177 pages : color illustrations ; 29 cm

The Siwash: Their Life, Legends, and Tales: Puget Sound and Pacific Northwest by Joseph A. Costello is an 1895 historical and folkloric compilation that provides an early settler's perspective on the Indigenous peoples of the Puget Sound region. Originally published in Seattle by the Calvert Company (and heavily referenced in later regional republications), the book gathers the myths, cultural practices, and daily realities of the area's Native American tribes, primarily the Coast Salish. While its title employs the Chinook Jargon term "Siwash"—a historically common but now widely recognized as derogatory adaptation of the French word for "savage"—the work reflects the complex, often paternalistic and romanticized attitudes prevalent among late-19th-century white pioneers. Ultimately, it serves as a valuable primary source document for regional ethnographers and historians, offering a critical window into early cross-cultural observations, the recording of Indigenous oral traditions, and the social zeitgeist of the Pacific Northwest frontier.

177 pages : color illustrations ; 29 cm

Published in 1895, Joseph A. Costello’s The Siwash: Their Life, Legends and Tales is an early ethnographic compilation documenting the oral traditions, daily customs, and folklore of the Coast Salish peoples across the Puget Sound region. A keen insight drawn from the text is how the author's reliance on the Chinook Jargon term "Siwash"—derived from the French word for "savage"—exposes the inherent paradox of late 19th-century settler literature, which eagerly commodified and preserved Indigenous heritage while viewing the people themselves through a deeply paternalistic, colonial lens. The narrative compiles regional creation myths, spiritual practices, and historical anecdotes, filtering complex indigenous histories through the perspective of the incoming white pioneers. Ultimately, the volume stands as both a foundational, albeit flawed, archive of Pacific Northwest Native American legends and a revealing historical artifact of the era's complex attitudes toward indigenous displacement.

vii, [3], 169 pages : frontispiece, plates, portraits ; 24 cm