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Were there rich people and poor people?
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Unlike the Coastal Indians, the Plateau Salish tribes had many more words for
kinship and less terms for status - terms which described how important a person was.
Among the Sinkaietk or Southern Okanagon, chiefs were hereditary and the most
important persons in the tribe in regard to moral influence. The chief and his
family were supposed to exemplify the virtues of the group. But he was not necessarily
the wealthiest man in his group, although he was economically supported by his people.
Although marked off as hereditary in his office, the Plateau chief did not
separate himself from his group. The general spirit was one of equality and
personal autonomy, particularly among the Interior Salish.
Women also had power in Plateau Indian society. The chief had a female relative
among his advisors. Such highly respected women also existed in other groups, such
as the Coeur d'Alene, and bear witness of the independence of women in Plateau
society (excepting the Plains-influenced Kutenai and Flathead).
The Northern Plateau Salish, however, and several other groups kept slaves,
as did the Indians on the Northwest Coast, and traded them between each other.
The Spokanes did not keep slaves.
The tribes on the eastern fringe who shared the Plains values had a rank of honored
warriors and war chiefs.
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