Chapter IX: Part 9

By this time the chief opposing him had become fairly crazy. He had nothing left but his house, his sisters’ children, his wife, and himself. He wanted to stake his sisters’ children, but his opponent said that he would not gamble for people. Then the chief caught hold of him and begged him, and his own friends came to him and said, “Why don’t you gamble and win those friends of his? You are very foolish not to.” “I do not want to gamble unless I can win something,” he said. “What good will those people be to me? I can not do anything with them after I win them.” “You will have the name of having won them. Remember what he did to you. He did not have pity on you. When he won your wife’s clothes did he give them back?” Then the poor man moved a piece of painted moose hide, called ckǃutǃêˊ, around in front of the chief. It made him very angry, but he dared not say anything. The chief lost his nephews, his house, and his wife’s clothes and offered to stake his wife, but his opponent refused until his cousin said, “Go on and get everything he has. If you do not want them you can give them back.” So he won his wife also. Then he put his gambling sticks away, refusing to gamble for the chief himself, because he knew that there is always trouble at the bottom of gambling. But his friends said, “If he is foolish enough to stake himself and his wife, go on and gamble. After a while he will feel it in his face (i. e., be ashamed).” So he played once more and won his opponent also.

Then he said, “Since you have staked everything and I have won, I suppose that this is all. Do you remember how you won everything from me? You were very hard on me. You even won my wife’s clothing, and you did not give me anything back. You left me in such a condition that I could not do a thing to help myself and my wife. You know that I have won you. You belong to me. You might be my slave, but I will not be that hard upon you. I have won you and your wife, but I don’t want to claim you. Take your wife also. She is yours and I don’t want to claim her either.”

High-caste people did not become gamblers, because they always remembered this saying. They always told their children that gambling belonged to lower people and was not work for an honest person. On account of what happened at that time a gambler will now get crazy over the game, and think, when he is using the last money in his purse, “I am going to win it back. I may win it back with the last cent I have.” So he keeps on and on until he goes through with everything. The whole town knows that he is going crazy over gambling, but he thinks that he is doing the right thing. When a gambler wins a lot of things from anyone nowadays, he remembers Qonᴀłgīˊc and gives some of them back. He is not as hard on him as the chief was to the poor man.[96]

It is from Qonᴀłgīˊc also that the gambling sticks have different names and that there are different kinds of nāqs and different sorts of cīcts. These cīcts are lucky gambling sticks, but the lucky medicine that a gambler obtains is also called cīct. In order to get it he has to fast, remain away from his wife, and keep what he is doing secret. At that time he wishes for whatever he desires. This medicine also makes a person brave and is used when preparing for some important action. The name cīct is said to have come from a wolf which had something stuck between its teeth. When a certain man got this out, the wolf said, “I will show you my cīct. I will tell you what it is.”

People who cheat have gambling sticks like birds that are able to fly away, and they keep the names of these sticks to themselves.

It is since the time of this first gambler, too, that people have had the custom of saying to a gambler, “Why don’t you give a feast with the food you have won?”

Gamblers claim that when the sticks move in a certain way while they are gambling, it means death in the family. If they keep the rules of their cīct it will tell them what animal they are going to kill when they are out hunting.

* * * * *

After the rich opponent of Qonᴀłgīˊc had lost all of his property, his wife left him, and he went away from that town. He made a bow and arrows and wandered about in the forest like a wild animal. Coming down to the beach at a certain place, he found a fine bay and built his house upon it. There he began to collect clams and fish which he dried for himself. He was gone all winter, but in those times the Indians did not care for foolish people, viewing them as though they were dead, so his friends did not look for him.

While he lived in that place the chief heard a drum sounding from some distant place, but he did not take the trouble to see what it was. Finally he discovered that the noise was caused by a grouse and said to it, “I see you now. I have been wondering what it was that I heard so much.” Then he said to the grouse, “You are a great dancer, are you not?” “Yes, I dance once in a while when I am lonely.” “Come along and let us have a dance. I am pretty lonely myself.” So that evening he saw all kinds of birds, which were the grouse’s friends, and they had a dance. They danced so much that this man forgot all that he had been grieving about and felt very happy. Therefore people always dance for one who is mourning, to make him forget it. This is where the first dance came from.

Then the chief said to the grouse, “How came you to know about dancing?” “There is a person out on that island who knows a lot about medicine. He knows how to make medicine for dancing and fighting.” “You must let me see him,” said the man. The bird answered, “If you want to see this great medicine-man you must fast to-morrow. This is the great person who knows all about medicines.” Now, after the chief had fasted, he went to sleep and dreamed that a man came to him, showed him a certain leaf on the marsh and said, “Take that leaf and put it into this sack. Then go down toward the beach. As soon as you get down you will see an eagle lying there. Take off its claws and feathers, and, after you have put the leaf in them, draw the cords so as to pull its talons tight around it. After that go down to where the waves are coming in, and at the place the tide has left, stoop down, pretend to pick up something and put it into your sack. That will be the wave. Then take a feather from the back of the head of an ayahīˊya (a solitary bird that continually flies about on the beach) and put it with the rest. You will become a great dancer like that bird. Finally take this medicine to a point running far out into the ocean where the wind blows continually. Tie it there to the top of a tree, where it will always be blowing back and forth.”

The man did as he had been directed, and the day after began to think of composing a song. On account of the medicine this was not hard for him. He also felt that he could dance, and began dancing the same evening. While doing so he was very light upon his feet. He was as if in a trance, not knowing exactly what he was doing. Then he thought to himself, “I am going to the next town.” So he went there and began singing, and it was soon noised about, “A man has come here who is a great singer. He is going to dance to-night.” Then all the people went to that house where he was to dance. He danced and taught the women his songs, which were very sad. He sang about the different clans [among the Haida], picking out only good clans. So the young women of those families began to bring him presents, and each thought, “I will give the most.” They gave him all kinds of things, robes, fur shirts, blankets, leggings. He was becoming very rich through dancing.

In the same town was the young son of a chief who wanted very much to learn to dance and said to him, “How did you come to learn to dance?” He answered, “I have medicine for dancing.” “You must show me how. I will pay you well. I want very much to learn.” Then he showed him how to make the medicine. He said, “You have to fast. If you do that you will learn. Fast to-morrow, and the next day I will take you up to the woods.” When they went up he said, “After you have learned how to do this, you must think of composing a song, and you will see that you will be able to do so at once. You will be so happy over it that you will feel as though you were making a great fire.” In the morning the young man sang and found he could compose songs. Then he went up to the woods and danced all alone by himself. Like the other, he felt light as if he were in a dream. By and by it was reported all over town, “This chief’s son can compose fine songs.” He danced for them, and, because he was a younger person than the other, he danced far better. At this the youth’s boy friends said to him, “What makes you do such a thing? It doesn’t look right for you to do it.” They tried to make him believe he was above dancing, because they were jealous of him. So he went to the man who had instructed him, and the latter said, “People will do this (i. e., dance) all over the world. You will soon hear of it. You and I will not be the only ones doing it. They say this because they are jealous of you.” The youth had composed so many beautiful songs that all the girls had fallen in love with him. That was why the other youths were jealous of him. The first dancer also said to him, “It is not high-caste people like yourself merely who will compose songs. Everybody will learn these and compose others. Anybody that composes songs like this after having made medicine will have his name become great in the world.”

When this youth had told his father all he had learned, his father asked all the people of that town to come to his house and repeated it to them. Then he said, “I do not think it is well for a high-caste person to compose songs and be a dancer. They say that a person’s name will become very high and be known everywhere if he composes songs and becomes a dancer, but a chief’s son’s name is already high, and a chief’s name is known everywhere. Why should he compose songs and dance to make it so? It is better that the poorer people should do this and make their names known in the world.” If the chief had not said this, people that compose songs and dance would be very scarce among us. It is because the chief said, “Let it be among the poorer people so that their names may be known,” that there are so many composers and dancers among us. For no chief composes or dances without giving away a great deal of property.

Thus it happens that there are two kinds of dances, a dance for the chief and his sons and this common or Haida dance (Dekīˊna ᴀʟǃēˊx). In the latter, women always accompany it with songs, and, if the composer sings about some good family, members of the latter give him presents. When the chief is going to dance, he has to be very careful not to say anything out of the way. He dances wearing a head dress with weasel skins, a Chilkat blanket, and leggings and carrying a raven rattle. He is the only one whose voice is heard, and he speaks very quietly. Meanwhile, until it is time for them to start singing for him, the people are very quiet and then only high-caste people sing. The Haida dance, however, is always accompanied by noise. It is rather a dance for pleasure, while the chief’s dance is more of a ceremony. Although most of the people who witness it are high-caste, anyone is welcome. All watch the chief’s actions and listen to his words very closely. If he makes the least mistake, showing that he has not studied his words beforehand very well, they have too much respect for him to say anything to him at that time. Next day, however, after he has found it out, if he does not take his words back, the people that had heard will disgrace him by giving away a great deal of property. The Haida dance was done away with years ago, while the chief’s dance has been given up only in very recent times.

After this the man that first taught dancing married in that town and forgot all about the wealth he had lost. This shows that he was not smart, for a smart man, when he loses a very little of his property, thinks of it and next time tries to do better. One time he and his wife went away in a canoe and upset. His wife was drowned, but he was captured by the land otters who named him Tūtsǃīdîgūˊʟ, and he has strength like that of a shaman among them. When anyone is drowned by the upsetting of his canoe, they say “Tūtsǃīdîgūˊʟ has him.”

* * * * *

One time four boys went out hunting from Klawak with bow and arrows. They saw some black ducks and shot at them, but the ducks kept swimming out to sea, drawing them on. Far out the canoe upset. They hunted for the boys for days and days, but could not find them. Then some property was given to a shaman named Tuxstāˊ, who sent his spirit after them to the point on the beach from which they had set out. Then the shaman said, “The spirits of the boys seem to have taken the road to the land-otters’ dens.” Therefore they kept on until they saw the boys upon a point of land, but, as soon as the latter saw them, they ran into the dens of the land otter. Then the town chief said, “Let the whole town gather pitchwood and burn up the land-otter dens.” So all of the people went thither in their canoes, made fires at the mouths of the dens and killed the land otters as soon as they came out. All perished but a few, who said, “It is Tūtsǃīdîgūˊʟ’s fault that they have burned up our houses and our food.” Then Tūtsǃīdîgūˊʟ jumped into the sea from the other side of the point with the boys all around him, so that they could not be found.

After this the shaman said, “The land otters are going to make war upon the people here,” and soon after they did so. The people attacked them in return and they warred for some time. Many people fell down suddenly and were taken sick, while others were injured by having limbs of trees fall upon their heads. The shaman said that these mishaps were really effects of the land-otters’ arrows, made of the shells of the spider crab. The people were also suffering from boils and pimples all over their bodies, and he said that these were produced by the poisonous shells. So many were dying that all became frightened. Whenever anyone went out hunting or fishing he would be troubled with boils and itching places and have to return. The shaman’s spirits, which the land otters could see, were the only things they feared.

Finally the shaman saw that there were two white land otters, and he said, “If you can get hold of those you will be all right.” Then a canoe with four men started off, and the shaman sang with them telling them that his spirits were going along also to look after them. He said, “You will be lucky. You will get them. As soon as you get them put feathers on their heads.” So they went away and camped for the night. They were unable to sleep, however, on account of the strange noises about their camp as if people were talking in very low tones. Still they could not see anything. They would say to one another, “Do you hear that?” “Yes,” they answered. It was caused by the two high-caste white land otters who were talking to Tuxstāˊ’s spirits.

Next morning the men arose very early, and the eldest said to the one next in years, “Get up. I have had a queer dream. I dreamt that we had a deer and that we were taking our deer to the land-otter den.” Then one of them answered, “You have had a lucky dream. Let us start right away.” So they took the canoe down and set out. Going along on the opposite side of the point on which they had camped, they saw the two white otters swimming in the water. The shaman’s spirits had been holding them. Then the men said to them, “Stay there. We have had you for a long time now.” So the otters remained where they were, and they caught them and put feathers upon their heads. They were making deer of them. They took them home to the fort in which they dwelt and carried them in. All the people danced for them. And that night, after they had retired, the people dreamt that the land otters were dancing the peace-making dance. Some of the people said, “They really danct,” but others replied, “No, they did not dance. We only dreamt it.” Still they dressed up to dance in return. All were fasting, as was customary when peace is about to be made. They also fed the land otters and waited upon them very carefully.

By and by the shaman said that the land otters were coming, so the people made ready for them. They soaked a very bitter root, called sǃîkc, in water for a long time. Some said, “They are not coming. The shaman has made that up,” but others believed him and got ready. Finally the shaman said, “To-morrow they will be here.” The next morning it was very foggy and they could not see far out, but they heard a drum beating. At length the land-otter-people came ashore, and they helped them carry their things up to the houses. One of these land otters had two heads, one under the other. It was Tūtsǃīdîgūˊʟ. All said, “We depend on Tūtsǃīdîgūˊʟ.” Then numbers of land otters came into the house, but, as soon as Tūtsǃīdîgūˊʟ appeared at the door, everybody there but the shaman fell down as if dead. The shaman in turn filled his mouth with the poisonous water they had prepared and spit it about upon the otters, rendering unconscious all that it touched. The land otters, however, shouted, “Keep away from Tūtsǃīdîgūˊʟ. Let him do his work.” So Tūtsǃīdîgūˊʟ danced, saying, “Ha, ha, ha.” When they started a song, the land otters mentioned Tūtsǃīdîgūˊʟ’s name in the manner of the Indians. When they were through with their dance, all of the people woke up, and the land otters also came to. But, when the human beings got up on their feet, all had vanished including the two white ones.

Then the village people said to one another, “Did you see the dances?” “Yes,” they answered. They knew something had happened and did not want to admit having missed it. “Did you see this Tūtsǃīdîgūˊʟ?” “Yes.” “How was he dressed?” “He had two heads and wore a dancing apron. He carried two large round rattles. As soon as he moved around sideways we all went to sleep.”

* * * * *

Now all the people were very happy because the salmon were running, but before they had left the town Raven came to them and said, “Don’t leave the town. Stay right here. Don’t go to any of the salmon creeks.” They were very hungry for salmon, however, and said to four boys, “Go to the salmon creek close by and get some salmon for the village.” So they went there and filled their canoe.

This salmon stream runs down into a sort of lake, and, while they were upon this paddling homeward, they heard some one calling to them. Presently a man came down through the woods and shouted, “Stay where you are, and I will tell you something.” Looking at this man, they saw that he was naked and painted red all over. He said, “When you have gone a short distance, the fellow sitting in the bow will fall over. When you have gone a little farther, the next will do the same. A little farther still the next one will fall over. You fellow in the stern will reach home and tell the news. It is through the shaman’s own spirits that he is killed.”

They could not understand this last saying for the shaman had been alive when they left, but all things happened just as the man had predicted. After they had gone a short distance the man in the bow fell over with blood pouring out of his mouth. The same thing happened to the next two. When the steersman reached town with the three bodies they asked him what was the matter, but he said, “Do not ask me any questions. Give me something to eat quickly.” So they gave him some food, and, after he had finished eating, he said, “As we were paddling along from the creek with our salmon, a man came out of the woods saying, ‘Stay where you are and I will tell you something.’ So we stopped, and he went on, ‘When you get a short distance from here, the man in the bow will drop over, a little farther the next one and a little farther the next one. There will be three. It is what the shaman sees that kills him.’ It has happened just as he said. And he said to me, ‘The fellow in the stern will get home and have something to eat. Just as soon as he has eaten he will drop over.’” And so it happened. Just as soon as he had told the story he dropped over dead. Then the shaman asked for his apron, hat, and necklace as if he were going to doctor some one. As soon as he had dressed, he turned himself around three or four times, as the shamans used to do when they were dying. Afterward blood began to flow from his mouth, and he died.

* * * * *

Now the people of that town were very much frightened, and none of them went away. They had heard before that the land otters have death and all kinds of sickness for their bows and arrows, but until then they had not believed it. Afterward the people began to starve, and the children especially suffered very much. One child, who must have been very poor, would cry at night with hunger. After he had been crying for several nights in this manner the people saw a torch coming toward the house and heard the bearer of it say, “Come here, grandchild, and I will feed you on qǃołkᴀdᴀkêˊx̣.” The child did so. This man was named Man-with-a-burning-hand (Djînakax̣ᴀˊdza), because his hand was always on fire and what he called qǃołkᴀdᴀkêˊx̣ were ants (wᴀnᴀtuˊx). This happened at Tᴀˊqdjîk-ān, the old town of the Klawak people.

Now the father and mother of this child looked about for it, weeping continually. As they were passing a certain cliff, they heard a child crying there, and, raising a flat rock which appeared to cover an opening, they saw it lying inside. Then they saw that ants were crawling out of its nose, eyes, and ears. After that many other children were brought thither, and their parents said to them, “Look at this. Man-with-a-burning-hand did this because the child cried so much. You are always crying too. This will happen to you some day if you do not stop.” Back of the site of Tᴀˊqdjîk-ān there is a cliff still called Man-with-a-burning-hand. This story was mostly for children, and, when a child cried too much, they would say, “Do not cry so much or Man-with-a-burning-hand will get you.” The story was known all over Alaska, and the children were very much afraid of Man-with-a-burning-hand.[97]

* * * * *

In the same town, Tᴀˊqdjîk-ān, lived a chief named G̣ᴀłwēˊtǃ belonging to the Takᵘaneˊdî family. He was bathing in the sea for strength every day, and the people of his village bathed with him. In the cold mornings he would rise, run down to the sea, and rush in. Then he would run up to a good-sized tree and try to pull a limb out of it. He would afterward go to another and try to twist it from top to bottom. He wanted to do these things because he was trying to become a killer of sea lions.

The same chief had a nephew who was thought to be very weak and a great coward. He would not go into the water, and the people teased him by pushing him over, when he would not do a thing in return. He was very slow. The man’s real name was Duktǃūˊʟǃ (Black-skin), but they nicknamed him ᴀtqahāˊsǃî. His real name may also have been a nickname originally, applied to him because he was ugly.

At the same time Black-skin was merely feigning weakness, and, though he continued to lie in bed when the others bathed, at night after all were asleep, he would steal off and do the same thing himself for hours and hours. He remained in so long that he had to float to rest his feet. On coming out he would throw water on the ashes of the fire so as to make it steam and lay his mat on top. That was the only bed he had. The people thought that he was a low, dirty fellow, but in reality he kept himself very pure and would not lie or steal. He did not say a word when they made fun of him, though he was strong enough to have done almost anything to them if he had so desired. When they sent him after big pieces of firewood he acted as if they were very hard to lift, and they thought he was so lazy that they gave him very little to eat.

The people went on in this way, bathing every day with their chief, while Black-skin bathed at night. After they were through, the village people would make a big fire, take breakfast and then go after wood. As soon as the people came up, Black-skin moved into a corner and slept there. One night, while Black-skin was bathing, he heard a whistle that sounded to him like that of a loon. He thought, “Now that I am seen I better let myself go.” So he went toward the place where he had heard it and saw a short, thick-set man standing on the beach clothed in a bear skin. This man ran down toward him, picked him up, and threw him down upon the beach. Then he said, “You can’t do it yet. Don’t tell anyone about me. I am Strength (Łatsīˊn). I have come to help you.”

Toward morning Black-skin came in feeling very happy, for he thought that he had seen something great. He kept thinking of Strength all the time. He could not forget him, but he was quieter than ever in his demeanor. When they were playing in the house he would never pay any attention, and, if they said mean things to him, he let them go on unnoticed, although he belonged to the family of the chief. Anything they wanted they asked him to get, and he got it. In olden times the boys used to wrestle in the chief’s house while their elders looked on, and they would try to get him to wrestle also. Sometimes the little boys would wrestle with him, and he pretended that they pushed him down. Then they would make fun of him saying, “The idea of a great man like you being thrown by a child.”

When he went in bathing again, this man felt very happy for he knew that he had strength. Anything hard to do, when he looked at it, appeared easy to him. That night he heard the whistle once more. He looked round and saw the same man, and the man said, “Come over this way. Come over to me.” Then they seized one another, and as soon as the short man felt his grip, he said, “Don’t throw me down. Now you have strength. You are not to go into the water again. Go from here right to that tree and try to pull the limb out.” So he went to the tree and pulled it right out. Then he put it back again. After he had done so, the man told him to go to the other tree. “Twist it right down to the roots,” he said. So he did. Afterward he untwisted it and made it look as before.

Just after he got to bed the people started in bathing. As they passed him the boys would pull his hair saying, “Come on and go in bathing, too;” but he paid no attention. After they had bathed they went up to this limb as usual, and G̣ᴀłwēˊtǃ pulled it out with ease. Black-skin lay in bed, listening to the shouting they made. Then G̣ᴀłwēˊtǃ ran to the other tree and twisted it to the very root. When they came home, they told the story to one another, saying, “G̣ᴀłwēˊtǃ pulled out that limb.” The chief himself felt very proud, and the people of the village were very happy that he had done so, especially his two wives. Then they tried to get Black-skin out of bed. They laughed at him, saying, “Your chief has pulled out the limb. Why couldn’t you? He has also twisted that tree. You sleep like a chief and let your chief go bathing in the morning.” They laughed at him, saying, “He is sleeping in the morning because he has pulled out that limb and twisted that tree.”

They had been bathing in order to hunt sea lions, so the young men said, “To-morrow we are going after sea lions. I wonder which part of the canoe Black-skin will sleep in. He is such a powerful fellow.” And one boy said, “Why this Black-skin will sit in the bow of the canoe so that he can land first. He will tear the sea lions in two.” Black-skin listened to all this, but he paid no attention to them. The whole town was going all day long to see the place where the limb had been pulled off and the tree twisted down to the root. Those people almost lived on this sea-lion meat, but it was very scarce and only powerful people could get it. For this reason they picked out only the strongest fellows from among those who had been bathing with the chief, to go after them to the sea-lion island. This island was very slippery because the sea lions stayed there all of the time and very few could get up to the place where they were. That is why they went through such hardships to get at them.

The elder of the chief’s two wives had had pity on Black-skin, and would do little favors for him on the sly. So Black-skin, after he had bathed secretly, came to his uncle’s wife and said, “Will you give me a clean shirt; it doesn’t matter much what it is so long as it is clean, and something for my hair?” “Are you asked to go?” she said. He replied, “I am not asked, but I am going.” So she prepared food for him and put it in as small a package as she could. All prepared and got into the canoe. Last of all came down Black-skin, and, when they saw him, they said, “Don’t let him come. Don’t let him come.” Seeing that he was determined to get in they began pushing the canoe out as fast as they could. Black-skin then seized the canoe, and they struck his fingers to make him let go. It sounded like beating upon a board. And, although all of them were shoving it out, he exerted a very little of his strength, pulled the canoe back, and jumped in. Then the people talked very meanly to him, but the chief said, “Oh! let him be. He will bail out the canoe for us on the way over.” So he sat in the place where one bails. The uncle might have suspected something after his nephew had pulled back the canoe, but he did not appear to. As they went rapidly out they said, “Black-skin came along to tear the sea lions in two.” They asked him, “How many sea lions shall I skin for you?” But Black-skin said nothing.

The sea-lion island had very precipitous sides against which great waves came, so G̣ᴀłwēˊtǃ waited until the canoe was lifted upon the crest of a wave and then jumped ashore. He was a powerful fellow, and seizing a small sea lion by the tail smashed its head to pieces on the rocks. Then he thought he would do the same thing to a large one. These large sea lions are called qǃᴀtǃ-cu-qāˊwu (men-of-the-islands). He went to the very largest of these and sat astride of its tail, intending to tear it in two, but the sea lion threw him up into the air, and, when he came down, he was smashed to pieces on the rocks.

Now, when Black-skin saw what had happened to his uncle, he felt badly. Then he put his hand into his bundle of clothes, took out and put on his hair ornament and his shirt, while all watched him, and said, “I am the man that pulled out that limb, and I am the man that twisted that tree.” He spoke as high-caste Indians did in those days, and all listened to him. He said to them, “Take the canoe closer to shore.” Then he walked forward in the canoe, stepping on the seats which broke under his weight, precipitating their occupants to the bottom of the canoe. The young men that were sitting in his way he threw back as if they had been small birds. Then the people were all frightened, thinking that he would revenge himself on them for their meanness, but he jumped ashore where his uncle had gone and walked straight up the cliff. The small sea lions in his way he killed simply by hitting them on the head and by stepping on them. He looked only at the big one that had killed his uncle, for he did not want it to get away. When he came to it, he seized it and tore it in two. A few of the sea lions escaped, but he killed most of them and loaded the canoe down. While he was doing this, however, his companions, who were very much ashamed of themselves and very much frightened, paddled away and left him. They said to the people in the town, “It was Black-skin who pulled out the limb and twisted the tree.” Then the town people were troubled and said, “Why did you leave him out there? Why didn’t you bring him in?”

Meanwhile Black-skin took out the sea-lion intestines and dried them. He had nothing to make a fire with and did not know what he should do. So he lay down and went to sleep, his head covered with his blanket. Then he heard something that sounded like the beating of sticks. Suddenly he was awakened by hearing someone say, “I have come after you.” He looked around, but could not see anything except a black duck which was swimming about in front of him. Then he saw the black duck coming toward him and said to it, “I have seen you already.” It answered, “I am sent after you. Get on my back but keep your eyes closed tight.” So he did. Then the duck said again, “Now open your eyes.” He opened them and saw that he was in a fine house. It was the house of the sea lions. It is through this story that the natives to the present day say that everything is like a human being. Each has its “way of living.” Why do fish die on coming out of the water? It is because they have a “way of living” of their own down there.

Meanwhile the elder wife of the chief, who had helped Black-skin, was mourning for her husband and nephew. Her husband’s body was still on that island. The older people were also saying to the people who had left him, “Why did you do it? A powerful fellow like that is scarce. We want such a fellow among us.” Then the widow begged the young men to go back to the island and bring home her nephew and her husband’s body but the younger wife did not care. Finally some other people did go out. They saw the body there, but Black-skin was gone. Then they took aboard the body, loaded the canoe with the bodies of sea lions, and went home. When they heard of it the wise people all said that something was wrong. The shamans said that he was not dead and that they would see him again. They said that he was off with some wild animal. This troubled the village people a great deal. They felt very badly to think that he had kept himself so very lowly before the low-caste people, and they feared that he was suffering somewhere again when he might just as well have occupied his uncle’s place.

Black-skin, however, continued to stay among the sea lions. They looked to him like human beings, but he knew who they really were. In the same house there was a boy crying all the time with pain. The sea-lion people could not see what ailed him. Black-skin, however, could see that he had a barbed spear point in his side. Then one of the sea lions spoke up saying, “That shaman there knows what is the matter. He is saying, ‘How is it that they can not see the bone in the side of that child?’” Then Black-skin said, “I am not a shaman, but I can take it out.” So he cut it out and blood and matter came out with it. Then they gave him warm water to wash the wound, and, since the young sea lion belonged to high-caste people, they said to him, “Anything that you want among us you can have.” So he asked for a box that always hung overhead. This box was a kind of medicine to bring any kind of wind wanted. The sea lions would push the box up and down on the water, calling the wind to it like a dog, whistling and saying, “Come to this box. Come to this box.” So the natives now whistle for the winds and call them. Then the sea-lion people told Black-skin to get into it, and, as soon as he did so, he saw that he was very far out at sea. He began to call for the wind that blows shoreward, and it carried him ashore. Then he got out of the box and hung it out on the limb of a tree in a sheltered place. He did this because the sea-lion people had told him to take very good care of that box and not go near anything unclean with it.

Black-skin had now landed only a short distance from his own town, so he walked home, and his uncle’s wife was very glad to see him, feeling as if his uncle had come back. The dried sea-lion entrails he wore around his head. Then he asked all of the town people to come together, and the people who had been cruel to him were very much ashamed, for they thought that he had gone for good. He, however, looked very fine. He eyed his enemies angrily but thought thus, “If I had not made myself so humble, they might not have treated me that way.” So he overlooked it. Some of the people that had left him on the sea-lion island were so frightened that they ran away into the woods. Some of the old people and the good-hearted people were very glad that he was back, but he could see that others hung their heads as if they were ashamed. Then he said, “Some of you know how cruel you were to me. You know well that you are ashamed of yourselves. But I can see that some of you feel good because you know that you felt kindly toward me. It will always be the case that people who are cruel to poor people will be ashamed of it afterward.” They had thought that he would avenge himself on them, but he talked to them in a very kindly manner saying, “Do not make fun of poor people as you did when my uncle was alive.”[98]

* * * * *

After this the people went out hunting and encamped in a place called Tayuˊkǃnᴀxe. A man went out from here with his brother and little son one day, and, when they returned, saw that every one had disappeared. They felt very badly and said, “What is wrong with our village?” Then they saw that the whole town was covered with devilfish slime and said, “It is that monster devilfish that has done all this.” People say that he had seen the red glow of the salmon on the drying frames outside. Then the two men said to the boy with them, “You must stay here. We are going off.” So they made a mat house over him and let him have their blankets. They were wild at the thought of having lost all their friends. Then they killed a number of porpoises and seals, went to the devilfish’s place and threw them into the water above him. After a while they saw that the water was getting frothy around them with ascending bubbles and presently saw the devilfish coming up. It looked very white. One of these men was making a noise like the raven; the other was acting like a dog salmon. All that went on was observed by the little boy. As soon as the devilfish reached the surface they jumped upon it with their knives and began slashing it. They cut its ink bag and all the water became black. The devilfish and the men died.

Soon after this had happened a canoe from another camp came there, saw this object floating on the sea some distance out from the village, and thought that it was yet alive; so they hurried to get past it. When they came ashore the boy told them all that had happened, and they cried very much at seeing him there alone, for he was their relative. After this they returned with him to their camp, which was situated upon an island near by, and told the story there, on which two canoe loads of people left to look for the devilfish. After they had found it and had cut it open with their stone axes, they saw the two men still inside, knife in hand. All the village people that the devilfish had eaten were also there. Then they took the bodies back to town and had a death feast.[99]

* * * * *

Later on a chief’s daughter at the place named Qǃᴀqᴀˊx-duūˊ obtained a wood worm (ʟǃuqǃuˊx) as a pet and fed it on different kinds of oil. It grew very fast until it reached the length of a fathom. Then she composed a cradle song for it: “It has a face already. Sit right here. Sit right here (Kǃesi-yaˊkǃᵘ ᴀˊsgî. Tcǃayāˊkǃ ᴀˊnu).” She sang again, “It has a mouth already. Sit right here. Sit right here.” They would hear her singing these words day after day, and she would come out from her room only to eat. Then her mother said to her, “Stay out here once in a while. Do not sit back there always.” They wondered what was wrong with her that she always stayed inside, and at last her mother thought that she would spy upon her daughter. She looked inside, therefore, and saw something very large between the boxes. She thought it an awful monster, but left it alone, because her daughter was fond of it.

Meanwhile the people of the town had been missing oil from their boxes for some time, for this worm was stealing it. The mother kept saying to her daughter, “Why don’t you have something else for a pet? That is a horrible thing to have for a pet.” But her daughter only cried.

Now, the people got ready to kill this thing, and they tried in every way to induce the girl to come away from her house. Her mother told her that her uncle’s wife wanted her help, but, although she was very fond of her, that was not sufficient to get her out. Next morning she said to the big worm, “Son, I have had a very bad dream.” After they had begged her to come out day after day she finally came. “Mother,” she said, “get me my new marten robe.” Then she tied a rope around her waist as a belt and came out singing a song she had been composing ever since they first began to beg her: “I have come out at last. You have begged me to come out. I have come out at last, you have begged me so hard, but it is just like begging me to die. My coming out from my pet is going to cause death.” As she sang she cried, and the song made the people feel very badly. Then she heard a great uproar and said to her uncle’s wife, “They are killing my son at last.” “No,” said her uncle’s wife, “it is a dog fight.” “No, they are killing him.” They had quite a time killing the worm, and when she heard that it was dead she sang, “They got me away from you, my son. It isn’t my fault. I had to leave you. They have killed you at last. They have killed you. But you will be heard of all over the world. Although I am blamed for bringing you up, you will be claimed by a great clan and be looked up to as something great.” And to this day, when that clan is feasting, they start her four songs. This clan is the G̣ānᴀxteˊdî. Then she went to her father and said, “Let that pet of mine be burned like the body of a human being. Let the whole town cut wood for it.” So they did, and it burned just like coal oil.

Another of this woman’s songs was, “You will be a story for the time coming. You will be told of.” This is where the G̣ānᴀxteˊdî come from. No one outside of them can use this worm. What causes so many wars is the fact that there are very many people having nothing who claim something. The G̣ānᴀxteˊdî also own Black-skin. They represent him on poles with the sea-lions’ intestines around his head.

The girl’s father felt very badly that she should care for so ugly a creature, but to please her and make her feel better, he gave a feast along with tobacco and said, “If my daughter had had anything else for a pet, I would have taken good care of it, too, but I feared that it would injure the village later on, so I had to have it killed.”

* * * * *

In the town where this occurred a man named Sǃāwᴀˊn became a shaman. He told the people to leave and go somewhere else because spirits were saying in him, “If you stay in this village, you will all die.” There was so much respect for shamans in those days that people obeyed everything that they told them to do. By and by his spirit said to the shaman, “You will be asked to go somewhere, my master. My masters, the people of the village, do you go away with me?” And the village people kept saying to him, “Yes, we are going along with you.” Then the spirit said, “The persons that are going to invite me from here are not human beings. They are already getting ready to come.”

By and by the canoe came after him. He seemed to know that there was something about to happen, and said, “Somehow or other you people look strange.” He put all of his things into small boxes ready to depart. Then he got in and they covered him with a mat until they reached their village, when he got up and saw some fine houses. The fronts were beautifully painted. Among these houses was one with a crowd of people in front which they tried to make him believe was that where the sick person lay. His rattle and belt, however, ran up on the shore ahead of him and entered the proper house, which was in another part of the town. These people were land otters, and they called him by name, “Sǃāwᴀˊn, Sǃāwᴀˊn.” They said to him, “All the shamans among us have been doctoring him, and they can not do a thing. They can not see what is killing him. That is why we have asked you to come.”

Then the shaman thought within himself, “Who will sing my songs for me?” but the land otters spoke out, saying, “We can sing your songs. Don’t be worried.” Inside of this house there hung a breastplate made out of carved bones, such as a shaman used in his spiritual combats. The land otters saw that he wanted it and said, “We will pay you that for curing him.” Then the shaman began to perform. He could see that the land otter was made sick by an arrow point sticking in its side, but this was invisible to the land otters. After he had pulled it out, the sick otter, who belonged to the high-caste people, sat up immediately and asked for something to eat. The shaman kept the arrow point, however, because it was made of copper, and copper was very expensive in those days.

Then one of the land-otter shamans said to him, “I will show you something about my spirits.” And so he did. He saw some very strange things. When he was shown one kind of spirit, the land otter said, “You see that. That is Sickness (Nīkǃ).” What he called Sickness was the spirit of a clam. These clams look to the spirits like human beings. That is why the spirits are so strong. He also showed him the Spirit of the Sea (Dekīˊna yēk), the Spirit of the Land (Dāˊqna-yēk), the Spirit from Above (Kīyēˊgî), and the Spirit from Below (Hāỵīˊnᴀq-yēk). All these became the man’s spirits afterward.

Nowadays, when a man wants to become a shaman, he has to cut the tongue of a land otter and fast for eight days. You can tell a shaman who has been fasting a great deal because his eyes become very sharp.

After he had shown all of the spirits, they said, “We will take you to your town any time you want to go.” Then they took him to his own town. They had to cover him up again.