Traditions of the Thompson River Indians (cont.)
1. The following alphabet has been used in transcribing Indian words and names:-
a, e, i, o, u have their continental sounds (short).
â, ê, î, ô, û long vowels.
E, obscure e, like e in flower.
ä, in German Bar.
â, aw in law.
ô, o in German roll.
ê, e in bell.
ai, i in island.
ow, ow in how.
l; s; d, t; b, p; k; h; w; m, n as in English.
L, posterior palatal l; the tip of the tongue touches the alveoli of the lower jaw, the back of the tongue is pressed against the hard palate; surd.
q, velar k.
k, palatized k, almost ky.
x, ch in German Bach.
x, x pronounced at posterior border of hard palate.
x, palatal x, as in German ich.
c, sh in shoal.
g, as in guard.
y, as in year.
', hiatus, generally combined with increased stress of preceding sound.
The traditions of a number of tribes have been compared with those of the Thompson River Indians, and quotations have been made in the following way:--
Shuswap, Fraser Delta, Coast Salish, Comox, Nootka, Kwakiutl, Heiltsuk, Bilxula, Tsimshian, Tlingit: from Franz Boas, Indianische Sagen von der Nord-Pacifischen Küste Amerikas, Berlin, 1895.
Chinook: from Franz Boas, Chinook Texts, Bulletin Bureau of Ethnology, Washington, 1894.
Poucheux, Hare, Dog Rib, Slave, Chippewayan: from E. Petitot, Traditions Indiennes du Canada Nord-Quest, Paris, 1886.
Ponca: from James Owen Dorsey, The Cegiha Language, Washington, 1890.
Navaho: from Washington Matthews, Navaho Legends, Boston, 1897.
2. D. G. Brinton, The Myths of the New World, third edition, 1896, p. 194: "(He is) little more than a malicious buffoon, delighting in practical jokes, and abusing his superhuman powers for selfish and ignoble ends. But this is a low, modern, and corrupt version of the character of Michabo, bearing no more resemblance to his real and ancient one than the language and acts of our Saviour and the apostles in the coarse Mystery Plays of the Middle Ages do to those recorded by the Evangelists."
Walter J. Hoffmann in Fourteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, 1896, p. 162: "There appears to have been a time, according to both the Ojibwa and Menomini Indians, when Ma'nabush became degraded on account of his foolish actions. In the Ottawa dialect Ma'nabush signifies a 'foolish fellow,' because of the ridiculous performances of the demigod previous to his final departure from the Indian country. (According to verbal information received from Mr. A. J. Blackbird, an educated Ottawa chief and interpreter of Michigan.) Some of these myths will be recognized as having, at some time in the past, formed part of the cosmogonic ritual of the Menomini; but when and how they became separated, and so altered as to have lost their reverential character, it is impossible even to surmise."
