= =

86 : REPORT— 1890.

whole tribe set out and begin to pick berries, the field being divided up
among the tribe. After they are through picking, the berries are divided
among the families of the tribe. The chief receives the greatest portion.
In the same way an overseer is set over the salmon fisheries, and the
catch is divided among the whole tribe. It seems that the various tribes
of the Shushwap had no separate hunting grounds, but that they hunted
over the whole territory, wherever they liked. I do not think, however,
that the fisheries and berry patches belonged to the whole people in
common. Disputes arising between members of the same tribe were
generally settled by arbitration. For instance, where a number of men
had driven deer into a lake and a dispute arose as to who had driven
one particular deer, an arbitrator was appointed, who had to track it and
whose decision was final. The old were well treated and respected. In
some instances when a man believed himself slighted he would commit
suicide.

The tribes and families had separate hunting grounds originally. The.
custom still holds to some extent among the Nicola Indians, but is now
almost forgotten by the Kamloops people.

The chief was not leader in war, the war-chief being elected among
the ‘braves.’ The hostile tribes would meet, but sometimes, instead of a
battle between the whole parties taking place, the war-chiefs would fight
a duel, the outcome of which settled the dispute. Their weapons were
bow and arrow; a lance; a bone club with a sharp, sabre-like edge; a
stone axe having a sharp point, the stone being fastened in a perforated
handle ; and a stone club, consisting of a pebble, sewed into a piece of
hide, and attached to a thong, which was suspended from the wrist.
‘hey protected themselves with armours of the same kind as those used
onthe coast—coats made of strips of wood, which were lashed together,
or jackets of a double layer of elk-skin, and a cap of the same material.
In time of war a stockade was made near the huts of the village. A
cache was made in it, and baskets tilled with water were kept in it.
When an attack of the enemy was feared, the whole population retired to
the stockade, the walls of which were provided with loopholes. Captives
made in war were enslaved. At the end of the war, captives were
frequently exchanged.

The following tale of a war may be of interest. One summer, about
eighty years ago, the Seka’uma, who live near the head waters of North
Thompson River, stole two Shushwap women at Sthe’tltsuq (Barriére)
on North Thompson River. Their brothers pursued the Suka’uma, but
were unable to overtake them. In the fall, when the snow began to
cover the country, they started out again and soon found the tracks of
their enemies, who were travelling northward. One of the women wore,
at the time when they were surprised by the enemies, a white-tail deer
blanket. She had torn it to pieces and put them into split branches of
trees, which she broke and turned in the direction in which they were
travelling. The Shushwap found these, and knew at once that they were
on the right track. Finally the Shushwap reached a camp which the
Seka/umg had left on the same morning. They followed them cautiously.
While they were travelling a troop of deer passed close by, and they
wounded one of them with their arrows. Among the party of the
Spka/umg was a blind old man, who was led by a boy, and, as he was not
able to walk as fast as the others, followed them at some distance. The
wounded deer ran past them and the boy observed the Shushwap arrow.