War between the Pebble-town people and the Slaves
[Told by Abraham of Those-born-at-Qꜝā′dᴀsg̣o]
Sg̣agᴀ′ño[1] went from Tcꜝā′ał to visit Always-ready.[2] After they had gone along for a while on the sqā′djañ[3] they came to Songs-of-victory town.[4] And, when they came near the shore, Always-ready shot an arrow into the canoe. When he turned away he said: “Mine strikes in the way that it does when something is killed.” And Sg̣agᴀ′ño paddled back behind Fin island. Then they took things out of a box for the one who had been shot and put him in its place. And they fastened a rope around the box and came to the town again.
They then landed, and the town people carried up the things. With the rest of the property they brought up a big, heavy box. And, after food had been given to them to eat and evening was come, Sg̣agᴀ′ño’s companions went to a flat rock lying in front of the town and sat there. Then Sg̣agᴀ′ño, with two youths, went toward the upper end of the town.
They (the town people) then untied the heavy box. A dead man lay in it. Then all of the town people reached for their war spears. They ran down to the others, who were lying idly about, and killed all.
Then the chief looked behind him. And he started into the woods with the young fellows. At that time he shook this entire island.[5] On account of that they began to assume the name “Island-shaker.”
Then the two youths and Sg̣agᴀ′ño went away. Many nights passed over them. By and by they came to one who was making a canoe behind X̣i′das.[6] The youths wished to kill him. While they were talking Sg̣agᴀ′ño came to him. When he (the stranger) saw him he said: “Alas! he must have been doing as he always does.”[7] Then, without even putting away his tools, he went down before them. The man was a good canoe-builder, and he was a good bear-hunter. He then went in and spread out three bear skins for them, and his wife cooked food. And, when he had it set before him, Sg̣agᴀ′ño said: “Stranger,[8] I shall not eat this food. This ground might see me.”[9] Only the youths ate the food. He then let them go in a new 5-fathom canoe.
He gave them mat sails, paddles, and mats and food for the youths. Then Sg̣agᴀ′ño said to the man: “You had better not stay where the people of Sqā′ma-qꜝe-u[10] camp this summer. Stay near some sandy beach. When we return from fighting we will put off in front of you your friends who have been taken as slaves.” He then went to Tcꜝā′ał with the youths. [[405]]
Then the Ninstints people began to live in a fort on the top of Sqas. But, although they were afraid, the one who gave his canoe to Sg̣agᴀ′ño lived toward the sea at Ga′-igᴀn-kun.[11] Then the people of Tcꜝā′ał went to war in successive parties. And they were on the water in front of the fort.
Always-ready then came out of the smoke hole, and he walked about on the roof wearing his armor. They shot at him then with arrows. They did not pierce him. He then went back and shot at them in turn. The next time they went to war they climbed up to the top of the cliff. They tried to roll down stones upon them. These did not come near the houses. The stones all skipped over the houses. And they again went home.
And, after they had held them besieged for a while, they were straitened for food. Then Always-ready told his brother-in-law to make ten bows for himself. And, after he had worked upon them for a while, he finished them. Fine feathers were fastened near the tips. And his brother-in-law gave them to him. He was glad to have them. Then he gave up the big cedar bow he always used in favor of these new ones.
The people of the town began to dislike him. His sisters and his brothers-in-law were affected with the same feeling, because, on account of him, they were always hungry.
One day his brothers-in-law came in from fishing. His sister gave him the white part of the belly of the halibut they had caught. On account of that he went out fishing with three persons. He took his ten bows with him, and he took his two arrow boxes. But he left his cedar bow behind.
And on the day after he went fishing, very early, they again came to fight. And, as he used to do, one came out on the top of the house and said “Ha-ha.” And when they shot up at him he went in. When they again shot down from the fort, one of the floating arrows stood on end in the water. They brought it in. From it hung a small stone. Then they handed it to an old man among them, and, after he had thought about it for a while, he said they did that as a sign that he (Always-ready) was out fishing. The ten canoes then started seaward.
Five went out on each side of Xē′na.[12] They looked for him as they went along, and, when they had nearly met at the end, they saw him lying out to sea. Then they went to him. When he discovered them he walked about in the middle of the canoe awaiting them. And when they got near him he took one bow. He broke it. He took another. He also broke that. When he had done that for a while he broke all ten bows. His brother-in-law who had made his bows for him had notched the rounded side of the bow under the feathers. All broke just there. [[406]]
He then threw the broken pieces of the bows and the two arrow boxes into the sea. He did not scratch anyone’s skin. They were afraid of him. When he threw his arrows away they went to him. And they killed the three who were fishing with him, but him they captured.
He then got into Sg̣agᴀ′ño’s canoe. They felt too glad to know that they had taken him. Their minds were very good on account of him. After they had gone along with him for a while they encamped at a long sandy beach which is called G̣ᴀ′nʟ̣ī.[13] They there set him ashore. They sat around him on the beach. They had heard that he was brave, so they wanted to see him.
And, after they had looked at him for a while, they wanted to see how well he could shoot. They then stood up a stick on the beach, and Sg̣agᴀ′ño had something white hung upon it. They then gave him a bow and arrows. He did not like the arrows. They handed him then one with an iron point. And, when he had set the arrow on the bow, he turned around quickly to where Sg̣agᴀ′ño’s nephew sat behind him and shot him. He fell backward from the box on which he was sitting.
They bound him then and brought wood. And they built a large fire upon the beach for him. They then laid him down with his back to the fire. And, while the skin of his back was blistering from the heat of the fire, they picked up live coals and rubbed them upon his back. They asked him: “Always-ready, does it hurt you?” And he answered: “Ha-i, no. The one whom I killed just now hurts you. He went up before me. I shall go up after him.”[14]
He was then burned to death, and they looked at his entrails. One lobe of his liver (?) was short. That was why he was brave. They laid him then just back of the place where they were, at the edge of the grass.[15]
He was gone from among the families. The trouble then stopped. And they also put the chief’s son into a box and started sorrowfully away.
When he (Sg̣agᴀ′ño) ran into the woods at Songs-of-victory town, and after he reached Tcꜝā′ał, a woman of the family composed a crying song for him:
“Grandfather (i.e., Raven) shook the supernatural beings when he moved grandly.”[16]
The first of these families was the noted Raven family that owned Tcꜝā′ał, on the west coast of Moresby island; the latter, one of the most noted Raven families among the people in the Ninstints territory. [[408]]
[1] Chief of the Pebble-town people. [↑]
[3] The name of the common type of Haida canoe used in old times. [↑]
[4] This stood on Moresby island opposite Hot Spring island. [↑]
[5] It is quite possible that an earthquake occurred at this time, the cause of which Sg̣agᴀ′ño attributed to himself. [↑]
[7] Always-ready was continually making disturbance. [↑]
[8] The word also means an indeterminate person and may be rendered “So-and-so.” [↑]
[9] He does not wish even the ground to see him in such a plight. [↑]
[10] Another name for Songs-of-victory town. Sqām is said to be the name for a woman’s needlecase. [↑]
[13] Fresh water or a fresh-water stream is called g̣ᴀnʟ. [↑]
[14] Most persons who died by violence were supposed to go to Tā′xet’s house, which was suspended from the sky. [↑]
[15] This was probably done out of respect, for the bodies of slaves were usually thrown into the sea. The word translated liver is qꜝā′djî. [↑]
[16] This refers to the earthquake and likens Sg̣agᴀ′ño to his grandfather Raven, who belonged to the same clan. One name assumed by the head chiefs of this family was Nᴀñkî′lsʟas, which was also one of the names of Raven. [↑]