuñi, with a party of the U. S. Bureau of Ethnology. There was a similar sound in the Zuñi language, but very few of this party could produce it to the satisfaction of the Indians.

Mr. Glenn Ranck (President Vancouver Historical Society), formerly register of the U. S. Land Office in Vancouver, Washington, in an article published in the Oregonian, February 7, 1926, gives additional evidence on this point. He says that in the old treaties made with the Wisham tribes the name is always given as "Wisham." "However, some of the old tillicums, in pronouncing their tribal name, give it a sort of gutteral grunt, making it sound a little like "Wishgam." Mr. Ranck thinks "it might be well to adopt the name as it appears in the records of the United States government."

This is undoubtedly a good argument in favor of "Wisham." But in the writer's opinion, inasmuch as no ordinary white man can pronounce the name as the In dians do it, and as Wishram is about as close to their pronunciation as Wisham, it might be well to accept the more euphonious name, which has received the widest distribution, and been made classic, through the work of Washington Irving.

Concerning the later history of Wishram but little has been written. A treaty was concluded between the United States and the "Yakama," "Klickatat," and other tribes including the "Wish-ham," June 9, 1855. By this treaty the Indians gave up all their lands on the north bank of the Columbia, and accepted what is now the Yakima Reservation. And: "is further secured to said confederated tribes and bands of Indians, as also the right of taking fish at all usual and accustomed places, in common with