The Indians of Cape Flattery, at the entrance to the Strait of Fuca, Washington Territory

Abstract

THE philological family, to which the Makahs belong, is that known on old maps as the " Wakash Nation," a name given by Captain Cook from the word of greet ing used by the Indians of King George s, or Nootka Sound, where he first met them.For the purpose of classification it may be convenient to preserve the name of Nootka, which has been usually recognized, as that of the language in general, although it originally sprung from an equally trivial source.It is to be observed that there are no nations in our sense of the word among these Indians, but those speaking even the same dialect of a common language are often broken up into separate bands under different chiefs, and their various appellations belong only to localities.Occasionally a chief, more powerful and sagacious than the rest, will bring several of these under his control, but his power is after all limited, and dies with him.The territory occupied by this NOOTKA family is not as yet clearly defined on the north.Generally speaking, it embraces, besides that of the Makahs, on the south side of the Strait of Fuca, described by Mr. Swan in the following paper, Vancouver Island, with the exception of a small part of its northeastern border, occupied by intrusive bands of the Ilailtsa, and the southwestern portion extending from Sooke Harbor to above Komooks in the Gulf of Georgia, which is held by tribes of the Shehwapmukh or Selish family.It also covers part of the adjacent continent on the Gulf of Georgia and Johnston s Straits, being thus enclosed by Selish tribes on the south and cast and by those of the Ilailtsa on the north.The Kvvilleyutes on the coast of Washington Territory, south of the Makahs, arc a remote branch of the Selish, and the Clallams .lyingcast along the southern shore of Fuca Strait arc another tribe of that family, closely connected with the Sooke and Songhus Indians of the southeastern end of Vancouver Island.

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