1883, Waitsburg, WA: Hyiu Siwash
A bit north of Walla Walla, withing frontier times, a local Settler newspaper undermined its own message by complaining in a language Indigenous people understood.
The White folks in this southeast Washington Territory town understood this Chinook Jargon as well.
The editor sure didn’t have to supply a translation.
Here’s the deal:
HYIU SIWASH . — The town is full of cultas
Indians. They may be seen at all hours of
the day sitting around sidewalks eating rot-
ten melons, or prowling around town begging
for old clothes and tanas muck-a-muck. If
there is anything more disgusting than these
worthless clouted red skins we don’t know
what it is.
— from the Waitsburg (WA Territory) Times of September 21, 1883, page 3, column 1
- Hyiu siwash = háyú sáwásh = ‘many Natives’
- cultas = kʰə́ltəs = ‘no-good’
- tanas muck-a-muck = tənəs mə́kʰmək = ‘a bit of food’
