The Tsilhqot’in and Their Neighbours

by Henry Solomon with Terry Glavin

Border fights and retaliatory raids weren’t common, but they weren’t unheard of, either.

To the south, there were the the Lillooets, known to the Chilcotin as the ?Eŝch’ed. Now and then the Chilcotins would engage ?Eŝch’ed hunting parties during the Chilcotins’ journeys to pick saskatoon berries in the mountains above Shalalth. It was just such an encounter that gave Graveyard Valley its name, from the Chilcotin deni dildzan.

On the eastern frontiers there were the Shuswap, the ?Ena. The Farwell Canyon ?Ena were friends to the Chilcotin, but the rest were not. "They start down that way and they sneak up here and try to kill all the Chilcotin," Henry said, "and the Chilcotin, he do the same thing."

Then there were the Homathko Indians of Bute Inlet, known to the Xeni gwet’in as Qaju, with whom there were rarely if ever good relations.

The ?Enay of the Bella Coola Valley were long-time friends of the Chilcotin, and they used to invite the Chilcotins down from the mountains into the valley to spend the winters with them for their long winter ceremonials. Henry had never heard of any scraps with ?Enay.

In the north there were the various Carrier tribes, like the Sut’in and the Nichat’in, and other, more mysterious people who were rumoured to steal children from the more remote camps.