Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1922-03-21
CHILDREN OF THE EARROWS
Peculiar Tribe Of Indians Who Live
.,,... il Washington.
TEN MORE YEARS OF FULL LIBERTY

len NUKE fEAhS Uf fuLL NDEhl
Have Religion and Traditions of Thei'
Own, and Prefer Not to Mix With the
Whites-Live Mainly on Such WIlc
Food as Is to Be Found Easily al
Hand,
AS they would put it, the wise men OF
the Children OF the Narrows have been
assured ny the Great White Father
that their tribe may fish, dig roots and
pick berries for ten more summers
without interference from pale faces
Technically, the Yakima Indians, OF
Shahaptian stock, have been granted
freedom of then reservation, in Wash
ington state, for<ten more years, with
out acceptance of any duties and priv
ileges of American citizenship.
Some 1900 of the Yakimas thus are
assured the untrammeled freedom OF
their tribal customs, explains a bulletin
from the washington, d. c., headquar-
ters of the National Geographic Socie-
Nv. Thus not only are these Indians
made happy, but the friends of the keo
Man win be given further opportunity
TO study one of the more primitive
groups of American aborigines, who
have not been spoiled BY too sudden
imposition of the white mans civiliza-
ton.
Derisive Name Stuck.
The Yakimas take their name from
derisive nickname, meaning "runa-
ways" applied by other tribes; and
they have given this name to the Ya-
kima river, along which they live. They
call themselves "Waptailmin." mean
ing Children of the Narrows," in rel
erence to the narrows of that river less
poetically designated Union Gap on the
maps.
Tribal customs among all the Sha-
haptians, to which linguistic family the
Yakimas belong, are similar. The Sha-
llaptlans ranged over what now is
northeastern Oregon and southwest
Idaho as wen as in Washington. I'm
certain food supplies kept them no.
madic, though village communities fire.
quently formed, and just as frequently
would} migrate to more productive
places. They ate salmon, roots and
berries, and Lewis and Clark, who
found them in 1906, said that they also
hunted.
offshoots of the ShahaDtian stock in
cluded the Nez Perces, the ''pinched-
nose men," whose leader, Joseph, won
comparison with the march OF Keno
phonsf Ten Thousand for his retreat
after an attack upon white usurpers CT
his ancient home lands IN Oregon.
High Priest Of the "Dreamers."
Smohalla, "the preacher" founder OF
that mystic. Indian band known as
"DreameFs," also was Shahaptian. In
the Columbia river region, near the
present-day home of the Yakimas, he
preached a gospel strikingly like that
of Gandhi, leader Of the non-coopera-
ton movement in British India today
After wanderings in the deserts south
to Mexico, during which he claimed to
have visited the spirit world, he re-
turned to counsel the Indians to return
TO their native ways. of living, decline
instruction or association with the
white men, and above all follow their
own gods. Chief Joseph embraced this
faith.
Disputes over. land in the Yakima
reservation were made the occasion for
a Federal military investigation of this
sect in 1884. The salmon thanksgiving,
the berry festival and the ghost dances
were reported upon, and seances mark
ed by frances and bell ringing were
found f.
Today the Yakimas may roam at Will
over an area nearly as large as that Of
Rhode Island. The treaty by which
this reservation within the bend, but
not bordering the Columbia river, was
set aside dates back to the fifties and
included among its signatories repre-
sentatives of thirteen other remnant
tribes of the Shahaptian family.
Myths Show Poetical Quality.
Primitive, without system of clans
or tendency toward agriculture, these
tribes have q folk lore which often
challenges the myths of Greece or
Scandinavia. Where the Columbia now
cascades it's way through narrow de-
files the Khckitats believed q natural
bridge once spanned its waters. Two
sons of their gods, they explained,
quarreled to possess so fair land. The