Chapter X: Part 10

The people of Sǃāwᴀˊn’s village were always looking for him, and one day four men in a canoe saw something far out on the shore which looked very strange. A number of sea gulls were flying around it. Going closer, they saw the shaman lying there on a long sandy beach, the gulls around him. They did not know of any sandy bay at that point, and said that it was the shaman that brought it up there. They then took him into the canoe and brought him over. He was so thin that he appeared to have fasted a long time. After they got him home the spirits began mentioning their names, saying, “I am Spirit of the Sea; I am Spirit of the Land,” etc. Every time a spirit mentioned his name, the people would start its songs.

* * * * *

This is the last thing that happened in the Raven story. From this time on everything is about spirits (yēk) over and over again. Very few people believed in Nās-cᴀˊkî-yēł. Most believed in the spirits. From the time that these come into the story you hear little about Raven because people had so much more faith in spirits. You notice that in every Tlingit town in Alaska there are shamans, and years ago, when a shaman died, there was always one right after him, and he was always of the same family. It is through these that the Raven story has been getting less and less.

FOOTNOTES:

[50] See story 1. Into this story, as will be seen, the writer’s informant has woven a large portion of the sacred myths of his people.

[51] In another place the writer’s informant admitted that he had concluded this must be the case, because there were no bad stories about Nās-cᴀˊkî-yēł.

[52] See _Twenty-sixth Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology_, p. 454.

[53] See _Twenty-sixth Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology_, pp. 460 to 463.

[54] See story 5.

[55] This is an error, Łᴀxaỵîˊk being a general term for the Yakutat country and people.

[56] The writer’s informant added, “In our days when a person is making a living dishonestly by lying and stealing he is not told so directly, but this story is brought up to him and everyone knows what it means.”

[57] “When older people were giving their children advice they would bring up this part of the story and tell them not to be greedy and selfish, but honest. They would say they did not want them to be like Raven, who ate up all his playmates’ fat. When people went about trading they would also bring up this story to a person who wanted to make all the profit himself. They would tell him he was like Raven, who wanted to enjoy everything himself.” (From the writer’s informant.)

[58] “This episode is brought up to a child people desire to make honest. They say that just as these goods were taken back from Raven, and he was made to feel shame at having been discovered, a thief will always be found out. If the child becomes a thief when he grows up, they tell him that he will be classed among the very lowest no matter how well born he was. They also tell the little ones that there is a Creator watching them all the time, just as these ghosts watched. The Raven could not see them, but they saw him. They say that a person who does evil things is like a crippled or deformed person, for he has disgraced his family. They tell them that a person who gets that low is nobody and that the Creator despises him.” (From the writer’s informant.)

[59] What immediately follows was probably considered by my informant too indecent to relate.

[60] “This episode is referred to when a person takes after a bad father. They say to him, ‘Why do you take after your father? Everybody knows that you are his child. Can’t you take another road and do better than he did?’” (From the writer’s informant.)

[61] According to some people this house was drawn ashore at the Dᴀqʟǃaweˊdî village.

[62] See story 3.

[63] “This story is referred to in drawing the moral that one should never do anything spiteful or try to get ahead of one who knows better. If he does he will always get the worst of it. This is why in olden times the Indians looked up to the chiefs and those of high caste, knowing that they had been brought up and instructed better than themselves, and never tried to get ahead of them.

“It is also brought up to the people how Fire-drill’s son fed the young hawks instead of killing them. If a young person is very cruel they say to him, ‘If the hawk can be made a friend of mankind, why can not you make friends with your enemies? If you want to be respected do not make enemies, but friends always.’

“They tell the young people that a bad fellow is always like the one-eyed man, trying to get advantage of a good person. He is quick to say whatever comes into his mind, while the good man always thinks first. Therefore whatever the latter says people know is right. They ask their children to choose which of the two they would rather resemble.

“Because the one-eyed man said, ‘I did not kill your uncles or your mother’s friends,’ a murderer nowadays will never come out and say, ‘I am the one who killed that man.’ He always tries to make an innocent person suffer. As the one-eyed man’s wife invited this boy to have something to eat in Footnote: order to kill him, so a bad person says whatever he chooses to a good one. But they tell their children, ‘This will not kill you. They are doing themselves injury instead of you. So turn and walk away from them.’

“If a poor person has self-respect, he will have good fortune some time, just as in the case of the two old women to whom Raven brought fortune.

“The example of Fire-drill’s son is commended because he did not use his power meanly. He knew that he was very powerful, but when all the animals tried his power he did not do them any harm. He did not want to show his strength at once. If he had been a mean man he might have killed the old woman that lived back in the woods instead of helping her and getting her food.” (From the writer’s informant.)

[64] Katishan added that once while Fire-drill’s son was chasing Dry-cloud he was pulled into a village in the sky for some offense and punished there. Since then people have believed that the stars are inhabited. They were thought to be towns and the light the reflection of the sea.

[65] Near the site of the Presbyterian School.

[66] A conspicuous bowlder with flat, smooth top nearly in front of the Presbyterian Indian School.

[67] In another place, however, Katishan suggested that it might have been named from łēqǃ, his red-cod blanket. The word cᴀqǃ must be an old term for dog or some variety of dog.

[68] Probably the wren.

[69] See stories 3 and 97.

[70] “The disobedience of the young woman in looking up contrary to the directions of her brothers is brought up to girls at that period in life. This is why they do whatever their mothers tell them at that time, and do not displease their brothers. They always think of Łqǃayāˊkǃ’s sister. So this part of the story always taught them to be obedient.

Anciently we were taught commandments similar to those of the whites. Don’t look down on a person because he is proud. Don’t look down on a low-caste person. Don’t steal. Don’t lie.” (From the writer’s informant.)

[71] “So nowadays, when a person wants people to think he knows a great deal and says, ‘I am very old,’ they will answer, ‘If Sculpin could not make Raven believe he was so old and knew so much, neither can you make us believe it of you. An older person will come along and show you to the world as the sculpin is seen now.’ So, to-day, when children go out in the evening, they will say, ‘There is that sculpin up there.’”

[72] “When a child was lazy and disobedient, they told him how the halibut fishermen got up into the sky for their laziness. Therefore the children were afraid of being lazy.” (From the writer’s informant.)

[73] “This is brought up to a child to prevent him from being a murderer in secret, or a coward.” (From the writer’s informant.)

[74] “This episode is brought up when one who was the enemy of a dead man is seen to act as if he were very sad in the house where his body lies. People say to one another, ‘He is acting as Raven did when he killed his friend the deer.’ It is also applied to a person who is jealous of one who is well brought up and in good circumstances. When such a person dies he will act like Raven.” (From the writer’s informant.)

[75] “This episode used to be brought up to girls of 14 or 15 who wanted to run about to feasts and other festivities without their mothers or grandmothers. Such girls were told that they were like Raven when he was imprisoned in the ground-hog hole and wanted to get out. Those who stayed indoors were respected by everybody. They also likened Raven to a foolish girl who tries to lead a good girl, Ground-hog, astray. They told the latter that some injury would result, as happened to Ground-hog in losing his toes. When a mother saw that her daughter was willing to listen to a foolish girl, she would say to her, ‘Whatever that foolish girl leads you to will be seen on you as long as you live.’” (From the writer’s informant.)

[76] “When a young man was about to marry, people would bring this story up to him and tell him that if he did not take care of his wife and once forgot himself, he might lose her. If his wife were a good woman and he treated her right, he would have money and property, but if he were mean to her, he would lose it. And if he lost his wife and had been good to her, he could get another easily.” (From the writer’s informant.)

[77] “As Tsᴀgwâˊn was a mischief maker and followed Raven to tell what he had done to his wife, so some man will always follow one up if he doesn’t tell the truth. Formerly, when a man left his wife, a settlement of property was made and, if a man married again before this took place, his first wife made trouble for his second. Since no one wants trouble of this kind, a woman always found out what a man was like before she married him, just as this woman found out about Raven.

“Since Dᴀmnāˊdjî married a woman of higher family than himself and was taunted by the town people, nowadays they tell a young man that, if he marries a girl of higher rank than himself, they will not remain together long, because she will feel above him and want him to please her continually, while she does nothing to please him. As Dᴀmnāˊdjî from being poor became rich suddenly and was very hard on his people till all of his riches were again taken away from him, they say, ‘When you become wealthy after having been poor, don’t be proud or your money will all leave you.’ When a man has had plenty of money all his life and wastes it foolishly, they say of him, ‘He has fallen from the hands of the brant. So a young man nowadays saves up a considerable sum of money before he marries that he may not be made fun of. Perhaps if we had not had this story among the natives of Alaska we would have had nothing to go by.

“The fact that Dᴀmnāˊdjî’s wife’s relations did not insult or maltreat him after they learned how poor he was, shows that they were really high caste. Had they but recently acquired their wealth they would have done so. Therefore people say to a person who speaks before he thinks, ‘Why can’t you be like Dᴀmnāˊdjî’s brothers-in-law? Think before you speak.’ When the village people were making fun of their brother-in-law, his wife’s relations might have done anything to them, for they had wealth in furs and slaves, but they kept quiet because they had too much respect for their sister to disgrace her husband’s village people. It was also out of respect for their sister that, when they found out that all that the poor man had for them to drink was water, they drank it willingly without saying a word, where a low-caste person would have grumbled. Therefore people tell a man who has no respect for his brother-in-law because he is low-caste that he ought to be like these brothers-in-law of Dᴀmnāˊdjî. Because Dᴀmnāˊdjî was lucky twice, the people in olden times used to pray for luck continually. If he wanted to be lucky a poor man lived a very pure life. Those who do not do what is right never will have luck.” (From the writer’s informant.)

[78] “This part of the story was referred to when one wished to imply that a person was trying to make people believe that he was better than he really was. So nowadays, when a high-caste man wants to marry an orphan, people find out who her father is, because Raven made believe her own father was a chief. Some women will go off to a strange place and say falsely, ‘I am so-and-so’s daughter,’ making people think that she belongs to a very high family. The same sort of woman will assume mourning for her husband, and make people believe she is mourning when she is really thinking what she is going to do and where she is going. If she finds out she can get her living falsely, she will keep on being false. That is why Raven told so many stories about her husband’s death. When a mother sees that her girl is very foolish, she will say to her, ‘When you marry and become a widow, you will eat up your husband’s body,’ meaning that, if her husband leaves her any property, she will use it up foolishly. She also says to her, ‘You are so foolish now, I believe you will steal after you are married,’ meaning that she will be foolish with what her husband earns. Then, she says, ‘They will find you out by finding something of yours in the place where you have been, and it will be a disgrace to your brothers and your father.’” (From the writer’s informant.)

[79] “This is the way nowadays with persons who have no respect for themselves. They go from house to house to be fed by others, and such persons are greedy, great eaters, and lazy. The people tell their children that those who lead this kind of life are not respected. A person who tells the truth is always known because he keeps his word. When Katishan was a boy, they used to say to him when they could not make him do anything, ‘You are so lazy that you will be left in some village alone.’ [It is said that Raven comes along and helps one abandoned in a village.] This is why the Tlingit tried hard to earn their living and make things comfortable for themselves.” (From the writer’s informant.)

[80] “So it is always said, ‘A lazy man will be known wherever he goes.’ Such a person will go from place to place living on others and perhaps bringing in a few pails of water or some wood for his food, but however high-caste he is, he will be looked down upon. Therefore the little ones were taught to stay in their native place and make their living there, instead of wandering from town to town. To this day the high-caste Indians do so and visit in other towns only for a short time. Then people say ‘Look at so-and-so. He stays in his own village.’” (From the writer’s informant.)

[81] “Nowadays it is said that although a wicked man may appear very nice he will soon be found out. Some little act will betray him.” (From the writer’s informant.)

[82] “So nowadays a man that has invited people previously is paid first, receiving more than he had given. If he thinks that he has received more than he ought he gives another feast. When we now look back at this it looks as though these people were fighting to see which family was highest.

“When a man has invited people and they are coming in toward the town he himself remains in the house. Then some of his relations come and pound on the door and say to him, ‘Why are you staying in the house? You are acting like a coward. Your enemies are coming.’ So the host comes out with his bow and arrows, or nowadays his gun, and says, ‘Where are those enemies you were telling me about?’ ‘There they are out there in that canoe.’ ‘Those are not my enemies. That is a crowd of women in that canoe. Years ago my relations invited them.’ He calls them women when his people had invited them twice without a return invitation. The people that are going to give the feast study what they are to say before they have it, and they never let outsiders know what it is. As the visitors’ canoe approached shore they might say, ‘What is that I see out there?’ Then one would look and reply, ‘That is a G̣onaqᴀdēˊt.’ They call it a G̣onaqᴀdēˊt because they know that that party will give a feast and invite them in return.[83] They also have songs ready to sing at the very beginning of the feast, and, when such a song is started it shows that the feast will be a big one.” (From the writer’s informant.)

[83] To see a G̣onaqᴀdēˊt brought wealth to the beholder.

[84] “Some people call this woman Nās-cᴀˊkî-yēł’s wife and some his daughter, but I have always heard that she was his daughter.” (From the writer’s informant.)

[85] A short version of this part of the story was related to me by my Sitka interpreter who had obtained it from his wife. According to this, a man had a wife of whom he was very jealous. People wanted to get to her and marry her, but he guarded her very closely. Finally a man reached her and pulled aside her arms, letting free all of the land animals and sea creatures she had been keeping there. That was why her husband was so jealous about her. Afterward the husband raised a flood, but one man heard of it and made a big canoe to which others attached theirs, and all went up together. He also took two animals of each species into his canoe. This last is evidently a Christian addition. By some the jealous husband is said to have been Loon.

[86] Cf. story 96.

[87] Said to be the Tsimshian word for G̣onaqᴀdēˊt.

[88] “Eagle feathers are often referred to nowadays in speeches. Thus people will say to one who is mourning, ‘You have been cold. Therefore I bring you these feathers that have been handed down from generation to generation.’ When peace is about to be made one man is selected called the ‘deer’ (Qōwakāˊn) because the deer is a very gentle animal. When a man is so taken he is supposed to be like the deer, and he has to be very careful what he says. Eagle feathers are put upon his head because they are highly valued. The songs he starts while dancing are those sung when the people were preserved from some danger, or at the time of the flood. He does not sing anything composed in time of war. They also called the ‘deer’ the ‘sun deer’ (g̣ᴀgāˊn qōwakāˊn), because the sun is very pleasant to see and never does anybody any harm. Some called him ‘fort deer’ (Nu qōwakāˊn), because people are safe in a fort. For this office a high-caste person was always selected.” (From the writer’s informant.) Cf. _Twenty-sixth Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology_, p. 451.

[89] “I have always wondered what this part of the story means but was never told. It must have been because we were going to have steamboats. Every now and then at the present time something happens like things in the stories. The poor people always had luck in those days, and I have always wondered what it meant. Years ago, too, we used to hear the old people say, ‘There will be no slaves. Those that have been slaves are going to feel themselves above the real high-caste Indians.’ And sure enough nowadays the people that have come from slaves are very proud, while the race of nobles is dying out. They are protected by law and know that nothing harmful can be said to them. We heard of this years ago.” (From the writer’s informant.)

[90] “Some people are like this nowadays. They are very poor but are so used to the life that they can not see it, and so used to filth that they do not notice it.” (From the writer’s informant.)

[91] For another version of this part, see story 89.

[92] Actually it is from the Kwakiutl word ʟūˊkoala. Katishan calls it Tsimshian because the Tlingit received their secret societies through them.

[93] See pp. 90–91.

[94] Said to be a Haida name.

[95] It appears from examples that no such uniformity really exists.

[96] In this paragraph are seen the effects of missionary teachings.

[97] See story 11.

[98] Story 93 is another version of this tale.

[99] See story 11 and story 29 (first part).

32. KAKĒˊQǃᵘTÊ[100]

A Huna man named Kakēˊqǃᵘtê and his wife were paddling along in a canoe about midnight in search of seals, and he kept hearing a noise around his head like that made by a bird. Finally he hit the creature with his hand and knocked it into the canoe. It was shaped like a bird, only with eyelids hanging far over, and its name is Sleep (Tᴀ). He gave this to his wife saying, “Here, you can keep this for your own.” So she gave it to her relatives, who built a house called Sleep house (Tᴀ hît). All the poles in it were carved to resemble this bird.

The man got very tired after that without being able to sleep, until at last he ran away into the forest. He walked along there, came to a big glacier, and walked along upon that. After he had traveled for some time he came across a small creek in which he discovered eulachon. He roasted some on sticks before the fire. After he had thought over the problem for a while, he made a small fish trap with a hole in it for the fish to enter. The trap was soon filled with a multitude of fishes. Then he took all out, dug a hole in the ground, and placed the fish there. He was glad to think that he could get something to eat, so he remained in that place.

One day, while he was roasting fish, he saw eight Athapascans (G̣oˊnana), and knew from that that he was in the interior. These men wore nice fur clothing and had their faces painted. Kakēˊqǃᵘtê became frightened and ran into the woods, leaving his fish roasting by the fire. Afterward the eight men acted as though they were calling him, so he climbed up into a tree and watched them. They did not know where he had gone. Then the men sat down and ate his fish, after which they stuck a copper-pointed arrow into the ground where each roasting stick had been. This was the first time a Tlingit had seen copper.

Next day the same men came back. They were dressed much better, and two nice-looking women were with them. Then they called to him saying, “You have brought us good luck, so we want you to be our friend. If you will come and stay with us you can have either of these sisters of ours.” So he came down from the tree where he had been hiding, went with them, and married both of their sisters.

Now they took him to the place from which they got their fish and showed him how they did it. It was by making deadfalls in the water, in which they caught only one small fish at a time. Kakēˊqǃᵘtê was surprised to see how hard they worked to get a fish. If a man were lucky he would get perhaps forty or fifty very small fishes.

Now, Kakēˊqǃᵘtê ordered all in the village to procure young trees that were very limber and to split them into long pieces. He told them to whittle these down very smooth, and sat in the middle to show them how. Then he got some roots and tied the sticks together. The name of this trap is tǃītx̣. It is shaped like a barrel with the inner entrance just small enough for the fish to pass through. At the mouth of this trap a weir is run across the stream.

The whole village worked with him fixing the traps. Finally they cut posts to fasten them to and placed them at that point in the river which the tide reaches. When the tide went down they went to look at them and found them full of eulachon. Before they could never get enough of these fishes but now there were plenty for the poor, who formerly could obtain none. Even the old people were cutting and drying some to put in holes and make oil out of. Some filled twenty boxes with oil, some thirty. Some boxes of this kind weigh 150 pounds, some 100, some 50, some 20. Before his time the people of that village could not sleep, because they had to run down to their traps very often to look at their deadfalls, but after he came they had a very easy time. Therefore the whole village was pleased with him, looked upon him as a very high-caste person, and would do as he told them.

By and by the salmon season came. The people there had copper-pointed salmon spears (kᴀt) with handles of fine, thin wood, but the water was so muddy that they could spear only by means of the ripple marks, and often got but one or two a day. The most that any man obtained was three.

Kakēˊqǃᵘtê watched and knew that he could help them. He always traveled around with his wives’ brothers, and wherever they went the people followed, for they thought that he knew how to get salmon. He inquired if this were the only way they knew of to catch salmon, and they said, “Yes, this is the only way except that when they get in a shallow place we can club them.” One of his brothers-in-law also said to him, “The only time we can obtain salmon is when they are very old and their flesh is turning white. Then the water is low, and they go near the shore where we can see them. We can also get them at that time from the little creeks that come into the river.” Now Kakēˊqǃᵘtê took the spear from his brother-in-law and taught him how to feel along the river for salmon and catch them on the barbs as soon as they were felt. In half an hour he had six salmon. All the people of the village were looking on. Then he said to his brother-in-law, “You can feel them very easily. They are slippery. When you feel anything slippery, do not be in too great hurry and be careful not to go under the salmon. When you first put your spear into the water you will feel the ground and you will raise it up from the ground and move it along. I know how to make a salmon trap, too. I will show you that to-morrow. To-day we can not do it.”

Next day the whole village went to work making salmon traps. Again he 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.