speech was only written down in English some years after the event, by one Henry A. Smith, who had taken notes at the time. In Smith’s version, Seattle thanked the Europeans for their generosity, and also compared the Christian god to the Native god. Smith himself admitted that he had noted only a small part of the speech, and what he wrote is rather florid. The speech has subsequently been rewritten by others who could not possibly know what was actually said, although it has been described as “a powerful, bittersweet plea for respect for Native American rights and environmental values.”
CHILKAT
The traditional form of weaving carried out by peoples on the northwest coasts of British Columbia and Alaska, including the Haida and the Tlingit. The Chilkat people after whom the blankets were named were a division of the Tlingit who originally lived along the river of the same name in Alaska. Chilkat blankets were worn exclusively by high-ranking tribal members at important dances and ceremonies including the potlatch.
This method of weaving is one of the most complex in the world; the artist is able to incorporate curved lines and circular shapes within the body of the weave itself. All sorts of materials are used in the fabric: dog and mountain goat hair and the bark of the yellow cedar were used traditionally, although today, sheep wool is more likely to be used. The designs are very distinctive, incorporating stylized animal designs primarily in red and black. The art of Chilkat weaving had almost been lost—in the 1990s it was estimated that only six people still practiced the art—but luckily the technique has enjoyed a revival recently.
CHINOOK
The Chinook lived on the Columbia River in the Pacific Northwest, and were known for their fishing and trading skills. They used dugout canoes for their fishing trips and lived in permanent wooden houses rather than, for example, the moveable tipis of the Plains Indians. In appearance they were tall; their most defining characteristic was perhaps the shape of their skulls, which were deliberately manipulated in infancy to alter their appearance. For the Chinook, a skull modified in this way was the height of good breeding, and a “normal” skull was considered to be inferior.
The Chinook language was particularly difficult to master, not only its rudiments but its pronunciation. Because of this, other tribes—and also the European fur traders—used a sort of shorthand language with the Chinook. This was known as “Chinook Jargon,” and made life easier for anyone who had to trade with the tribe, or for whom Chinook was not their mother tongue.
CHIPPEWAH
See Ojibwe
CHOCTAW
Belonging to the Muskhogean language family, the Choctaw were the largest tribe in that particular group. Originally they came from the southeastern U.S., including Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, and Mississippi. There are different theories as to the origin of the tribe’s name. It was possibly the name of a great chief of the tribe, possibly from a derivation of “river people,” possibly from the Spanish word chato, meaning “flat heads.” Because they allowed their hair to grow long, they were also called “long hair.”
An agricultural people, the Choctaw had a unique way of dealing with their deceased. The bones of the corpse were cleaned thoroughly and then placed in boxes which were stored in “bone houses.” The task of cleaning the bones was carried out by older men who let their fingernails grow especially long for the purpose. The Choctaw also belonged to the ancient mound-building cultures, and an ancient myth belonging to the tribe states that the people emerged from a mound in the ground, called Nanih Waiya.
In the 17th century the Choctaw arranged themselves into three independent groups: the eastern, western, and southern Choctaw. These different bands struck up different allegiances with the European settlers, although the American War of Independence saw all three Choctaw groups band together to take the side of independence against the British monarchy.
Because the Choctaw had embraced many of the practices of the white settlers, they were credited with the title of one of the Five Civilized Tribes in the 19th century. The other four tribes considered by the Europeans to be “civilized” were the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Creek, and Seminole. The Choctaw were also one of the tribes who kept slaves.
Nine treaties were made between the Choctaw and the U.S. Government; this resulted in vast tracts of former Choctaw land being ceded to the Government, and the tribe itself relocating to the Indian Territory in Oklahoma. The Choctaw had the dubious honor of being the first Native Americans to undergo such forced removal, although they did manage to negotiate a sizeable chunk of land for themselves. One of the features of the Choctaw, which no doubt led to their “civilized” status, was their system of self-governance, which divided the tribe into three, each with its own chief. There was also a Choctaw delegate to represent the tribe at the center of the U.S. Government in Washington, D.C.
After the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek in 1831, the Choctaw were the first large non-European group to be given the status of U.S. citizens.
In the First World War, a number of Choctaw soldiers served in the U.S. Army. The Choctaw language is a difficult one for nonspeakers to decipher, and so was used as a code to transmit messages on behalf of intelligence officers in order to make sure the German enemy wouldn’t be able to discover the plans of the Allied armies (See Choctaw Code Talkers).
CHOCTAW CODE TALKERS
During the First World War, despite the fact that the American military tried to befuddle the German enemy by means of various codes and ciphers, the Germans had a high success rate in deciphering these messages. But one Colonel Bloor had an epiphany one day when he realized that he had a number of Native Americans—including several who spoke the Choctaw language—in his division, which was based in France.
The first test of the new “code” took place toward the end of the war, in 1918, and resulted in the successful withdrawal of two battalions, with no interference from the Germans. This told Bloor that it was unlikely that the enemy had any idea what language was being spoken, an assumption that was corroborated by a German officer who was subsequently captured. The “code talkers” used field telephones to communicate with one another. The only downside was that the Choctaw language simply did not have words to translate some of the modern military terminology and technicalities; however, the Choctaw soldiers were able to improvise.
Nineteen Choctaw men formed this band of “code talkers.” They rarely spoke about what they had done and did not gain the acclaim that the Navajo code talkers, operating during the Second World War, achieved. However, all 19 of the men were awarded posthumous medals, the Choctaw Medal of Valor, in 1989.
CLIFF DWELLING
Various Native American peoples lived in dwellings on or in cliffs, either perched on ledges or in caves or other natural hollows, which might be enlarged by digging and scraping or the addition
