"Those people respect the aged with veneration, I observed an old woman in one of the Lodges which I entered She was entirely blind as I was informed by Signs, had lived more than 100 win­ters, She occupied the best position in the house, and when She Spoke great attention was paid to what She Said"

-Wm. Clark, October 17, 1805

The following text is from an exhibit at Tamástslikt Cultural Institute:

"The Law of the Salmon - Our ancient laws say that when the human and natural world are in conflict the living beings of the earth will begin to fade. Water was sacred and precious.

"The Natítayt believed that every stream, river, and lake sustained the ecological balance of the land. Of all the water life, salmon was the most important. In trade, salmon strengthened the relations among the people. In ceremony, salmon unified The People in life renewal.

"The Natítayt (The People) believed that a protective spirit governed the animal world. In reverence, our hunters ritually cleansed themselves many days before the hunt. In this way, a hunter lived a clean and humane life. Our survival required a close relationship with the animal world. Rabbits, deer, antelope, elk, bear, bighorn sheep, and buffalo gave our people essential food, clothing, and raw material for tools" (TCI).

"The journals of the expedition comprehensively document our fishing practices, our numerous tule mat lodge villages, our vast horse herds, and our games of chance and skill. We have used games and gambling to redistribute wealth for centuries if not millennia. There is an uninterrupted continuum present in the mid-Columbia region in our culture and people" (Conner: 2001).

 

These three things are still part of the community today, evidence that cultural continuity is strong.