asked them to get young trees and split them. All did as he told them.
They made eighteen traps that day. They got roots and split them, and
all worked taking the bark off. The whole village imitated Kakēˊqǃᵘtê,
watching his every movement. Next day they put the traps into the
water, and all were very anxious about them, even the women sitting
along the shore watching. Some of the poor people, who knew that they
would result similarly to the first traps he had made, were so anxious
to see them that they could not sleep. The day before all of the women
sat down to make ropes in the manner he showed them, and each went to
the traps next morning provided with one. When they got there they
found every one of them loaded with salmon. All the people in the town,
old and young, went to see these traps. While they were emptying the
traps and stringing some of the salmon, others would be coming in,
and it made the whole village happy. Then Kakēˊqǃᵘtê distributed the
salmon, for everyone thought that it belonged to him. He gave to the
poor people, who had never before tasted salmon, and he said to the
wealthy, “Don’t feel offended that I give them as much as you for they
need it as much. To-morrow and the day after we will have it.”
At this time of the year they never got any salmon to dry. If one got
a salmon he ate it at once. Only when the salmon was old did they dry
it. Each man had a place where he speared salmon, and no one dared go
there. Those spots were all named. When they got salmon from the traps
they were all rich, and they were glad to have a supply so early in the
season. Before they had these traps they ate every part of the salmon,
all the insides, the heart, etc., but after they had had the traps for
a few days you could see along the beach various parts of the fish, as
the heads, and even some good parts, where they had been thrown away.
After they were through drying their salmon they had enough for a year,
and they stored them all away in boxes.
That fall the Athapascans went up among the valleys for ground hogs,
each man having his own place, where no one else was allowed to
intrude. That day only one came from the very best spots and in the
whole village there were but three. Kakēˊqǃᵘtê watched how they got
them. Ground hogs were valued even by the coast people on account of
the blankets made of their skins. Then he asked them, “Is this the
only way you get your ground-hog meat?” “Yes,” they said, “this is
the only way.” Then he sat right down and began carving some pieces
of wood, while everybody watched him, believing that whatever he did
would succeed. He asked the women to make hide thongs. All sat down to
do it, and with them he made slip-nooses to be placed at the mouths
of the ground-hog burrows. Then he said, “I don’t want anyone to go
over there. Keep away from the traps.” So they did, and the morning
after he went out among his traps accompanied by all of the people. In
each trap was a ground hog, and he gave every man in the village five.
Even when they had killed three, the meat was distributed so that all
had at least a taste of the broth. They remained in this place just
three days, and he killed them off so in that time they had to move to
another. Each valley was claimed by some man, who had a special tree
there on which his dried meat was hung, and every time they moved to a
new valley they left the meat hanging on the limbs of the tree in the
place abandoned.
Then the people started for home, carrying their meat along with them.
They would carry part of it a certain distance and go back for more,
and repeat the process until all was down on the beach. After that he
told them how to prepare their food to keep it over winter. He told
them to get their cooking baskets and cook their meat well. After it
was cooked, he told them to put it on sticks high up in the house and
dry it in the smoke. When it was dried, he asked them to take it down
and put it in oil for the winter. One family would have from four to
six boxes of such dried meat. Before this man came they did not know
how to do that. They ate everything as soon as it was procured, and it
was very hard for them to get enough. Kakēˊqǃᵘtê also saw the women
going after berries and eating them at once. If they kept any very long
they would spoil on their hands. Then he said, “Don’t you know how to
preserve berries for winter?” “No,” they replied. So he showed them
how to dry these and how to cook the different kinds of berries and
preserve them in grease.
Before his time the Athapascans did not know how to put up their winter
food. They would stay on the spot where they had killed a moose until
it was eaten up. That was why they were always in want. The Athapascans
were very wild and did not seem to have any sense. Before Kakēˊqǃᵘtê
came among them these people were always hunting, but now they stayed
in one place and had an easy time. A person went hunting only for
amusement in case he got tired of staying in doors. Before this, too,
they did not have a taste of berries after the berry season. They ate
them on the bushes like the birds. Now, however, they have plenty all
the year round. They used to live in winter on dried salmon and what
meat they could get. If they could get nothing while hunting, many died
of starvation.
When spring came on, Kakēˊqǃᵘtê also showed them a certain tree and
said, “Don’t you know how to take off the bark of this tree and use
it?” They replied that they never knew it could be eaten. So he took
a limb from a hemlock, sharpened it, and showed them how to take off
the hemlock bark. After that he took big mussel shells (yīsǃ) from his
sack and said, “Do you see these. This is the way to take it off.”
After he had obtained quite a pile of bark, he showed them how to eat
it, and they thought that it was very nice, because it was so sweet.
Then he sharpened some large bear bones on a rough rock, gave one to
each woman and said, “Use it as I have used the shell.” Each woman’s
husband or son stripped the bark off of the tree, and the women sat
down with their daughters to help them and separated the good part. He
was teaching the people there to live as do those down on the ocean.
Next Kakēˊqǃᵘtê collected a lot of skunk cabbage, dug a hole in the
ground, and lined it with flints, while all stood about watching him.
Then he made a fire on top of these rocks to heat them, and afterwards
threw a little water upon them, filling up the remainder of the pit
with successive layers of skunk cabbage and hemlock bark. Over all he
spread earth and made a fire above. He left just so much fire on it
all night. All the village people were looking on and getting wood for
him.
Now the people felt very happy to see how well they had gotten through
the winter and that they were learning to put up more food. The younger
people would dance all day. In the morning they were asked to go out
and uncover the hole. He uncovered his own first. It was so savory that
the whole village was scented with it. Then he tasted it, found it
sweet, and asked the rest of the village to taste it. The rumor of its
excellence spread all over town, and so many came to try it that before
he knew it half of his bark was gone. All the people of the village
were burying bark as he had done.
After he had taken the bark out a quantity of water was left, which
they poured into their dishes. Then he put the cooked bark into a dish
and pounded it with a masher. After that he pressed the cakes very
hard and made a hole in one corner of each in order to hang it up. The
cakes dried very quickly. Some cakes they put away dry, and some that
were dried very hard they put into oil. After they had been in oil for
several months he took them out and ate them. They tasted very good. He
also showed how to use those that had been put away dry. He took them
out and boiled some water for them, after which he soaked some in it.
They tasted altogether different from those that had been in the oil.
Next Kakēˊqǃᵘtê showed the people how to put up a certain root (tsǃēt)
found on sand flats and taken before tops come upon it. Geese also live
upon this root. He collected a lot of this and brought it to his wives,
asking them whether they ate it. They said they did not, and when they
had tasted it they found it very sweet. This root tastes like sweet
potatoes. Then the people took their canoes and went to get these roots
for their winter’s food. Each carried a hardwood stick with sharpened
ends. He said, “This is women’s work or for boys and girls. It is
easy. Where I come from the women do that.” After they had dug many
roots he showed them how to dry these. He tied up a bunch of them and
on top another until he had made a long string. Then he hung them up
where they could dry quickly. He cooked them in pots. After the water
is poured off from them they move around as if alive, and for that
reason Tlingit widows do not eat them, fearing that they will make them
nervous. After being cooked in pots they taste just as if fresh.
He also showed them how to put up a root called sǃîn, which he pounded
up and pressed into cakes like the bark. They are soaked like the
others and also eaten with oil. He showed them as well how to kill
seals and prepare their flesh. For the next winter they prepared more
than for the winter preceding. That fall, after the food was all put
away, they went into the interior after furs. He showed them how to
catch animals by means of deadfalls with fat as bait. Before his time
the only way they had gotten their furs was with bow and arrow. They
used to chase bears with dogs and shoot them after hours spent in
pursuit. Now they obtained very many furs and made numbers of blankets
out of them.
After he had shown the Athapascans all these things Kakēˊqǃᵘtê said,
“Now I want to go to my native town.” At first they were not willing
to have him leave, but he asked so persistently that they finally
consented. Before they sent him away, however, they took him away and
obtained some small coppers for him. After that they got everything
ready and set out the following winter. As they paddled on they could
see the places where he had camped during the hard time he had had
after he left his own village. He asked the people to go up with him
along the same trail he had taken through the woods. By that route they
came to Grass Creek (Tcūˊkᴀn-hīn), to the place he had left, but, when
they came down, the people of that village were afraid of them. These
were the Tcūkᴀneˊdî, Kāˊgwᴀntān, Wuckitāˊn, Koskǃēˊdî, Tǃᴀˊqǃdentān,
ʟǃūkǃnᴀxᴀˊdî, and Qǃᴀtǃkaāˊỵî.
By and by one of the Tcūkᴀneˊdî came out right opposite them and said,
“What are you coming here for, you land-otter people? We are not the
people who have been making medicine for you.” When they saw that
those people did not care to receive them they went back through the
woods to the town of the ʟǃūkǃnᴀxᴀˊdî. The ʟǃūkǃnᴀxᴀˊdî saw that they
had coppers, and took them away. Then the ʟǃūkǃnᴀxᴀˊdî said, “You are
going to be our people.” Each man took a man out of the canoe and said,
“You will be my friend.” That was the way they used to do. They would
take away a person’s goods and then give him just what they wanted
to. The Athapascans were foolish enough to allow it. Afterward the
Tcūkᴀneˊdî felt that they were unlucky in not having taken the visitors
in themselves. Therefore, when a person is unlucky nowadays, they say
of him, “He sent the Athapascans away.” Because they did this the
Tcūkᴀneˊdî are below all other Tlingit families. That was what brought
them bad luck, and that is also how the ʟǃūkǃnᴀxᴀˊdî became very rich.
They got a claim on the place where the copper plates come from.
Next spring the ʟǃūkǃnᴀxᴀˊdî went right to the mouth of Copper river.
They made a village there at once and called it Kosǃēˊxka. One of
the mountains there they called Tsᴀłxāˊn and another Masǃīˊca. All
along where they went they gave names. A certain creek was called
Nᴀˊgᴀkᵘ-hīn, and they came to a lake which they named Łtūˊa. Then they
went to a river called Ałsēˊx, at the mouth of which they established
a town and named it Kosǃēˊx. Afterward they went to the river from
which the copper came and called it Îq hīˊnî (Copper river). At
Kosǃēˊx they built a house called Tᴀ hît (Sleep house). Then all of
them were ʟǃūkǃnᴀxᴀˊdî, but some, from the fact that they camped on an
island, came to be called Qǃᴀtǃkaāˊỵî (Island people). The Koskǃēˊdî,
originally a part of the ʟǃūkǃnᴀxᴀˊdî, used to encamp at a certain
place where they dug the root sǃîn. This root pressed is known as
tǃᴀganîskǃêx, and the Koskǃēˊdî receive their name from this word.[101]
The Koskǃēˊdî built a house and roofed it with moose hide. So they came
to own the Moose house (X̣āsǃ hît).
The wives of the ʟǃūkǃnᴀxᴀˊdî were Kāˊgwᴀntān. They (the Kāˊgwᴀntān)
were invited to Chilkat by a chief named Tailless-Raven (Ckūˊwu-yēł).
In the same town they were about to fell a tree to make a totem pole
out of it, and just before they did so Cqēʟ̣aqāˊ, a shaman, interviewed
his spirits. When they struck the tree with an ax he said, “The chip
went toward Huna. How is it that it went toward Huna?” And, when the
tree fell, he said, “It fell toward Huna. How is it that it fell toward
Huna?” This spirit’s name was Ānkᴀx̣wāˊî, and the pole was carved to
resemble him. When it was brought in he said, “How is it that there is
something wrong with these people we have invited? My spirit sees that
there is something wrong with them.” Then they made a raven hat, and
the spirit in the shaman said, “The raven you made has been shot with
an arrow. Many arrows are sticking into its body and blood is coming
from its mouth.”
The people giving the feast gave a great deal of property away to
the Kāˊgwᴀntān. Each man in the family would give so many slaves and
so much in goods. On their way home from this feast the ʟǃūkǃnᴀxᴀˊdî
also made a raven, and some time later they went to a feast at the
Kāˊgwᴀntān village of Kᴀqǃᴀnuwūˊ. Close to that place Qǃonēˊ, chief of
the ʟǃūkǃnᴀxᴀˊdî, put on the raven hat. Its tail and beak were made of
copper, and the wings were copper plates. It had a copper plate lying
in front of it at which it pecked. ʟǃūkǃnᴀxᴀˊdî also lived among the
Kāˊgwᴀntān in that town, and they said, “Where has that raven been?”
The canoe people answered, “Why! this raven has been at Chilkat.” “What
did it eat at Chilkat?” “All that it ate at Chilkat was salmon skins.”
By salmon skins they meant the furs and hides that had been given away.
Then they took the wings from this raven and the copper he had been
pecking at and threw them ashore for the Kāˊgwᴀntān. They said, “Those
are worth forty slaves.” Before, when the G̣ānᴀxteˊdî (of Chilkat) had
feasted and used their own raven hat, they spoke so highly of it that
the ʟǃūkǃnᴀxᴀˊdî had become jealous.
By and by news of what the ʟǃūkǃnᴀxᴀˊdî had done reached Chilkat,
and the G̣ānᴀxteˊdî were very angry. They began to build Whale house
(Yāˊî hît). Then they began to buy slaves in all quarters. They bought
some Dēˊcitān, some Tcūˊkᴀnedî, and some ʟǃenēˊdî, and, when they
invited people to the feast for these houses, they first gave away the
slaves they had been buying. The ʟǃūkǃnᴀxᴀˊdî felt very badly at this,
because—Flathead slaves not being esteemed very highly—this amounted
to more than they had given away. Then war broke out between the two
families, and the ʟǃūkǃnᴀxᴀˊdî were badly defeated, losing many people.
After that the people whose friends had been enslaved, purchased, and
given away felt so badly that they also made war on the G̣ānᴀxteˊdî
with no better result.
One of the G̣ānᴀxteˊdî chiefs was named Yēł-x̣āk. In those times people
were afraid of a high-caste person who was rich, strong, and brave and
did not want to have anything to do with him. This man’s father-in-law
was a ʟǃūkǃnᴀxᴀˊdî chief at Łaxaỵîˊk named Big Raven (Yēł-Lēn). Then
Yēł-x̣āk told his slaves to take food and tobacco to his father-in-law
through the interior by Alsek river, and he did so. When he arrived,
the chief said to him, “What did you come for?” “Your daughter has
sent me with some tobacco.” Big Raven was very fond of tobacco. Before
the slave started on this errand his master had said to him, “Be sure
to notice every word he says when you give him the tobacco.” Then the
slave took away from the tobacco the cottonwood leaves and a fine piece
of moose hide in which it was wrapped. As soon as he saw the leaves
Big Raven said, “I feel as though I had seen Chilkat now that I have
seen these cottonwood leaves. Chilkat is a respectable place. A lot of
respectable people live there. They are so good that they give food
even to the people that were going to fight them.” This Big Raven was a
shaman and a very rich one.
When the slave returned to Chilkat and told his master what Big Raven
had said, they held a council the same evening in Ckūˊwu-yēł’s house,
Whale house, and Yēł-x̣āk said to his slave, “Now you tell these people
what that father-in-law of mine has said to you.” And the slave said,
“As soon as he saw me, he said, ‘What are you doing here?’ and I told
him that his daughter had sent me to him with tobacco. After he had
uncovered the tobacco and had seen the leaves he said, ‘They are such
respectable people in Chilkat that they feed even the people who had
come to fight them.’ That was what Big Raven said.” Then Yēł-x̣āk said,
“I wonder if he thinks he has gotten even with me for the ʟǃūkǃnᴀxᴀˊdî
I killed on Land-otter point. I wonder whether he thinks he has gotten
even with me for having killed all those at Ānᴀkǃ-nū.” He thought that
Big Raven was a coward and was going to make peace. Then he moved about
very proudly, while the visitors from other places watched him closely,
and everything that he said or did was reported to Big Raven.
A man among the ʟǃūkǃnᴀxᴀˊdî, named Cādisîˊktc, was bathing in order to
acquire strength to kill the G̣ānᴀxteˊdî. Then the ʟǃūkǃnᴀxᴀˊdî pounded
on Big Raven’s house to have his spirits come out. Big Raven said,
“Łᴀˊkua has gotten up already. Łᴀˊkua has looked out now. My masters,
which way is this Łᴀˊkua going to go?” The people said, “What are you
saying, Big Raven? Go wherever you think best.” Then he told them to
pound away on the sticks, and he shouted, “Here, here is the camping
place.” After the spirit had been all over their course it said, “Hō,
hē, the Raven swinging back and forth.”
For Cādisîˊktc’s war hat they made a carving of a monster rat which is
said to live under the mountain Wasǃīˊcā. His spear points they made
out of iron—taken probably from some wreck. They considered themselves
very lucky when they found this iron. They thought that it grew in the
timber and not that it belonged to a ship. This they called G̣ayēˊsǃ
hāˊwu (Log of Iron). G̣ayēˊsǃ was originally the name given to black
mud along the beaches to which people likened iron rust.
Now the war canoes started from Kosǃēˊx for Chilkat, drilling as they
went. When people do this they take out their drums and drill wherever
possible. There are certain songs called “drilling songs.” When the
shaman said, “This is the place where Łᴀˊkua camped,” they camped
there. They thought that it would bring bad luck to go any farther
than to the place where he had camped. When on an expedition the war
chief never looked back in the direction in which they had come. At
Kᴀqǃᴀnuwūˊ they stopped long enough to get the ʟǃūkǃnᴀxᴀˊdî there.
Those were the people of which so many had been killed by the Chilkat
before. The Kîksᴀˊdî, Tǃᴀˊqǃdentān, and other families also started
with them, and they paid these for their help with copper plates. All
this time the shaman’s spirit sang the same song about “the raven
swinging back and forth.”
At last the warriors reached Chilkat and stood in a row fronting
the river back of the Chilkat fort. Behind all stood Cādisîˊktc.
Then Yēł-x̣āk came out on top of the fort and said, “Where is that
Cādisîˊktc?” So Cādisîˊktc stepped out in front of his party with the
mouse war hat on his head, saying, “Here I am.” Then Yēł-x̣āk said,
“Where has that mouse (kutsǃīˊn) been? What has he been doing?” He
answered, “I have been in that great mountain that belonged to my
mother’s uncle, and I have come out after you.” After this they heard
a drum in the fort, which meant that those people were about to come
out. Then they came out in files, and Yēł-x̣āk and Cādisîˊktc went to
meet each other with their spears. But the Chilkat still had their
spears pointed with bone and mountain-goat horn, and when Yēł-x̣āk
speared Cādisîˊktc he did not seem to hurt him. Cādisîˊktc, however,
speared Yēł-x̣āk through the heart, and his body floated down the
river on which they fought until it struck against a log running out
from the bank. The end of this log moved up and down with the current
and Yēł-x̣āk’s body moved up and down along with it. Then the shaman
said, “Now you see what my spirit has been singing about. That is the
raven moving back and forth. Now you people are going to eat them all
up. Don’t be frightened any more, for you have them all now that you
have gotten him.” At once they began to wade across, while the Chilkat
people, when they saw that their head man was dead, ran past their fort
up into the mountains. At that time the ʟǃūkǃnᴀxᴀˊdî took the totem
pole ānkᴀx̣wāˊî. That is what the Chilkat shaman had meant by the chip
flying toward Huna and the tree falling toward it. And this is also why
they had so great faith in spirits at that time.
Ckūˊwu-yēł felt badly for the loss of his totem, so he took the copper
raven he had captured from the ʟǃūkǃnᴀxᴀˊdî before and started toward
Kᴀqǃᴀnuwūˊ to make peace. His wife’s father was head chief of the
ʟǃūkǃnᴀxᴀˊdî. At this time the war had lasted for a long time, perhaps
five years. Ckūˊwu-yēł composed and sang a song as he went along, as
follows, “Why did you leave the Chilkat river as it flows, you raven?
Why didn’t you take it all into your mouth?” He meant to say, “If you
are so strong, why didn’t you make the river go entirely dry?” The
ʟǃūkǃnᴀxᴀˊdî had gathered many families against him, but the river was
as large as ever.
Just as Ckūˊwu-yēł came to the ʟǃūkǃnᴀxᴀˊdî town, a man ran down toward
the canoe, making believe that he was going to kill him, but one of the
Kāˊgwᴀntān caught him and said, “Why do you want to kill that chief?
You are not as high as he.” He said, “It isn’t because I am anxious
to kill him, but because I was always so afraid of him when he was
warring.”[102]
Then they seized Ckūˊwu-yēł to make him a deer and took him into Sleep
house, the house of his father-in-law. When she saw him going in there,
his wife came out of the canoe, carrying the raven hat he had captured.
Eagle down was upon it. So they, in turn, brought out the ānkᴀx̣wāˊî
with eagle down upon it. They also painted the face of the deer and the
face on the corner post representing Sleep. This was because they had
so much respect for this post. The painting of its face was the end of
their troubles.
It was against the deer’s rules to eat devilfish or any kind of fresh
fish, but they thought, “If he still feels badly toward us, he will
refuse to eat it.” So he said to them, “Bring that devilfish here. I
will eat that devilfish.” They did not want him to eat it, but they
wanted to see what he would say. As soon as he asked for it, therefore,
all shouted and put it back from him. They said, “It is so. He has come
to make peace.” Then they danced for him.
After this all of the G̣ānᴀxteˊdî came over and carried away his
father-in-law to be deer on the other side.
They said to Ckūˊwu-yēł, “Have you your canoe ashore with all of your
people in it?” He said, “I have it ashore.” This was their way of
asking whether there would be any more war. Then they would say to the
deer again, “My deer, we are going to camp in a nice sunny place, are
we not; and we are going to come in in a sheltered place where there
are no waves, are we not?” He would say, “Yes, we are going to camp in
a good place.” Then they would say to him, “You are going to sleep well
hereafter, are you not?” And he answered, “Yes.” When they were moving
about, warring people could never sleep well. That is why they said
this to him. By the waves and wind they meant the troubles they had
had, and by saying that they were going to camp in a calm place they
meant that they were not going to war any more.
The opposite deer, taken from Sleep house, was asked similar questions.
If the deer did not have his mind fixed on making peace people knew
it by his songs, therefore they noticed every word he uttered. A
high-caste person was always selected as deer, because through him
there would be a certain peace. The man that came to another village to
be taken up as deer brought food with him on which to feast the people
there. The other side gave a feast in return.
After they had made peace Ckūˊwu-yēł danced on the beach just before he
set out. Łdahīˊn, the owner of Sleep house, danced on the other side.
This is the only way in which people made up with each other after
having been enemies for years. It happened years and years ago, and to
this day those people are friends.
FOOTNOTES:
[100] According to Katishan, he belonged to the ʟǃūkǃnᴀxᴀˊdî. But see
story 104.
[101] Probably erroneous. Cf. story 104.
[102] See p. 71.
33. ORIGIN OF THE G̣ONAQADĒˊT