SOME NEIGHBORLY TRIBES
The beauty and grandeur of the great body of water forming the inland sea
known to the Pacific coast Indians as the Whulge, attracted many tribes
living at some distance from it both in the interior and to the north.
Among these visitors were what were always spoken of by the earlier
settlers as the Northern Indians. It is now known that these were the
tribes from both the British Columbia and Alaska coasts—the Haidas, the
most advanced tribe probably in the entire northwest; the T’Klinkets of
Alaska, and other less distinguished tribes.
The Haidas occupied principally the Queen Charlotte islands and the
Prince of Wales archipelago. There is nothing unusual about these
islands in topographical appearance. They present the same broken
surface, snow-capped mountains and deep canyons, with huge landslides and
sparkling glacial aspect so common in that region. But these same islands
of summer rains and fogs and winter ice and snow are peopled by one of
the most remarkable races of aborigines found on the American continent.
Like nearly all of the rest of the Indians of the northwest coast, they
live by hunting and fishing, and as the lands inhabited by them are
rough and broken, and subdivided into such small tracts by the numerous
mountain ranges, their only means of travel is by water.
The Indians about Dixon entrance are unquestionably superior in physique
to the coast Indians to the southward, and among themselves the physical
superiority rests with the Haida. This may be due to real ethnical
differences, but is probably accounted for in the fact that natural
conditions in the Queen Charlotte islands and around such an exposed arm
as Dixon entrance have produced a finer and more robust people than those
in less exposed regions. While there is considerable uniformity in the
general physical character of all the stocks on the northwest coast, a
practiced eye can readily detect the difference between them.
As the superiority of the Haidas to the T’Klinkets and Tsimshians
comprises the greatest difference in physical characteristics, so
with the emotional and moral nature of the three races, the greatest
difference is marked only by the superior sensitiveness of the Haidas.
It is in the intellect, however, that the greatest gulf exists between
them. One visiting the Haidas sees many strikingly intelligent and
attractive faces amongst the older men and women, where experience has
given character to their expressions. The dullness attributed to the
Indians of the interior here gives place to a more alert expression of
countenance. They acquire knowledge readily, and since schools have been
established among them their children have made fair progress. They learn
all trades with readiness, and before the missionaries and traders came
among them they exhibited much ingenuity, not only in the erection of
comfortable dwelling houses, but in their numerous carvings on wood and
slate, their working and engraving on copper and the erection of those
great totem columns which make every Haida village famous.
Their ingenious methods of hunting and fishing, their modes of living,
their food, their methods of warfare and their laws and customs are all
interesting subjects, but space will make it necessary to confine the
present article to some of their totem columns, carvings and engravings.
But little is generally known of the real meaning of these great columns
that form such a prominent feature in the Haida settlements. Government
experts have been among them during the summer months of several seasons
and studied them as thoroughly as possible at such seasons of the year.
Judge James G. Swan, of Port Townsend, has also gathered a valuable
and complete collection of Haida carvings, engravings, basket work,
implements, etc., for the Smithsonian Institution, but thus far there
has been but little attention given to the systematic study of the
mythology of the race, as that can only be studied with satisfaction
during the winter months when the natives are collected in their various
homes, thus rendering it possible for only a few of the more inquisitive
missionaries and traders to know anything of the legends that compose the
rich folklore of the Haida nation. A totem is a rude picture or carving
as of a bird or other animal, used as a symbol of a family. It represents
a class of material objects which a savage regards with superstitious
respect, believing that there exists between him and every member of the
class an intimate and altogether special relation. The connection between
a man and his totem is beneficial one to the other; the totem protects
the man and in return he shows his respect by not killing it, if it be an
animal, and by not cutting or gathering it if it be a plant.
There are at least three kinds of totems, namely the clan totem, sex
totem and individual totem. The clan totem is common to a whole clan
and passes by inheritance from one generation to another, while the
individual totem belongs to but one person and does not pass to his
descendants.
From their nature totems are constantly undergoing change. Clans tend
to become phrateries, split up into sub-phrateries; sub-phrateries
decay and finally disappear. An individual becomes wealthy or otherwise
distinguishes himself, and being one of the leading men of the tribe,
his totem, or rather his crest or sub-totem, which may previously have
been an obscure one, rises with him as he advances in importance in
his tribe. Under his successors, the totem widens in its numbers and
influence, and finally eclipses other clan totems, which in time melt
away, or are incorporated with it.
A single system of totems extends throughout the different tribes of the
Haidas. The principal totems found among them are the eagle, wolf, crow,
black bear, brown bear and thrasher.
The sub-totem usually comes from naming the child after some natural
objects from some accidental circumstance or fanciful resemblance, or in
nick-naming in after life.
The Haida Indians of Houkan often repeat a legend of a great war between
them and the T’Klinkets. While they were engaged in a great battle, which
afterwards decided the contest, a flock of ravens flew over and perched
on the side of the Haidas. And they being victorious, took “Yalth,” or
the raven, as the totem of the Haida tribes.
The carved columns of the Haidas may be divided into two classes, the
totemic and the commemorative. Those erected in front of houses are
usually very tall ones, and are for the most part histories of the
families who own them. The top figure is usually the clan totem of
the chief occupant. Those below may represent totems of his wife and
children, the children always taking unto themselves the mother’s totem.
Sometimes it illustrates some legend closely connected or referring to
the owner’s totem. Some of them deal with the history of the tribe, while
others are purely legendary, but refer to the totem of the owner. None
but the wealthy can afford to erect these carved columns, so that one who
is rich enough to own one has a prestige that is so desirable among them.
As the head of a household he becomes a petty chief in the village. With
the Haida, to accumulate sufficient wealth to own a totem pole and rise
to the dignity of a petty chief is the leading passion of his soul.
[Illustration: TOTEM COLUMN, NORTHERN INDIANS]
Ensign Niblock, of the United States navy, in speaking of these totem
columns, says: “A great deal of mystery has been thrown around these
pictographic carvings, due to the ignorance and misconception of some
writers and the reticence or deliberate deception practiced by the
Indians themselves. One of those Indians will not tell his stories or
explain his carving to any but the initiated, and then only when they
are in perfect sympathy with him. Mr. McLeod, the trader at Houkan, was
very successful in gaining information from them that would have been
impossible for Mr. Gould, the missionary, or his wife, the government
school teacher, to have obtained. Then they have their moods, and will
rarely tell their stories either in daytime or during the summer season.
But during those long winter nights which characterize that region the
old Indian will build a fire and settle himself down in business-like
manner and talk as long as the fire lasts. When the fire has burned down
to a bed of coals and the dying embers begin to fade away, his story
stops. Nor will he build another fire. Nothing more will be heard of
the story that night. Thus it often requires a week or more for an old
Haida to complete the narration of the story that is written on a single
totemic carving.”
Ensign Niblock was quite right when he wrote of these totem carvings:
“They are in no sense idols, but in general may be said to be ancestral
columns. The legends which they illustrate are but the traditions,
folklore and nursery tales of a primitive people; and while they are
in some sense childish or frivolous, and at times even coarse, they
represent the current human thought as truly as truly as do the ancient
inscriptions in Egypt and Babylonia, or the Maya inscriptions of Yucatan.”
The totemic and commemorative carvings are for the most part symbolical
of the objects they represent rather than imitations of them. There is
usually some arbitrary mark by which one of the initiated distinguishes
one symbol from another. Thus the brown bear is usually known by the
peculiar shape of the ears, the beaver by the shape of his teeth, the
raven by the sharpness of his bill, the eagle by the shape of his beak,
the owl by the ears, the grampus by his great fin, etc.
The explanation of the column in front of the Haida house given in the
illustration may be of interest.
The figure (a) at the top of the column represents “Hoots,” or the brown
bear, which is the totem of the proprietor of the house. The “disks” (b)
below the bear indicate the high rank or great wealth of the man who
erected it. Each one of them usually commemorates some meritorious act of
its owner, such as giving a great “potlatch” or winning a great victory.
Next proceeding down the column is “Yalth” (c), the great raven with the
moon in his mouth. Beneath him is the bear and hunter (d), and at the
bottom is “Tsing” (f), the beaver and totem of the wife and children. The
following is the story related by the carving of the bear and hunter:
Touats, the hunter, on one occasion visited the house of the great king
of bears. The great bear was not at home, but his wife being there he
made love to her. When Hoots (the bear) returned he found his wife very
anxious and much confused, so he charged her with unfaithfulness to him,
a charge that she speedily denied. She continued to go regularly for wood
and water. As the bear’s suspicions continued to exist, he fastened a
magic cord to her dress one of those days, and, following it up, found
her in the arms of the hunter. Hoots, being much enraged, killed the
hunter (Touats) after a hard fight.
It is not known whether or not this legend originated in the failure to
distinguish between the real bear and the bear totem. It is probable,
however, that the bear totem is referred to. An Indian moralist will find
in this story a warning to wives to be faithful to their husbands.
Above the bear and hunter is “Yalth,” or the great raven, carrying in his
beak the new moon and in his claws the dish of fresh water, illustrating
the most familiar version of the Haida legend of the creation. Yalth,
the raven and benefactor of man, stole from his evil uncle, the eagle
(the enemy of man), the new moon which he had imprisoned in a box, and
also got fresh water by strategy from the eagle’s daughter. The crafty
raven made love to the eagle’s daughter and won her confidence. He then
deceived her and flew out through the smoke hole of the eagle’s house,
taking the water with him. He also stole the sun and stars from the boxes
in which they were imprisoned by the chief of tides. When the sun shone
forth all the people were frightened and ran in all directions in search
of hiding places. Some flew to the mountains, others into the sea and
many took to the woods.
They were all transformed into animals suited to live in their respective
hiding places. He reached an island in the sea by the help of his magic
bird skin, and seizing a burning brand of fire started on his return to
Queen Charlotte island, but the journey was so long that nearly all of
the wood burned up, and even the point of his bill was scorched black, so
he had to let it drop. The sparks flew in all directions over the whole
region, so that ever after both stone and wood contain fire, which can
be obtained from one by striking and from the other by rubbing. There
are many versions of this story of creation, and many are the adventures
of Yalth, the raven, not to mention the other traditions, which are too
numerous for one Indian to learn in a lifetime.
There are several accounts of creation that have gained ground among the
various Haida tribes.
All of them agree that Yalth, or the great raven, is the benefactor of
man, and the creator of all things. According to one of the legends the
first people sprung from a cockle shell, and that the raven stole from
the eagle all the things which were needed by men. According to another
tradition the raven transformed himself into a drop of water and the
eagle’s daughter having drank him became impregnated with him and bore
him a man child, etc. The Indians at Houkan have still a different
version of the first part of the creation story. According to them the
sister of Mughilflass, the first man, was childless, and wished to
marry. Her name was Slaugfunt. She sat many days in the house of her
brother wishing for a mate to come along and take her. One day she saw
a whale-killer pass by, who returned and took her a long way out to sea
with him. While gone the man child was born. Varied as these legends are
concerning the first part of the creation they all seem to agree that the
raven stole the sun, moon and stars from the eagle, and the fresh water
from the eagle’s daughter, according to the story on the totem column
just described, and he did all these criminal deeds for the good of man.
[Illustration: THE BEAR MOTHER]
The Haidas show great ingenuity in their carvings on wood, but it is
in their slate modelings that their greatest skill is exhibited. They
mine their peculiar quality of slate on Queen Charlotte island. When it
first comes out of the ground it is soft and easy to work, but after it
has been exposed to the atmosphere for a few weeks it becomes very hard
and takes a good polish. On this slate they execute work that compares
favorably with many of the productions of highly civilized sculptors.
One of their best specimens is the Bear Mother, which also illustrates a
legend. There are several versions of it, but here is the most usually
accepted:
A number of Indian squaws were in the woods gathering berries when a
chief’s daughter, who chanced to be among them, ridiculed the whole bear
species. The bears poured down upon them and killed all but the chief’s
daughter, whom the king bear made his wife.
She bore him a child, half human and half bear. She was discovered up a
tree one day by a party of Indians, who were out hunting. They mistook
her for a bear, but she made them understand that she was human. They
took her home and she became the ancestor of all the Indians belonging to
the bear totem.
The carving represents the agony of the mother in suckling this rough and
uncouth offspring.
The Haidas believe in the transmigration of the soul and that men are
merely bears, wolves, ravens and the like transformed into men.
Upon examining their work on silver and copper one will be struck by the
neatness of the workmanship as well as the oddness of the designs of the
Haida smiths. If the Haida wishes to draw the picture of a man or animal
on a bracelet, ring or breast pin, he will split the face in the middle
and draw two side views, one facing the other.
[Illustration: HAIDA CHILD DANCE AT HOUKAN]
The boxes, food, dishes, implements, in short, everything used by the
Haida, are richly carved or painted with the totems of owners, and
illustrations of incidents of their lives, or legends of their totems. On
most Haida drawings the eye is placed on the breast, ear, foot, etc.,
of the figure, to give the idea of general utility of the power of each
number to look out for itself.
The carved box of black slate shown in the illustration has a sea lion on
each end. Each of them has a salmon in its mouth. The face on the side of
the box is “Hoots,” the brown bear, chewing up the hunter, and represents
the same bear and hunter story as has been explained in connection with
the totem column in front of the house.
There are many different types of rattles found in that region, the one
given in this book being the most common form of shamens or medicine
man’s rattle. It is carved of the famous yellow cedar wood and painted
in several brilliant colors. The carving on the breast represents the
sparrow hawk; the tail of the bird is carved to represent another bird’s
head with a frog in its mouth. The frog is supposed to possess a poison
in his head that the medicine man sucks out to give him power to work bad
spells.
The figure on the back is Ka-ka-hete, the whistling demon, who lived
in the mountains. He was capsized while traveling in his canoe one day
and nearly drowned. He swam ashore and made for the woods for shelter.
Some times he came down into the villages and stole the children, which
he took into the woods with him and ate. In later times he transformed
himself into a land otter. The two figures on the top of the rattle tell
a story of Haida love-making. The front figure represents the boy, while
the other one, the “birdie,” if you please, is the girl. The frog passing
from one mouth to the other indicates that a lie has been told by one of
them, and from the direction that he is traveling it appears that there,
as elsewhere, the boy had to bear the blame of it. The rattle, taken as
a whole, represents the great raven, with a brand of fire in his mouth,
which the Haida nations worship as the creator and benefactor of the
human race.
Before the whites came among them the Haidas made knives and daggers of
stone and copper, but steel is mostly used among them now-a-days for
such purposes. The daggers shown in the illustration have yellow cedar
handles, and each has carved on it the individual totems of owner. One of
them seems to be a chief of the beaver tribe, and is quite eminent, since
there are four disks on his hat.
The Haida tribes are rapidly undergoing a change. They are not slow to
abandon their own customs and adopt the methods of the Europeans. If
scholars wish to systematically acquaint themselves with the interesting
traditions of these people as illustrated by their carving, etching
and painting, they would better be about it. Their works are rapidly
deteriorating in the face of the new civilization and in the indifference
of the present generation. In fact the only young men who now engage in
such pursuits are the curio makers.