“I traveled to Squamish & Sechelt” part 3

(Part 1 here.)  (Part 2 here.)

Today: cannon shots are fired.  Worthless white men think a Sechelt translation session is a card game, and want to join in.  We learn that the first dictionary of Sechelt Salish was in shorthand.

     Pus Shishil tilikom nanich stim bot chako,
When the Sechelt people saw the steamboat coming, 

pi klaska drit nanich liplit pi lisivik mitlait
and they could actually see that the priest and the bishop were 

kopa ukuk stim bot, klaska mamuk pu aias moskit
aboard that steamboat, they fired a cannon 

pus wawa nsaika kata klaska yutl tomtom.
to tell us how glad they felt.  

     Shishil tawn drit aias tlus tawn, aias
Sechelt village is really a beautiful town, (with) a 

tlus styuil haws, sitkom kopa kanawi haws;
beautiful church in the middle of all the houses; 

pi iht oihat ilip kopa kanawi haws, wik
and a road in front of all the houses, 

saia kopa solt chok.
near the saltwater.  

     Kanawi tilikom chako kopa ukuk oihat,
Everyone came to that road, 

wik saia kopa styuil haws, pus iskom nsaika
near the church, to shake our 

lima. Ilip lisivik iaka patlach iaka blising
hands.  First the bishop gave his blessing 

kopa klaska. Alta kanawi chako iskom nsaika
to them.  Then they all came to shake our 

lima, kanawi Shishil man pi Shishil kluchmin
hands, all of the Sechelt men and Sechelt women 

pi Slaiamin man pi Slaiamin kluchmin.
and the Sliammon men and Sliammon women.  

     Slaiamin tilikom chako kopa Shishil pus
The Sliammon people had come to Sechelt to 

nanich liplit, pus haha milalam pi iskom
see the priests, to make confession and take 

Å.
communion.  

     Kopit iskom lima, nsaika klatwa kopa styuil
Done shaking hands, we went to the 

haws. Nawitka drit aias tlus ukuk styuil
church.  Indeed this 

haws: klaska mash <7 000> tala pus mamuk
church is really lovely: $7,000 were spent to build 

ukuk styuil haws; pi wiht klaska mamuk
this church; and also they worked 

kanamokst karpintir pus mamuk ukuk styuil haws
together with the carpenter to build this church; 

kakwa < 3 000> tala wiht ukuk klaska mamuk.
this work of theirs was equivalent to $3,000 more.  

Kakwa pus <10 000> tala ukuk styuil haws pi
This is as if this church were worth $10,000 before 

iaka kopit. Pi ayu wiht tlus iktas mitlait
it was done.  And there are plenty additional fine things 

kopa ukuk styuil haws.
in this church.  

     Iawa nsaika klatwa kopa liplit iaka haws.
Then we went to the priest’s house.  

Nawitka, mitlait liplit iaka haws kopa Shishil
Indeed, there is a priest’s house at Sechelt 

pi aias tlus haws ukuk wiht : drit tlus
and it’s a fine house too: really clean 

pi tkop kopa insaid kanawi. Mitlait iht
and white all through the inside.  There is a 

aias tlus kuk haws kopa kikuli, pi wiht iht
very good kitchen below, and another 

aias tlus rum kah liplit iaka makmak. Pi kopa
fine room where the priest eats.  And 

sahali mitlait mokst wiht rum kah liplit
above there are two more rooms where the priest

iaka slip pus iaka mitlait kopa Shishil.
sleeps when he’s at Sechelt.  

     Kopa <1> oklak nsaika tlap nsaika makmak
At 1 o’clock we got our food 

kopa ukuk haws. Kopit makmak, kanawi tilikom
at that house.  After eating, everyone 

chako kopa katikism haws, pi Pir Tomas iaka
came to the catechism house, and Pere Thomas 

patlach oihat kopa klaska.
led them.  

     Pi naika tlap mokst Shishil man, pi nsaika
And I found two Sechelt men, and we 

mamuk cim Shishil lalan.g: nsaika mamuk
wrote in the Sechelt language: we 

cim kanawi styuil, kanawi shanti, pi kanawi
wrote all the prayers, all the hymns, and all of  

katikism kopa Shishil lalan.g.
the catechism in the Sechelt language.  

     Tanki son pus nsaika mitlait kopa stim bot,
The day before, when we were aboard the steamboat, 

tanas ayu Shishil tanas man mitlait kopa
several Sechelt youths were on 

stim bot, pi nsaika mamuk cim Shishil katikism:
the steamboat, and we were writing down the Sechelt catechism: 

nsaika mitlait kopa iht latab, pi kanawi
we were sitting around a table, with all 

Shishil man kanamokst; pi tkop man tomtom,
of the Sechelt men all together; and the white men thought 

klunas nsaika pli karc kopa ukuk latabl. Pi
we must be playing cards at that table.  But 

nsaika wawa: ilo karc iakwa, nsaika ayu
we said: No cards here; we had quite 

ihi kopa klaska.
a laugh at them.  

     Ukuk mokst man klaska hilp naika kopa Shishil
These two men who were helping me with the Sechelt 

lalan.g, klaska nim Gaspar pi Timoti. Nsaika
language were named Gaspar and Timothy.  We 

drit skukum mamuk kopa ukuk.
really worked hard on it.  

     Tanas son naika aiak gitop, pi pus kopit
In the morning I got right up, and when 

lamas, kopa siks oklak, nsaika chako kanamokst
mass was done, at six o’clock, we met 

pi nsaika mamuk cim Shishil lalan.g pi k’o kopa sitkom
and we wrote in the Sechelt languaeg until 

son. Wiht kopit sitkom son, kopit makmak, nsaika
noon.  Again in the afternoon, after eating, we 

wiht mamuk pi chako <7> oklak wik saia pulakli.
did more work until it got to be 7 o’clock, almost dark.  

Wiht pus kopit binidikshon, nsaika chako mamuk
Again when the benediction was finished, we came to work 

pi k’o kopa <10> oklak Ukuk kaltash stim bot iaka
until 10 o’clock.  That darn steamboat 

mamuk nsaika lost lakit son, kakwa alta nsaika
had made us lose four days, so now we 

tlap skukum mamuk.
found ourselves with hard work to do.  

     Lakit son nsaika mamuk kopa Shishil lalan.g pi
For four days we worked on the Sechelt language and 

nsaika kopit kanawi. Nsaika tlap <50> pish kanawi.
got everything finished up.  We got 50 pages total.  

Iaka ukuk Chinuk pipa, kakwa nsaika tlap skukum
This was “Chinook writing” (shorthand), which is how we found the ability 

pus mamuk kakwa aiak. Kopa tkop man iaka cim
to work so fast.  In the white man’s writing 

wik kata nsaika tolo ukuk kopa mokst wik.
there’s no way we could have accomplished this in two weeks!  

     Chinuk pipa [that word is added after a helpful reader’s Comment, below] drit tlus pus iskom kanawi lalan.g.
Chinook writing is really good for getting a grasp of any language.  

Chinuk pipa drit tlus kopa kanawi ikta.
Chinook writing (shorthand) is really good for every purpose.  

     Alta Shishil tilikom nanich kata aias
Now the Sechelt people can see how 

tlus ukuk Chinuk pipa, pi klaska aias tiki.
marvelous this Chinook writing (shorthand) is, and they love it.  

     Nsaika wiht mamuk cim tanas dikshonri,
We also wrote a little dictionary.  

kopa Shishil wawa, kakwa alki hloima tilikom
of the Sechelt language, so in the future other people 

nanich kanawi Shishil wawa.
can see all of the Sechelt language.  

—Kamloops Wawa #146 (November 1896)

(Part 4 here.)