Found some more info on “Doctor Tom from Vancouver Island”
I think there’s a reason the medicine man called Doctor Tom sang in Chinuk Wawa.
He didn’t share any other language with his customers in the greater Kamloops area.
Image credit: Linked In
And they presumably needed to know he was really doctoring them — so he narrated what he was doing, via music.
From JMR Le Jeune’s notebooks, page 74, from January 7 & February 2, 1908:
A:
Voyage inutil à Quilchena à cause
“Pointless trip to Quilchena due”du tamanwas que [NN] y a mené.
“to the t’əmánəwas (medicine man) who [name of chief] has brought there.”
B:
Tamanwas Tom, de l’ile Vancouver x venu avec [NN] le 15 décembre
“t’əmánəwas Tom, from Vancouver Island x came with [name of chief] on December 15”à la Nicola. x Arrêté et mis en prison le 28 janvier. x
“to the Nicola. x Arrested and put in prison on January 28. x”Ont été le voir: …
“Were there to see him: [a list of people’s names].”
Being from far-away Vancouver Island, and apparently Nuučaan̓uɬ in ethnicity, Doctor Tom’s language would have been totally foreign to the Salish people of Quilchena and the Nicola.
Chinook Jargon would be good for business, for him.
And that would help explain the rare instance of someone’s curing song having been in Jargon.
There may have been other people who cured with Jargon, or do so now, but this is the only case I’ve become aware of.
