Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1894-03-31
They Subscribe For "A Paper Printed
in Their Own Language and Have
Postal system.

they have their infKeauent communi.
cation with ''cir,lIzation' chiefly
through the Hudson Bay Company
posts at Fort George and Fort Fraser.
Their morals are more strictly guarded
than are those OF any white Nation OF
today they esteem cleanliness both
Of person and surroundings As they
do courage; and they have a saying
that TO desert a friend Is worse than
10 slay him.
The last white visitors to the home
Of the Tinnces were the men compos-
ing the Government survey party sent
north last summer under A. L.. Pom
drIer, which has recently returned.
The Appended notes of the chief Of
the expedition give some interesting
facts concerningthe Tinnees and the
land they live IN.
The immense country north OF the
fifty-fourth parallel. generally de-
scribel as the lake region ls hardly
known to the present generation.
Years ago, during the gold excitement
In Omineca, a grea. deal of trade and
travel was taken that way, and nearly
all the old pioneers are familiar with
the wonderful scenery Of the section.
'':Since the gold boom the only in
habitants Of this extensive country
have been Indians and a few Hudson
Bay Company employees. The natives
are known as the Tinnees. this name
including the whole race, some of the
representatives of which lnhablt the
country east of the Rocky Mountains,
others peopling the lake region proper
and still others living as far to the
south rs the Chilcotin River. The
race is divided into many families:
First, the Chilcotins, living on the
plain Of that name; then'the Car
~ricrs,' or 'porteurs,' around Fort
Fraser, and, again, the Siccanies eand
the Nahanies, occupying the country
north and east of the Nechaco River.
'In language the Tinnees have no
relationship with the other tribes of
the North, but, c%uriously, Indians liv-
ing Us far south as California (the
Navajoes, for example), or in Okla
homa, the Chilcotees, speak a tongue
very similar-to that Of the Tinnees.
COT late years n young and ener-
getic missionary, Father Morrlce, Of
Stuart Lake, has been giving his time
and talents to the upbuilding of q
Tinnees Nation which shall compare
not unfavorably IN many ways with
that of the whites. The mother
tongue Of the Tinnccs, which is ex-
ceedinglv rich in EXPRESSION, has been
through his efforts reduced to a sys-
tenn of phonetic writing, the charac-
tiers being remarkable for the simplic-
ity and from the fact that they rest
rather than weary the eye OF the
reader. The written language is SO
simple and SO systematic that a child
or a man may with equal facility learn
to read or write it to perfection. Not
one Of the tribe, from a child of six
to the old men and m Of three
score and ten, is unable to-day to
either read or write.
The phonetic Tinnees is employed
by the Indians in their correspond
ence-for they have risen to the dig
nifty of Il postal system of their own
iii the marking Of signs for the guild
aEce of travellers and explorers, aud in
the hundred and one other ways "a
miiiar to civilized Nations.
10 further develop the theory and
render its success more complete
Father Morrice, with the aid Of the In
dians, had special types cast from his
own designs. bought n printing press
and three years ago printed and pub
lished several elementary works on the
language and history OF the Nation.
For the past two years he has been is
suing a monthly newspaper, to which
every Indian III the vast district is a
willing subscriber. 1t Is called the
News. It's first page is devoted ex-
ciusively to local affairs. such as hunt
ing and trapping anil all else which
may practically interest the
ltv in which it circulates. Another
portion is devoted to religious sub
]ects, and the remainder of its sixteen
pages of space treats of the world In
general. a great deal Of attention be-
ing paid to science. the customs and
amer OF foreign countries, useful
Inventions. etc.
There IS. SAYS Mr.. Poudrier. ''no
other part OF the province where the
Indians are so highly civilized. 50
truthful and SO honest-rsre qualities
indeed FOX al Indian race. One great
advantage traceable TO the publication
OF the News is the development of q
taste Tor and a knowledge of agricu!-
ture- The hunting and trapping are
nearing an end IN the lake region, and
the natives see tha, the resource which
they must in future look to is farming.
, The new generation IS fast becoming
aconnuuitv o: scientific t..le-s o. the
soil. Were all the Indiaaso Of America
u SO advanced a state they would At
no time be a Q: anxiety the
Government woald never be called
upon 10 supply Their wants, and the
white brother could learn {. a little
from them tha: lie does not now
know.