CHAPTER V.
WE have ten months for one year, and four seasons, as follows:—
We lose time in our count each year, so we throw in or stop counting until the time comes around to start again. The Klamath Indians are good in counting and can count up into the thousands. We count ten, and ten hundreds for one thousand. All of our counting is done by whole numbers; we have no fractions. All the women have to count and count closely in weaving baskets in order to make the designs come out correctly. We have astronomers, called Haw-getch-neens, and they keep close observation of the sun, which we call Ca-chine-wan-now-slay. Day we call Ca-chine; the moon, Nas-cha-wan-now-sloy, this means the night sun.
| English names. | Klamath Indian. |
|---|---|
| An old woman | Ca-par-a |
| Young women | Way-yun |
| Little girl | Wer-yes |
| Baby | Oaks |
| Boat or canoe | Yacht |
| House | Och-lum-ilth |
| Come in the house | Och-la-may |
| How do you do my friend | I-ya-quay Nec-tor-mer |
| Me or I | Neck |
| Yes | A |
| Fire | Metch |
| Mother | Calk |
| Father | Tat, or Tatus |
| Grandfather | Peach |
| Grandmother | Gooch |
| Old man | Ma-we-mer |
| Young man | Pay-girk |
| Large boy | Che-na-mouse |
| Small boy | May-wah |
| Mother-in-law | Cha-win |
| Father-in-law | Par-ah |
| Sister-in-law | Netch-nah |
| Brother-in-law | Weitch-tay, or Tay |
| Uncle | Jim |
| Aunt | Tool |
| Klamath river | Health-kick-wer-roy |
| Redwood timber | Keilth |
| Mermaids | Squer-tuck |
| Silver Salmon | Nep-puoy |
| Steelhead Salmon | Squalth |
| King Salmon | Ah-pus |
| Hook-bill Salmon | Cha-goon |
| Grizzly Bear | Nick-witch |
| Sea or Ocean | Pis-calth |
The Bald Hills we call Cho-lu, contains many hundreds of acres of open land, high up where one can see as far as the eye can reach in all directions.
There is another species of the Salmon caught in the Klamath river, the English name of which I do not know but we call it Ra-gawk.
In the year 1850 my people had never heard of the present white race and we were then making our fires with two pieces of wood, one the willow and the other of hardwood.
My mother and father never learned to talk English, so I talk to them only in our own language.