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INTRODUCTION XxXvil
does confirm her lineage but rarely speaks of her education except to
lament her lack of knowledge, particularly of English.
It should also be noted that there is some discrepancy concerning
Mourning Dove’s birth in the records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
In a letter dated February 8, 1979, Mitchell Bush of the Tribal En-
rollment Services states that she is listed on the Colville tribal rolls as
Christine Quintasket, born in 1887. I assume that this was an error
made by a local BIA official, because Mourning Dove always signed
her name as Christal in her early letters. Bush confirms her marriages
to Hector McLeod and Fred Galler.
There is one other interesting fact to note about her name. Before
1921, she signed herself as Morning Dove. Then, on December 27,
1921, she wrote to McWhorter from Spokane, Washington: “By the
way, I have made a sad mistake. I have misspelt my name, I found out
at the museum. Looking over the birds, I found that I was wrong.” And
so “Morning” became “Mourning.”
On February 23, 1926, she wrote again about her name: “You asked
me about Humishuma. As far as I can translate it, it really has no
meaning at all besides the name of the bird Mourning Dove. And it
does not mean Mourning Dove at all, and as far as I can judge it, the
whiteman must have invented the name for it as Mourning Dove be-
cause the translation to Indian is not word for word at all.”
It is entirely possible that whites did “invent” the translation for
Humishuma, because, according to Leslie Spier, Okanogan women
were never named after animals or birds, but rather were most often
given names that referred in some way to water, emphasizing the im-
portance of rivers and fishing to their culture. See Leslie Spier, ed. The
Sinkaietk or Southern Okanogan of Washington, General Series in
Anthropology, no. 6 (Menasha, Wis.: George Banta Publishing Co.,
1938), pp. 1-262.
5. See introduction, Tales of the Okanogans, ed. Donald M. Hines
(Fairfield, Wash.: Ye Galleon Press, 1976).
6. Leslie Spier’s study (see note 4, above) gives a good introduction
to the history and ethnography of the Okanogans. Of special value in
Spier’s volume is the essay “Religion and World View,” by Walter
Cline, in which he discusses in great detail the concept of power and
the sweat house ritual. Other works on the Okanogans include: C.
Hill-Tout, “The Far West—the Home of the Salish and Dené,” British
North America, vol. 1 (London: Archibald Constable & Co., 1907); Les-
lie Spier, Tribal Distribution in Washington, General Series in An-
thropology, no. 3 (Menasha, Wis,, 1936); and James Teit, “The
does confirm her lineage but rarely speaks of her education except to
lament her lack of knowledge, particularly of English.
It should also be noted that there is some discrepancy concerning
Mourning Dove’s birth in the records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
In a letter dated February 8, 1979, Mitchell Bush of the Tribal En-
rollment Services states that she is listed on the Colville tribal rolls as
Christine Quintasket, born in 1887. I assume that this was an error
made by a local BIA official, because Mourning Dove always signed
her name as Christal in her early letters. Bush confirms her marriages
to Hector McLeod and Fred Galler.
There is one other interesting fact to note about her name. Before
1921, she signed herself as Morning Dove. Then, on December 27,
1921, she wrote to McWhorter from Spokane, Washington: “By the
way, I have made a sad mistake. I have misspelt my name, I found out
at the museum. Looking over the birds, I found that I was wrong.” And
so “Morning” became “Mourning.”
On February 23, 1926, she wrote again about her name: “You asked
me about Humishuma. As far as I can translate it, it really has no
meaning at all besides the name of the bird Mourning Dove. And it
does not mean Mourning Dove at all, and as far as I can judge it, the
whiteman must have invented the name for it as Mourning Dove be-
cause the translation to Indian is not word for word at all.”
It is entirely possible that whites did “invent” the translation for
Humishuma, because, according to Leslie Spier, Okanogan women
were never named after animals or birds, but rather were most often
given names that referred in some way to water, emphasizing the im-
portance of rivers and fishing to their culture. See Leslie Spier, ed. The
Sinkaietk or Southern Okanogan of Washington, General Series in
Anthropology, no. 6 (Menasha, Wis.: George Banta Publishing Co.,
1938), pp. 1-262.
5. See introduction, Tales of the Okanogans, ed. Donald M. Hines
(Fairfield, Wash.: Ye Galleon Press, 1976).
6. Leslie Spier’s study (see note 4, above) gives a good introduction
to the history and ethnography of the Okanogans. Of special value in
Spier’s volume is the essay “Religion and World View,” by Walter
Cline, in which he discusses in great detail the concept of power and
the sweat house ritual. Other works on the Okanogans include: C.
Hill-Tout, “The Far West—the Home of the Salish and Dené,” British
North America, vol. 1 (London: Archibald Constable & Co., 1907); Les-
lie Spier, Tribal Distribution in Washington, General Series in An-
thropology, no. 3 (Menasha, Wis,, 1936); and James Teit, “The
Media of