HOW THE RICH TRIED TO BE A TALTH.
I will give the history of one Indian that was very wealthy, who
belonged to the He-na’s. (Smith Rivers) This Indian while yet a very
young man, had by inheritance, been left so much wealth that he felt
there was no part or place, but what he had the right and power to go,
and being closely related to some of the wealthy families of the lower
Klamath, and among the rest to a family of one of the Talths, which
lived at Wah-tec village, close to where the White Deer-Skin Dance
is held. When it came time for this dance, he took with him a great
many of his most valuable articles to use in the dance. He went up to
Reck-woy, the mouth of the Klamath, and on up to Wah-tec to visit with
his relatives, and take part in the dance, by putting his valuables
in. Everything went along merrily to his satisfaction until the dance
was finished at Wah-tec village. The day all was in readiness to move
down to the place where they all make a stop, and only those that have
a high birth are allowed to travel on the lower trail and go to the
place that is held sacred ground, and here, when he was told not to
go, he said, “why I am richer than any one here, I can go any place,”
then when some of his relatives told him to stay back, that he could
go on the upper trail with the others that were rich, he protested
strongly and still persisted in going, but was told plainly that his
riches counted for nothing at this time and place. That with all his
riches, he was of low birth, that his mother and father were married
in the low marriage, and that he was of the He-na tribe, and that he
could give his riches to one that was born right, to take there for
him if he wished to do so, or he could take his riches with him on
the upper road, to be used on up the hill, and at the finishing place.
At this he cowed down like a child and wept, leaving all of his wealth
and started back into the mountains, back to the very highest mountains
where the bear, panther and wolves were plentiful. All alone he went
to where there is a large rock which we call Hah-i-o-claw, and he
remained there for three days singing and praying, then with nothing to
eat he wandered on through the wild timber and brushy country, back to
Crescent City, (Caw-pay) and proclaimed himself a doctor, and always
was known afterward as Caw-pay or Crescent City Doctor and lived to be
old, and all of the old time white inhabitants of Crescent City well
remember this Indian that went by the name of Crescent City or Caw-pay
Doctor. He was an oddity and many are the jokes that the old time white
men, and some of the white women played on him. I am related to him
and knew him well, and the place where he claimed he went to the large
rock, and I will say that it is a wild country, in which there are
plenty of wild animals. I have been on this mountain often and seen the
land marks that were left there by the white race on going north.