Djila′qons
[Version obtained by Prof. Franz Boas.]
Ten men intended to catch fish near Q’a′daso near ʟō [New Kloo]. They went there in their canoe and caught the fish by means of snares which were attached to the points of poles. One of these men wore a hat showing a design of a cormorant (k·ʼā′lo) belonging to the Eagle clan. Whenever he caught a fish his hat fell down into the water, so that he did not catch any thing more. Finally he grew angry and scolded the water. He took his hat and said: “I strike your vulva with this hat, Djila′qons.” Finally the people went ashore, where they made a large fire, intending to eat the fish. [The name of the fish was Tā′ʟat, the charr (or rainbow-trout)]. They roasted them. After a little while a large frog came up to the fire. They took it and threw it into the flames, and laughed when they saw it burn. After a short while there was a clap of thunder, and the frog burst. After a little while the same frog came back. They put more wood upon the fire, and threw the frog into it; but when it was red-hot it jumped out of the fire.
Now they returned to their village. They saw a man walking along the beach, following them. He shouted: “When your canoe reaches yonder point of land, one of you shall die. At the next point of land the second one of the number shall die, until you are all dead. Only the steersman shall reach your village, where he shall tell what has befallen you, and then he, too, shall die.”
After a little while they heard a large man coming, who struck his abdomen, and the sound was like that of a drum. Then they laughed at him. They struck his abdomen with sticks in order to hear the noise. He said: “I wish to help you,” but they did not listen to him. He said: “A fire is coming. It is going to burn everything.” After a while they saw an animal coming, with a beak like that of a mosquito.
Another day a few men went out hunting seals. They met a seal which looked up at the sky and said: “This cloud looks as though all the people were going to die. The same thing happened long ago.” [All these were prophesies of the general destruction of the tribe.] Then the man returned without killing the seal.
Now the whole town was burned. The fire came from the water, burning everything. All the people were killed. Only a young girl who had just reached maturity hid in a cellar near the doorway where [[317]]the people used to urinate. She alone was saved. Her name was Yēʟʼukx·īna′ng. Then Djila′qons came from out of the water. She took her staff, beat time with it, and sang a mourning song. She found the young girl, who became the mother of the Djʼēguaʟlānas.
This is one of the most important Haida family stories, Djila′qons being considered the ancestress, or at all events special patroness, of all those of the Eagle clan, while from Sounding-property, the sole survivor of the town of Djī′gua, were descended the following four great groups of Eagles: Those-born-at-Skedans and the Town-of-Djī′gua-people of Old Kloo, the Witch people of Cumshewa, and the Sealion town people of Kaisun. Besides these several claim to have branched off from the above, and the Lā′na tcꜝā′adᴀs claim her as their ancestress because a man of their family took her over to the Tsimshian. They are not, of course, regularly entitled to the distinction.
A version of this story obtained by myself was printed in the Memoirs of the American Museum of Natural History, Jesup North Pacific Expedition, V, part I, pages 94–96, and another was printed by Professor Boas in his Indianische Sagen von der Nord-Pacifischen Küste Amerikas, Berlin, 1895, pp. 310, 311. My story-teller gave the following as one of the crying songs used by Djila′qons at this time: Wâ â hâ â g̣adā′g̣a-łîña′-i⁺hēyē, etc., the whole being accompanied by weeping, sobbing, and the labored breathing that accompanies. The two words mean “those who were going to have property,” the thought being “Oh! those that would have had property if I had let them alone!” [[318]]