[Told by Richard of the Middle-gîtî′ns]
When I was still young I knew how to handle a gun. They went then to
Dadag̣ē′ni. [783] The Town-of-Tcꜝā′ał people [784] fought together
there. They fought while they were drinking whisky. [785] At that time
G̣ᴀla′-i’s nose was bitten off. Then they began to fight. They shot at
each other all night, and they killed a great many there.
Some time after that another fight broke out. The grandfather of
Nᴀñ-gut-tcî′ng̣a [786] then owned two slaves. He went thither with them
and a gun. Although we tried to stop them, they then went thither. They
then fought there with them. They took the ramrod from one of the
slaves who then held Nᴀñ-gut-tcî′ng̣a’s gun. They went then to ask for
it. He held it for payment he said. At that time they did not make a
disturbance about it.
Some time afterward a vessel of the Iron people [787] came there.
Nᴀñ-gut-tcî′ng̣a then went out to it. While he was away
Sitting-chieftainess went to Brave-in-his-belly [788] to get the
ramrod. And they who were there pushed her down. Then Nᴀñ-gut-tcî′ng̣a
came ashore. The Iron people had given him all kinds of food. He
brought a lot away. There was a great quantity of all sorts of things.
They did not say a word to Nᴀñ-gut-tcî′ng̣a. After they got through
eating I told him. But he laughed. He called Gax̣ī′łdia-i (one of his
slaves) and told him to go out and make an announcement. Then
Brave-in-his-belly also sent out to make an announcement. And after
that they killed four slaves belonging to him. [789] And
Brave-in-his-belly owned one slave. He killed him.
On the following day they gave him (Nᴀñ-gut-tcî′ng̣a) a great amount of
property—ten slaves, three hundred blankets, five big canoes, a great
quantity of property. At that time he summoned the people. Slaves and
property were given to the Middle-town people, [790] Earth-eaters,
[791] Dogfish-house people, [792]
People-of-the-house-where-they-always-have-plenty-to-eat,[792]
Raven-house people,[792]
People-of-the-house-that-went-away-discouraged.[792] They gave one
[slave] to Unable-to-do-anything. [793] They gave one to Qołgî′t.[793]
They gave one to Far-away,[793] to Qōta′n,[793] to Nasta′o,[793] to
Tcꜝix̣ī′.[793] After that they gave to all the house chiefs.
On the day after that they sent for Nᴀñ-gut-tcî′ng̣a, and on that day
they twice called us in. After several families had called us in the
Earth-eaters invited us. They had been giving us food for a while, when
a noise arose in the direction of a canoe that they had given us. As
soon as some one said that the Town-of-Tcꜝā′ał people had broken it up
the Earth-eaters went thither. They told us then that we had better not
go out. We all had guns. They told us not to go out. But still we stood
together among them.
Then the Town-of-Tcꜝā′ał people stood in lines around the edges of the
canoe, holding their guns ready. After they had quarreled for a while
Nᴀñ-gut-tcî′ng̣a came out, and a boy of the Town-of-Tcꜝā′ał people shot
at him. I, too, at once shot one. They then shot into the
Town-of-Tcꜝā′ał people. The dead bodies lay far apart on the ground.
Some sat up. Some tried to squirm up from their buttocks [having been
shot in the legs]. Four dead bodies belonged to the Earth-eaters. Two
others they wounded.
They at once began again to shoot each other. Many more of the
Town-of-Tcꜝā′ał people were killed. After they had given us food for a
while they took us over to Nᴀñ-gut-tcî′ng̣a’s house. When they got us in
the sound of fighting ceased.
After that they also shot into our house. The house had three
stockades. Not a single bullet reached the house. They shot at us from
around the house while we ate. Early in the next day Nᴀñ-gut-tcî′ng̣a
called four families. And while they ate in the house the
Town-of-Tcꜝā′ał people again began to shoot at the house. And after
they had done this for a while we went down with our guns into a trench
extending toward the beach. And, while the Town-of-Tcꜝā′ał people were
shooting into the house from near by, we in turn shot at them. We
killed two. And afterward we ran in through the doorway, one after
another. We told of those we had killed. Then the Town-of-Tcꜝā′ał
people went away.
And when they were done eating, he gave them all coats and good
clothing. Early in the next day he called the Earth-eaters. Then they
again shot at the house. They did not reach the inside. These also went
away.
After that they began to shoot at our house. After they had shot at our
house for four nights Nᴀñ-gut-tcî′ng̣a told us to get up very early.
And, after we were done eating, he had us wash our faces. He gave us
tallow, and, when we had put it on our faces, [794] we painted them. He
then emptied out a big box of clothing. And as soon as we had fitted
ourselves we put it on. After that he emptied out black handkerchiefs.
We tied them around our heads. He was a great chief.
After that we sang a song. After we had sung four times we went out to
fight. We then began shooting at the four houses of the Town-of-Tcꜝā′ał
people while the Town-of-Tcꜝā′ał people drew up around us from the
woods. And, after we had shot at each other for a while, my gun became
hot, and I put it into the water.
Nᴀñ-gut-tcî′ng̣a stood on the top of his house all of this time. He held
a large horn in his hand through which he talked to us. We then waved
something white that he could see. He knew by that that not one of us
had been killed.
After we had fought for a while, and when the sun was almost set, the
Middle-town people and the Earth-eaters came to fight. They broke
through the many Town-of-Tcꜝā′ał people who were around us. They told
us then to go home, and we went home. But they fought in our places.
When I came in they said that my breeches were bloody. I then felt
there. The back part of my thigh was torn. I at once became faint.
Early in the next day they shot at us again. And, after they had shot
at us for five nights, Nᴀñ-gut-tcî′ng̣a told us to begin fighting again.
When we first fought many of the Town-of-Tcꜝā′ał people were killed.
There were also many wounded. And, after we had fought for a while, and
evening was come, the Middle-town people and the Earth-eaters came and
helped us. They let us go home. But they had a pitched battle in our
places. Some time after dark they stopped shooting.
They shot intermittently at our house for more than a month afterward.
They began shooting at our house just before daylight. One day we did
not hear a gun go off. Then someone knocked at the door. “Open the door
for me.” That was Djig̣ē′g̣as. “The Town-of-Tcꜝā′ał people are gone.”
They went away very early.
On the day following Nᴀñ-gut-tcî′ng̣a gave property to the Earth-eaters.
He gave them eight slaves, as blood payment for the four persons that
had been killed, and three hundred and twenty blankets. Because Qołgî′t
was very sorry on account of his canoe he gave him a young slave. He
was very glad to have him. And he also had his canoe repaired. The day
after he called them [to a feast].
After that they again came to fight with us. Then the Town-of-Tcꜝā′ał
people shot at us for two nights. After they had acted toward us in
this way for three months a ship of the Iron people came.
Nᴀñ-gut-tcî′ng̣a then told the Iron people about himself. Then they left
us all kinds of ammunition.
After fifteen nights were passed they came after Nᴀñ-gut-tcî′ng̣a. And
then, too, the Town-of-Tcꜝā′ał people came to fight with us. After they
had shot at us for two nights they went away again. They (the Iron
people) then took Nᴀñ-gut-tcî′ng̣a with them. His heart was not strong
enough to go without me. So they took me as well.
We then started off. Some time afterward we came to Nass inlet. Two
vessels lay there. Then they started to settle there. They put a
stockade around the house, and the Nass people brought in cedar bark.
They paid a blanket for the bark of two cedars to be used as roofing.
[795] When the house was completed they finished the warehouse.
They began at once to buy furs. All sorts of people brought furs there
to sell to them. During the whole time what was dropped upon the ground
from the tobacco that they sold I put up into a sack. When my father
came from Masset I gave it to him. And Nᴀñ-gut-tcî′ng̣a gave him many
blankets from the trading house. My father gave him a canoe. In it they
went to the head of Nass inlet with property to trade. At the end of
ten nights the 10-fathom canoe was full of furs.
At that time Nᴀñ-gut-tcî′ng̣a threw chips into the water and shot at
them. One youth then wanted the gun very much. And he asked how much it
cost. They told him then that they would let him have it if he piled up
furs to the muzzle as it stood on end. They then stood the gun on end,
and they piled up beaver skins alongside it. And, when they reached the
muzzle of the gun, they pressed them down. And when [the pile] got
lower they piled on more. By and by, when it got even with the end,
they stopped. And he also bought a longer one. And he gave six
land-otter skins for the ammunition. He also gave six land-otter skins
for a bag of bullets.
They then went away. After five nights were passed they returned. After
they had lived there three years it was found to be too cold, and they
removed to Port Simpson. There also I lived with them seven years.
Nᴀñ-gut-tcî′ng̣a lived at the house of the Iron people. After that he
lived there all the time.
Here is all of this.
This story gives us an idea of what intestine conflicts were like among
people on this part of the Northwest coast. Strife having arisen
between the Tcꜝā′ał-lā′nas and Ya′ku-qe′ig̣awa-i, or Ya′ku-gitina′-i, to
which latter family my informant himself belonged. The Raven families
among the Kaigani joined the weaker, and apparently the aggrieved,
party. The feud was not ended, however, until the chief of the
Ya′ku-qe′ig̣awa-i went away to live with the white people.