SALISH

group of North American Indian tribes speaking languages of the Salish family and living in what is now British Columbia, northern Washington and Idaho, and western Montana, in the upper basins of the Columbia and Fraser rivers and their tributaries. Commonly also called the Interior Salish to distinguish them from the Coast Salish (q.v.) of the Northwest Pacific Coast, the tribes comprised mainly the Coeur d'Alene, Columbia, Cowlitz, Flathead, Kalispel, Lake, Lillooet, Nespelem, Okanagon, Sanpoil, Shuswap, Sinkaietk (southern Okanagon), Spokan, Thompson, and Wenatchee. Salish was formerly an alternative native name for the Flathead (q.v.) alone; now, however, it is more often the broad name that is applied to the entire group. The Salish were major members of the so-called Plateau culture area, located between the Rocky Mountains and the coastal cordillera, in a semiarid land of grassland and forests interwoven with rivers and streams containing plentiful salmon and other fish. Most Salish tribes were divided into autonomous, loosely organized bands of related families, each with its own chief and local territory. In winter a band would occupy a river village; and in summer it would rove, living at campsites, fishing, and gathering berries and roots. Tribes toward the centre of the culture area, such as the Sanpoil, seemed to require no more complex social organization; warfare was almost unknown, and external trade was unimportant. On the fringes of the area, however, conditions were modified. The westernmost Salish groups, such as the Lillooet and western Shuswap, traded with the coastal people and absorbed some of their traits. The Lillooet, for instance, had a well-organized clan system imitative of that of the coast, and the western Shuswap had both clans and castes of nobles, commoners, and slaves. The easternmost Salish, such as the Flathead, who were horsemen, bison hunters, and warriors, had a fairly well-developed system of tribal chiefs and councils, much in the manner of the Plains Indians just beyond the Rockies. Although the typical Salish had either dugout or bark canoes, the rivers were so full of rapids that traveling was more often by foot. The typical dwelling was an earth- or mat-covered lodge, sometimes semisubterranean (the Flathead, though, used the Plains tepee, and the Lillooet used the coastal house of poles and planks). Most Salish wore clothing of the Plains type: breechclouts (breechcloths) for men, tunics for women, leggings, and moccasins, all made of dressed skins. Religious belief focused chiefly on guardian spirits. In the years just prior to puberty, boys went on isolated nightly vigils in search of their spirits in visions (some girls did likewise). Shamans, or medicine men, could cure or cause disease. The winter guardian spirit dance, involving dances, feasts, and prayers in propitiation of guardian spirits, was by far the most important ritual. Today the Salish live largely on reservations in the United States and Canada or in mixed Europeanized communities. Most are farmers, labourers, or fishermen.