1893 (!) : Reminiscences of Nanaimo’s old days
Well, this article appears on what passed for the kids’ page, so the 1850s and 1860s would’ve seemed like long ago…
In the 1890s, Chinuk Wawa was still in frequent use around Nanaimo, so the following occurrences of it didn’t have to be translated, even for kids.
Remembering a Salish man known as Coal Tyee (‘Coal Chief’, kʰúl-táyí; note that ‘coal’ is a homonym of ‘gold’ in many local Chinuk Wawa accents!):
Here’s a new synonym for the more common “kickwilly (etc.) houses”, keekwolley places for traditional pit houses, & a cultus potlach (kʰə́ltəs pátłach, a ‘for-no-purpose giving’, i.e. a gifting) of ictas (íkta-s ‘thing-s; good, property, wealth’):
— both from “Reminiscences of Nanaimo’s Old Days” in the Nanaimo (BC) Daily Telegraph of December 24, 1894, page 7, column 1
Here’s one of the visual features of the same children’s page:
