Bellacoola Indian Tribe History

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Bellacoola (Bí'lxula). A coast Salish tribe, or rather aggregation of tribes, on north and south Bentinck arm, Dean inlet, and Bellacoola river, British Columbia. This name is that given them by the Kwakiutl, there being no native designation for the entire people. They form the northernmost division of the Salishan stock, from the remaining tribes of which they are separated by the Tsilkotin and the Kwakiutl. In the Canadian reports on Indian affairs the name is restricted by the separation of the Tallion and the Kinisquit (people of Dean inlet), the whole being called the Tallion nation. The population in 1902 was 311. The chief divisions mentioned are the Kinisquit, Noothlakimish, and Nuhalk.

     The gentes of the Bellacoola without reference to the tribal divisions are:
Hamtsit,
Ialostimot,
Koökotlane,
Smoen,
Spatsatlt,
Tlakaumoot,
Tumkoaakyas.

     The following are mentioned as gentes of the Nuhalk division:
Keltakkaua,
Potlas,
Siatlhelaak,
Spukpukolemk, and
Tokoaïs.

     The Bellacoola villages (chiefly after Boas) are:

Source: The Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico, by Fredrick W. Hodge, 1905

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