his wife and all of his property.[45] When they approached the town the
people heard his wife singing. She had a very powerful voice. Then they
were frightened and wondered what man was smart enough to reply to this
wealthy visitor. There was a certain poor man who always sat with his
head down, and they kept taunting him, saying, “Will you speak to that
rich man?”
When the visitor came in front of the houses he did not speak to the
men who lived in them but to the dead chiefs who had formerly owned
them. No one replied, for they did not know what to say. After a while,
however, the poor man seized a spear and rushed down to the rich man’s
canoe. Then the people shouted, “There goes Sᴀqayêˊ. He is going to
kill this rich man. Stop him.” When he got right in front of the canoe
they caught him, but he said, “I did not want to kill this rich man,
but I heard people talking so much about him that I pretended to.” His
action had a sarcastic import, because others were so much afraid of
the visitor.
The rich man talked from the canoe for such a long time that they
made a long noise instead of speaking to him, to let him know that he
had talked too long about things that were past. Then they said to
him, “Jump into the water.” This was formerly said to a visitor when
blankets were about to be given away for some dead person, though they
always stood ready to catch him. Afterward they took the man up into a
house, placed a Chilkat blanket under him, and gave him five slaves and
a canoe load of property for his dead friend. When he went home they
returned his visit.
FOOTNOTES:
[44] A piece of moss was placed in the cradle for sanitary purposes.
[45] There seems to be no connection between this part of the story and
that which goes before except that both happened at Kᴀqǃᴀnuwūˊ.
29. THE FIRST WAR IN THE WORLD[46]
A man named Xakuˊtcǃ was very fond of hunting and hunted almost every
day with his brother-in-law, bringing home seal and all sorts of game
which he had speared. There was no money in those days.
It was winter. One morning when he went out he speared a porpoise near
the place where a devilfish lived, and began to skin it there, letting
its blood spread out over the water. He told his steersman to keep a
sharp lookout for the devilfish.
While they were moving along slowly skinning it, they saw the color of
the devilfish coming toward them from under the water. It had its arms
extended upward ready for action.
Xakuˊtcǃ had a big spear ready by his side, while his brother-in-law
began to sharpen his knife and thought to do great things with it. When
the devilfish came up out of the water he jumped into the midst of its
arms along with his knife and was swallowed so quickly that he was able
to do nothing; so his brother-in-law had to fight by himself. After he
had fought with it for a long time he killed it, and it began to sink
with him. The canoe stood up on one end before it went under, and he
climbed up on the thwarts as high as he could go. At last the devilfish
went right under with them, and finally floated up again at a place
called Narrow point (Kułîsaˊo qǃa).
Some one must have witnessed this fight, for they cut the devilfish
open to see if the hunter were there, and found him stowed away snugly
inside of it. That was the man that people often talk about in these
days as Xakuˊtcǃ.[47] He it was who killed the devilfish.
Afterward his spirit came to one of his friends. People now try to get
strength from him because he killed this devilfish. In olden times,
when one killed a great creature, his strength always came to another
person. Then his strength came to a certain person, impelling him to go
to war.
They used to put a light, thin-skinned coat on this person’s back to
try his strength by endeavoring to pull it off, but they were not able
to do so. They would pull this coat as far back as his shoulders, but,
try as hard as they might, they could not get it farther. Then [the
spirit in this shaman] told his name. He said, “I am Xakuˊtcǃ. I have
been swallowed by a devilfish, and I come to you as a spirit (yēk).”
Many people came to see the shaman when he was possessed and to try him
with the coat which no one could pull off. What do you think it was
that held it on his back?
After they had tested all of his spirits they started south to war.
They were always warring with the southern people. They and the
southern people hated each other. When they went down with this shaman
they always enslaved many women and sometimes destroyed a whole town,
all on account of his strength.
There was a brave man among the southern people, called Qǃōg̣aˊ, who
liked to kill people from up this way. One time a little boy they had
captured escaped from the fort where he was. He had a bow and arrows
with him. The brave man discovered where he was, went after him, and
pulled him out from under the log where he was hiding. But meanwhile
the spirits in the canoes of the northern people had seen Qǃōg̣aˊ. Then
Qǃōg̣aˊ took the little boy down on the beach and said to him, “Shoot
me in the eye.” He put an arrow in his bow and took such good aim that
the arrow passed straight through it. The point of this arrow was made
of the large mussel shell. The brave man fell just like a piece of
wood thrown down. The little boy had killed him. Then all ran to the
little boy and took off his head. The chiefs passed his dried scalp
from one to another and wondered at what he had done. They named him
ever after Little-head (Qācāˊkǃᵘ), and the man he killed was called
One-Little-head-killed (X̣ūg̣āˊwadjag̣et). Even now they relate how
Little-head killed the brave man. Then the northern people came around
the fort and destroyed everybody there, some of those in the canoes
being also killed.
After that the southern people started north to war. They had a shaman
among them. On the way they came to a man named Murrelet (Tcǃīt).
When this man was young, he had been trained to run up steep cliffs
by having a mountain-sheep’s hoof tied to his leg or neck, and being
held up to the walls of the house and made to go through the motions
of climbing. They said, “Is this the man they talk about so much who
can run up any mountain?” This is what they said when they were chasing
him. Then they caught him and took him into one of their canoes.
Now the war chief said to his friends, “Let us take him ashore to that
cliff.” So they took him to a place called Bell point (Gao łîtuˊ)
where part of the town of Huna is, to try him there. They said to him,
“Murrelet, go up this cliff.” When he attempted it, however, he fell
back into the canoe. All the people in the canoes laughed at him. They
said, “Oh! you little thing. Why is it that they say you are the best
runner up this way?” After he had fallen back the third time, he said,
“This is not the way I am dressed when I go up a cliff. I always carry
a stone ax, a staff, and a flint, and I always carry along a seal’s
stomach full of grease.” They prepared these things for him and gave
them to him. Then he started up, wearing his claw snowshoes, which
must have been shod with points as strong as the iron ones people have
now. He stepped up a little distance, shook himself, and looked down.
Then he called like the murrelet and went up flying. The warriors were
surprised and said, “Now give him some more things to put on his feet.”
They talked about him in the canoes. They said, “Look! he is up on the
very top of the mountain peeping at us.” Then he lit fires all along
on top of the mountain. All the war canoes went along to another place
where was a sandy beach.
Then they tied all the canoe ropes to the body of Murrelet’s steersman,
intending to use him as an anchor. Murrelet heard him crying and
ran down the mountain toward him. He turned the world over with his
foes.[48] As he came he made a noise like the murrelet. When he got
near he told the man to cry very loudly. Probably this man was his
brother. It is rather hard to say. Then he said, “I am going to cut the
ropes now. Cry harder.” So he cut all of the ropes, and they ran off,
while the war canoes floated away. Afterward, however, the warriors
found where they had drifted to and recovered them.
Then they started for the fort toward which they had originally set out
and captured it.
One high-caste woman they saved and carried south. They took good care
of her on account of her birth. At the time when she was captured she
was pregnant, and her child was born among the southern people. They
also took good care of him; and while he was growing up his mother
would take some of his blood and put it upon his nose to make him brave.
For a long time he was ignorant that they were slaves, until one day a
young fellow kicked his mother in the nose so that it bled. Then they
told him, but he said, “You people know that she is my mother. Why
don’t you take good care of her even if she is a slave?” After that a
spirit possessed him. It was sorrow that made him have this spirit.
Then he ordered them to make a paddle for him, and they made him a big
one. His spirit was so very powerful that he obtained enough blankets
for his services to purchase his mother’s freedom. Afterward he got
ready to come north with his father and mother, and they helped him to
load his canoe. Before he started his father’s people asked him not to
bring war down upon them. No one else went with them because his spirit
was going to guide them.
When they were about to start they put matting over his mother, and,
whenever they were going to encamp, they never went right ashore but
always dropped anchor outside. How it happened they did not know, but
on the way up his mother became pregnant and what was born from her
had strength. This strength was what brought them up. During that
journey the shaman never ate.
When they came to the beach his friends did not know at first who he
was, but his mother related all that had happened. Then his friends
came in and began to help him show his spirits. He was getting other
spirits from the country of the people he was going to war against.
From his wrist up to his elbow he made as many black spots as there
were towns he intended to conquer, and, while all were helping him with
his spirits, the spots one after another began to smoke. His father
told him to remember the place where he had stayed and not destroy it.
So, when the spots burned, the burning stopped at the one at his elbow
which he simply cleaned away with his hand. This meant that he would
extinguish the fire at that point and not fight there.
Then all of his friends prepared themselves and set out to war. They
came straight up to a certain fort without attempting to hide, and the
fort people shouted, “Come on, you Chilkat people.” They had no iron
in those days, but were armed with mussel-shell knives and spears, and
wore round wooden fighting hats. They destroyed all the men at this
fort and enslaved the women and children. Afterward they stood opposite
the fort, took off their war hats and began to scalp all they had
killed. When they got off they put the scalps on sticks and tied them
all around the canoe. They called this, “Shouting out for the scalped
heads” (Kēcayᴀt-dus-huˊktc). They felt very happy over the number of
people they had killed and over the number of slaves they had captured.
There were no white people here then, not even Russians. It was very
close to the time when Raven made us. The people who were doing these
things were Kāˊgwᴀntān. They had started to war from ʟucāˊcakǃî-ān and
Kᴀqǃᴀnuwūˊ.
After that all the southern people started north to make war, coming
by the outside passage. The first place they reached while rounding
this island was Murrelet-point fort (Aołî-tcǃīˊtînū). One canoe started
off to spy upon them and was chased ashore but was carried across a
narrow strip of land and so got back. Therefore this place is called
Things-taken-over (Āˊnᴀxgᴀłnaˊ). Then they came right up to the fort,
destroyed it, and captured the women. There must have been a hundred
canoes coming to war. In those days they always used bows and arrows.
A certain woman captured here said, “There is another town up the inlet
from us.” So they started up about evening and, when the tide was
pretty well up, passed through a place where there is a small tide rip.
They caught sight of the town far back inside of this and exclaimed,
“There’s the town.” Then they landed just below it and started up into
the forest in order to surround it. When it became very dark they
began to make noises like birds up in the woods. In the morning they
descended to fight, and the women and children began crying. They
captured all. Meanwhile the tidal rapids began to roar as the tide fell.
One woman among the captives was very old. They asked her what time of
tide to run the rapids, and she said to herself, “It is of no use for
me to live, for all of my friends and brothers are gone. It is just as
well to die as to be enslaved.” So she said to them, “At half tide.”
Then two canoes started down ahead in order to reach some forts said
to lie in another direction. They rushed straight under and were seen
no more. The old woman was drowned with them. So they made a mark
with their blood at the place where these two canoe loads had been
drowned to tell what had happened. It may be seen to-day and looks like
yellowish paint.
Next day the remaining canoes started out when the tide was
high and came to another fort next morning. While they were
around behind this a woman came out. Then they seized her and
ran a spear up into her body from beneath many times until
she dropped dead without speaking. So this fort came to be
called, Fort-where-they-stabbed-up-into-a-woman’s-privates
(Kᴀkǃ-kagūs-wudūˊwatᴀˊqî-nū). Then the people fought with clubs and
bows and arrows until all in the fort were destroyed, and started on to
another. When they made an attack in those days, they never approached
in the daytime but toward morning when everybody was sleeping soundly.
Both sides used wooden helmets and spears.
At this fort the women were always digging a big variety of clam
(called g̣āʟǃ), storing these clams in the fort for food. The fort was
filled with them. So, when the assailants started up the cliff, one
of the men inside struck him with a clam shell just under the war hat
so that he bled profusely. He could not see on account of the blood.
Then the man in the fort took an Indian ax and beat out his brains.
Afterward all in the fort seized clam shells and struck their foes
in the face with them so that they could not come up. They threw so
fast that the canoes were all kept away; so that place is now called
Where-clams-kept-out-the-foes (Xaˊosîxani-g̣āʟǃ). For the same reason
this was the only fort where any people were saved, and on the other
hand many of the enemy were destroyed by the fort people.
Now they left this fort and came to another, landing on a beach near
by, and between them and the fort was what they supposed to be a fresh
water pond. Then one of them called Little-bear-man, because he had
on a bear-skin coat, began to shoot at the fort with arrows. But the
people in the fort shouted to him, “Do not be in such great haste. The
tide runs out from the place where you are.” Then the bear man said,
“The people here say that the tide runs out from this place, but [I
know] that it is a fresh water pond.” Presently the tide began to run
out from it as they had told him, so he chopped some wood, made a fire
and lay by it to wait. After the tide had ebbed they began to fight,
destroyed everybody there, and burned the fort down. Close by the site
of this fort is a place called Porpoise-belly (Tcītcîūˊkǃ).
The warriors thought they were getting much the best of the people up
this way, but really only a few were left to look after the forts, most
being collected elsewhere.
After they had destroyed all the people in four forts they landed on
a long sandy beach to cut off the scalps. When there was no time to
scalp, the heads were carried away until there should be more leisure.
Scalps and slaves were what people fought for, and they dried the
scalps by rubbing them on hot stones or holding them near the fire.
Then they again started north. This raid consumed the whole summer.
Southward of Huna was a fort on a high cliff, called Jealous-man fort
(Caosîtīˊyīqā-nuwuˊ). It was named from the man who encamped there who
was so jealous of his wife that he would let no one else live near
him. When the foes all stopped in front of him, and he could hear them
talking, he began to quarrel with them, saying, “You big round heads,
you want to destroy all of the people up this way.” While they were
talking back at him one of their canoes struck a rock and split in two,
and, after they had rescued the people in it, they began talking about
this circumstance, saying, “If we wait any longer he will quarrel us
over as well.” So they left him and went on north.
The next fort they attacked is called Huna-people’s fort
(Hūˊna-qāwu-nuwuˊ), and it stood just where they were going to turn
south again. Here they had the greatest fight of all, and the fort
people killed many of them. Finally they broke up all the canoes of
these people and started south. At this time they were overloaded with
the slaves they had taken, but they went in to every fort they passed
near and broke up the canoes belonging to it. The last of these forts
was called Fort-that-rapids-run-around (Dātx-xātkᴀnᴀdaˊ-nū). When they
had destroyed all of the canoes there, they said, “Will you people
bring any more wars upon us? You will not dare to fight us again.” They
felt very happy, for they thought that they had destroyed all of the
northern people, and that no more raids would be made upon them.
Most of the northern people, however, were encamped along the coast to
the westward, and, when they heard what had happened, they came from
Yakutat, Alsek river, and other places to ʟucāˊcakǃî-ān. They talked
together for a long time and finally decided upon a plan. All the men
began to sharpen their stone axes, and, when that was finished, they
came to a big tree they had already marked out and began to chop at
it from all sides. This was the biggest tree ever known. While they
worked, the women would come around it wailing and mourning for their
dead friends. It took two days to chop this tree down, and, if anybody
broke his stone ax, they felt very sorry for him and beat the drums as
though some one were dead. Then they cut the tree in two and took a
section off along the whole length where the upper side of the canoe
was to be, and the head workman directed that it be burnt out inside
with fire. So all the people assembled about it to work, and as fast as
it was burnt they took sticks and knocked off the burnt part so as to
burn deeper and to shape it properly when it had been burned enough.
There was one heavy limb that they let stand, merely finishing about
it. This work took them all winter. During the same time they bathed in
the sea and whipped one another in order to be brave in the approaching
war.
Toward spring they got inside of the canoe with their stone axes and
began to smooth it by cutting out the burnt part. Then they began to
give names to the canoe. It was finally called Spruce-canoe (Sīt-yākᵘ).
The thing they left in the middle was the real thing they were going to
kill people with. Finally they finished it by putting in seats.
Now they were only waiting for it to get warmer. In those days there
were special war leaders, and in fighting they wore helmets and greaves
made of common varieties of wood.
There was a shaman among these people named Qāłᴀˊtkǃ belonging to the
Nāsteˊdî. Because they were going to war, all of his people would come
about him to help him capture the souls of the enemy. One time he said
to his clothes man, “Go out for food, and be brave. The head spirit is
going to help you.” So the clothes man went out as directed and the
spirit showed him the biggest halibut in the ocean. For the float to
his line he used the largest sea-lion stomach, and, when he began to
pull it up, it looked as though the whole ocean were flowing into its
mouth. But the shaman told him to be courageous and hold on though the
hook looked like nothing more than a small spot. It did not even move,
for the strength of the spirits killed it, but it was so large that
they had to tow it in below the town. Then all the people who were
going to fight cut the halibut up and began to dry it. There was enough
for all who were going to war and for all the women left at home. When
it was dried they started to pack part away in the canoe. Then they
pushed the canoe down on skids made of the bodies of two women whom
they had captured from the southern people on a previous expedition and
whom they now killed for the purpose. Meanwhile the southern people
thought that they had destroyed all of those at the north and were
scattered everywhere in camps, not taking the trouble to make forts.
Finally all the northern warriors got into the big canoe and they
started south. It took probably ten days to get there. At the first
camp they reached they killed all the men and put the women and
children down on the sharpened limb alive. Of one woman who was saved
they asked where the other people were, and she said that they were
scattered everywhere in camps which she named. After they had destroyed
the second camp they enslaved more women, whom they also put upon
the sharpened limb. As they never took any off, the number on this
increased continually. Then they asked the woman: “Didn’t you expect
any war party to come down here?” She said, “No one expected another
raid down here, so they built no forts.”
The big canoe went around everywhere, killing people, destroying
property, and enslaving women. The women captured at each place told
them where others were to be found, and so they continued from place
to place. They destroyed more of the southern people than were killed
up this way. When they thought that they had killed everybody they
started north, stopping at a certain place to scalp the bodies. Then
they reached home, and everybody felt happy. They not only brought
numbers of slaves but liberated those of their own people who had been
taken south. Since that time people have been freer to camp where they
please, and, although the northern and southern people fought against
each other for a long time, more slaves were taken up this way, so the
northern people did not esteem the southern people very highly. This is
said to have been the very oldest war.
FOOTNOTES:
[46] Cf. the first part of this story with story 11 and story 31, pp.
150–151.
[47] Said to mean “shaggy,” referring to the thick, lumpy hair of the
grizzly bear. The man was probably one of the Kāˊgwᴀntān.
[48] Meaning that he sent sleep on them to make them sleep harder.
30. HOW PROTESTANT CHRISTIANITY WAS FIRST HEARD OF AT SITKA[49]
A man went south from Sitka and returned after two months. When he
came ashore he called all the people to a dance and told them that God
(Dekīˊ-anqāˊwo, Distant-chief) had come down from heaven to help them.
Then all the women made beadwork for their hair and ears. One evening,
when they were through with that, they again began dancing. While the
women danced they would fall flat on their backs. When this happened,
in accordance with directions the man had received below, they brought
up salt water, wet part of each woman’s blanket and flapped it against
her breast to make her come to. This prevented the smallpox from having
any effect upon her. They kept on dancing a whole year.
FOOTNOTES:
[49] It is possible, however, that this was the result of Jesuit
teaching on the upper Skeena.
MYTHS RECORDED IN ENGLISH AT WRANGELL
31. RAVEN[50]
In olden times only high-caste people knew the story of Raven properly
because only they had time to learn it.