Seventh Annual Report - Part 38
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Part 38

Kakamatsis. Nimkish.

Keimanoeitoh. Quatsino.

Kwakiutl. Tsawadinoh.

Kwashilla.

_Population._--There are 1,898 of the Haeltzuk division of the family under the Kwawkewlth Agency, British Columbia. Of the Bellacoola (Salishan family) and Haeltzuk, of the present family, there are 2,500 who are not under agents. No separate census of the latter exists at present.

WASHOAN FAMILY.

= Washo, Gatschet in Mag. Am. Hist., 255, April, 1882.

< shoshone,="" keane,="" app.="" stanfords="" comp.="" (cent.="" and="" so.="" am.),="" 477,="" 1878="" (contains="">

< snake,="" keane,="" ibid.="" (same="" as="" shoshone,="" above.)="">

This family is represented by a single well known tribe, whose range extended from Reno, on the line of the Central Pacific Railroad, to the lower end of the Carson Valley.

On the basis of vocabularies obtained by Stephen Powers and other investigators, Mr. Gatschet was the first to formally separate the language. The neighborhood of Carson is now the chief seat of the tribe, and here and in the neighboring valleys there are about 200 living a parasitic life about the ranches and towns.

WEITSPEKAN FAMILY.

= Weits-pek, Gibbs in Schoolcraft, Ind. Tribes, III, 422, 1853 (a band and language on Klamath at junction of Trinity). Latham, El. Comp.

Phil., 410, 1862 (junction of Klamath and Trinity Rivers). Gatschet in Mag. Am. Hist., 163, 1877 (affirmed to be distinct from any neighboring tongue). Gatschet in Beach, Ind. Misc., 438, 1877.

< weitspek,="" latham="" in="" trans.="" philolog.="" soc.="" lond.,="" 77,="" 1856="" (junction="" of="" klamath="" and="" trinity="" rivers;="" weyot="" and="" wishosk="" dialects).="" latham,="" opuscula,="" 343,="">

= Eurocs, Powers in Overland Monthly, VII, 530, June, 1872 (of the Lower Klamath and coastwise; Weitspek, a village of).

= Eurok, Gatschet in Mag. Am. Hist., 163, 1877. Gatschet in Beach, Ind. Misc., 437, 1877.

= Yu-rok, Powers in Cont. N.A. Eth., III, 45, 1877 (from junction of Trinity to mouth and coastwise). Powell, ibid., 460 (vocabs. of Al-i-kwa, Klamath, Yu-rok.)

X Klamath, Keane, App. Stanfords Comp. (Cent. and So. Am.), 475, 1878 (Eurocs belong here).

Derivation: Weitspek is the name of a tribe or village of the family situated on Klamath River. The etymology is unknown.

Gibbs was the first to employ this name, which he did in 1853, as above cited. He states that it is the name of the princ.i.p.al band on the Klamath, at the junction of the Trinity, adding that this language prevails from a few miles above that point to the coast, but does not extend far from the river on either side. It would thus seem clear that in this case, as in several others, he selected the name of a band to apply to the language spoken by it. The language thus defined has been accepted as distinct by later authorities except Latham, who included as dialects under the Weitspek language, the locality of which he gives as the junction of the Klamath and Trinity Rivers, the Weyot and Wishosk, both of which are now cla.s.sed under the Wishoskan family.

By the Karok these tribes are called Yurok, down or below, by which name the family has recently been known.

GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION.

For our knowledge of the range of the tribes of this family we are chiefly indebted to Stephen Powers.[109] The tribes occupy the lower Klamath River, Oregon, from the mouth of the Trinity down. Upon the coast, Weitspekan territory extends from Gold Bluff to about 6 miles above the mouth of the Klamath. The Chillla are an offshoot of the Weitspek, living to the south of them, along Redwood Creek to a point about 20 miles inland, and from Gold Bluff to a point about midway between Little and Mad Rivers.

[Footnote 109: Cont. N.A. Eth., 1877, vol. 3, p. 44.]

PRINc.i.p.aL TRIBES.

Chillla, Redwood Creek.

Mita, Klamath River.

Pekwan, Klamath River.

Rikwa, Regua, fishing village at outlet of Klamath River.

Sugon, Shragoin, Klamath River.

Weitspek, Klamath River (above Big Bend).

WISHOSKAN FAMILY.

> Wish-osk, Gibbs in Schoolcraft, Ind. Tribes, III, 422, 1853 (given as the name of a dialect on Mad River and Humboldt Bay).

= Wish-osk, Powell in Cont. N.A. Eth., III, 478, 1877 (vocabularies of Wish-osk, Wi-yot, and Ko-wilth). Gatschet in Mag. Am. Hist., 162, 1877 (indicates area occupied by family). Gatschet in Beach, Ind. Misc., 437, 1877.

> Wee-yot, Gibbs in Schoolcraft, Ind. Tribes, III, 422, 1853 (given as the name of a dialect on Eel River and Humboldt Bay).

X Weitspek, Latham in Trans. Philolog. Soc. Lond., 77, 1856 (includes Weyot and Wishosk). Latham, Opuscula, 343, 1860.

< klamath,="" keane,="" app.="" stanfords="" comp.="" (cent.="" and="" so.="" am.),="" 475,="" 1878="" (cited="" as="" including="" patawats,="" weeyots,="">

Derivation: Wish-osk is the name given to the Bay and Mad River Indians by those of Eel River.

This is a small and obscure linguistic family and little is known concerning the dialects composing it or of the tribes which speak it.

Gibbs[110] mentions Wee-yot and Wish-osk as dialects of a general language extending from Cape Mendocino to Mad River and as far back into the interior as the foot of the first range of mountains, but does not distinguish the language by a family name.

[Footnote 110: Schoolcraft, Ind. Tribes, 1853, vol. 3, p. 422.]

Latham considered Weyot and Wishosk to be mere dialects of the same language, i.e., the Weitspek, from which, however, they appeared to him to differ much more than they do from each other. Both Powell and Gatschet have treated the language represented by these dialects as quite distinct from any other, and both have employed the same name.

GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION.

The area occupied by the tribes speaking dialects of this language was the coast from a little below the mouth of Eel River to a little north of Mad River, including particularly the country about Humboldt Bay.

They also extended up the above-named rivers into the mountain pa.s.ses.

TRIBES.

Patawat, Lower Mad River and Humboldt Bay as far south as Arcata.

Weeyot, mouth of Eel River.

Wishosk, near mouth of Mad River and north part of Humboldt Bay.