Chief Seattle's speech was delivered as previously stated in front
of Dr. Maynard's office in the fall of 1854. The occasion was a
treaty parley with Issac Stevens, first territorial governor of
Washington Territory, and others. The treaty was concluded in
late January, 1855, at a place called Muckilteo, about 5 miles
south of Everett on the east shore of Puget Sound (about 25 miles
north of downtown Seattle). There is a point there called Elliot
Point, and the treaty has since been known as the Treaty of Point
Elliot. Smith never claimed to have provided an exact rendition
of Seattle's speech, and never pretended to have done anything
other than taken notes and reconstructed the original. He also
wrote that his rendition was a pale and inadequate version of the
original. Source: Four Wagons West, by Roberta Frye Watt,
Binsford and Mort (Portland, Ore.), 1931.
Seattle, with most of his village, had been converted to Roman
Catholicism some years previously., hence the appelation "Noah."
-- I read that a million years ago in an article in the old
Washington Historical Quarterly, which has long since become the
Pacific Northwest Quarterly, and Watt (not a scholar, but a
devoted daughter of pioneers) also mentions this.
In the Suquamish dialect of Lushootseed, or Central Puget Sound
Salish, Seattle is pronounced with a lateral fricative at the end,
which of course cannot be represented in English orthography. --
I forget where I learned that, but a very thoroough dictionary and
grammer of Lushootseed has been published. Thus both "Seattle"
and "Sealth" are inadequate corruptions of the name. The town of
Seattle, previously "Duwamps," did in fact acquire that name prior
to the death of Chief Seattle. The pioneers were impressed by
Seattle's stature, dignity, and eloquence, and clearly felt they
were bestowing a very high honor. He was absolutely opposed to
the use of his name, because of a custom of tabooing the names of
deceased individuals (and in the case of very important
individuals, even other words in the language that sounded like
the name! -- see Wayne Suttles American Anthropologist article re
Coast Salish lexical change -- sorry I no longer have the
complete reference), and he was concerned that frequent mention of
his name would interfere with his passage through the lands of the
dead leading to eventual rebirth, when he would in traditional
times have been identified as his former self by the shaman, and
his name returned to use. He refused to be called Seattle after
it became clear the whites could not be disuaded from their
choice, and he repeatedly demanded payment for his name from the
white leaders of the pioneer community.
The Suquamish people now have their own very excellent Tribal
museum and archive. You can get in touch with them by calling
206-598-3311.