The Salish People: Volume III. Charles Hill-Tout

or big platter; and the memel latsel, or small platter; the qsieqelc, or wooden dipper or spoon, and the qalo, or horn-spoon.

Dress

      The dress of the Chilliwack was similar to that of the contiguous Salish tribes described by me in former reports.

Shamanism

      Shamanism was prevalent among the Chilliwack, and exercised a pervasive and paramount influence in their lives. The shamans were of three classes: the sqelam, or doctor, the term signifying “to heal or make well”; the olia, or soothsayer, from ulia ‘to dream’; and the yeuwa, or witch, or sorcerer, from yeuwa cto bewitch or enchant.' The last was of either sex; the others were invariably men. The office of the sqelam, despite his title of “healer,” was not to attend to or cure wounds or such bodily injuries; that was one of the functions of the olia. There is great significance in this fact. An external wound or injury was a matter of comparatively simple import; there was nothing mysterious about it. It was the natural result of a known and comprehended cause. The functions of the sqelam were rather to restore health and vigour to the body when prostrate or suffering from some inward sickness or malady, as when under the supposed influence of some spell or enchantment. He was pre-eminently the “pathologist” of the tribe. Pathological conditions among the Chilliwack, as among other primitive peoples, were regarded as the result of maleficent and mysterious agencies, which could only be controlled or counteracted by incantations and rites performed by one versed in the mysteries, as a sqelam.