The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1884-07-31
The Chinook Language.

The first object sighted by the pas
senger by steamer from this city to
Portland, Or, after the vessel has fairly
crossed the bar on the south channel
entrance of the Columbia river. is 3
bold promontory named Chinook Point.
Tt rises from 800 TO 1000 feet above the
level of the sea, is four miles inside of
the reef, eight miles northwest OF As
toria, and, in connection with Cape Dis
appointment, forms the semicireular
sheet of water known as Bakers Bay.
Like all the shores of the Lower Column
bia, it is densely wooded with mighty
pines, cedars and frs, which rise to a
height of 200 and even 800 feet, and
seen from a distance of one mile appear
to stand as thick as bristles on hogs
back. Rounding this prominent land
mark there is seen slight curve in the
water-line, which forms the frontage,
looking across the estuary toward As
toria, of few acres of low-lying and
level land, which was partly cleared of
its timber growth thirty three years
ago. A riyulet tumbles down through
a precipitous channel, entering the salt
water after passing through this blight
in the landscape. Here was once, and
perhaps for ages, the home and head
| quarters OF the Chinook Indians, the
| tribe after which the. Hudson's Bay
Company named the lingo known as
''Chinook jargpn.''a' which for two Gen.
| turtles was the medium of linguistic
communication between its traders and
all the tribes of the great river. Puget
Sound. the Gulf of Georgia and the en-
tire possession of the great corporation
on the waters of the Pacificcoast. The
entire vocabulary of this new language
| does not exceed four hundred words,
but !. the different meanings con-
Veyed BY the variations in the tone
| and accent serve the purpose of adj
jectives and adverbs and multiply the
| powersof the words many fold. Thus,
for example, .ssfGh or .syab literally
means the same as the English adyerb
of distance, away But it may be
so accented in speech as to signify
much more than this. Ii spoken in the
ordinary tone it implies short distance
Off If the distance be, say five or ten
miles off, the word is spoken stdh-G a.
If fifty miles, siaI-o~o If five hundred
miles, s6als-G-GG-a. Some of the words
are gas resonant and graceful as the
Latin of the age Of Cicero. Others, and
by far the most. are as barbarous and
| gutteral as the language of the
| Dacotahs Mimiluse is used alike fol-
''dead, " *'death, = the grave, or the
canoe and the clothes in which the
dead are Invariably deposited. "Cluteh
man" is the jargon for female, whether
a Woman, dog, or any other animal
Hsgds or hsghas is either an adjective
or an adyerb, which may indicate size
strength, distance, weight, measure
but always implies something big OF
uncommon Of its kind
| 1t is needless to add that this is no
the original language of any tribe, o.
of the Chinookss, ! It was compounded
| by the traders for the purpose of trade
with this particular tribe. It ha
naturally found its way into the spokes
language of the Oregon and Washing
ton Territory whites, and the ability {
use it freely was once regarded by then
as an accomplishment. 1t is an &C
complishinent that stands on the sam
! level with = the. more pretentiou
| pedai1try Of interlarding bad French
or Spanish or Latin with good English
The mixture is disgustingly vulgar
San Francisco Chronicle.
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