animated man
NATURE
· Plants and Animals in the Dry Land
FIRST PEOPLES
· The Osoyoos Indian Band: Preserving Our Past, Strengthening Our Future
HISTORY
· A Scarcity of Water
This is a link to a map of the Grasslands of British Columbia with an optional close-up map of the Southern Okanagan.

FOCUS  Southern Okanagan

The Osoyoos Indian Band
Page 
12345
Print friendly version
This is an artist's rendition of a coyote with a full moon behind it, a tree, and a skull with horns are also in the picture.
Coyote with Moon. Osoyoos Museum
Coyote Brings Salmon to the Okanagan

The sylix (Okanagan People) have always been here. This is the story of how sənk'líp (coyote) introduced ntytyix (salmon) to the sylix. One day sənk'líp was floating along a large river now called the Columbia. He came to a falls in the river, near where Portland, Oregon, stands today, and saw two women. The women had built a weir across the river, preventing the salmon from going upstream. Sənk'líp changed into a canoe and the older sister wanted to use him as a dish to cook salmon in. The younger sister suspected it was sənk'líp and tried to break the canoe. Sənk'líp then transformed into a baby. The sisters took pity on him and took him home to raise as their brother. When the sisters left the next day to dig roots sənk'líp changed back into Coyote, broke the weir and led ntytyix upriver. He searched for an area where the people would accept him and in those places that didn't. Sənk'líp created rock barriers to block the salmon from going there.

To this day, ntytyix swims hundreds of miles from the mouth of the Columbia River all the way to Okanagan Falls. Okanagan Falls is an important gathering area where we honour the return of the salmon.

The Osoyoos Indian Band - 
12345