How Indians Get Their Dye

Oregon grape dyeing (image credit: Pinterest)

From a Clayoquot (Nuuchahnulth) man selling Indian handicrafts with his wife in Seattle:

A Chinuk Wawa quotation about the post-frontier persistence of Native dyeing.

“Dye, dye, halo nika cumtux dye,” said Chem. “Nika klutchman mamook conoway iktas coqua ahnkutty.” (Dye? I don’t know what dye is. My women made these articles as the Indians used to do in the old times.) — Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

— from the Omaha (NE) Daily Bee of March 26, 1916, page 6-A, columns 1-2

Close enough translation for me. Read the article at the above link, for a good little ethnobotany lesson about cedar, alder, hemlock, and more.

What do you think?