Description
The Nespelem people belong to one of twelve aboriginal Confederated Tribes of the Colville Indian Reservation in eastern Washington. They lived primarily near the banks of the Nespelem River, an Upper Columbia River tributary, in an area now known as Nespelem, Washington, located on the Colville Indian Reservation. Alternate spellings include Nespelim or Nespilim. n 1905, the United States Indian Office counted 41 Nespelim; in 1910, the census counted 46; in 1913, after a survey, the Office of Indian Affairs counted 43.
Language
Salishan languages, particularly the Columbia-Wenatchee and Okanagan languages.
Culture
The Nespelem wore shells as dress ornaments, and made their clothing from buffalo robes, and from skins of muskrat and black tailed deer, when they could be found; otherwise, they were scantly dressed. Their women painted their faces, and wore shells in their hair. A few donned copper ornaments. Their neighbors, the Simpoil Indians (Sanpoil), made houses of huts constructed with slight poles overlaid with mats of slight rushes. Such houses may have been a reflection of their own. Whenever sending off a party, members of the tribe (men, women and children) would come together, and after being entreated by their Chief to dance before the party.