War between the people of Kloo and the Tsimshian
[Told by Abraham of Those-born-at-Qꜝā′dᴀsg̣o]
The people at Chicken-hawk[1] town were at Wā′nats[2] prepared for war and had done raising their canoes. They were going to Kitamat.[3] And because the tides began to run too high for them to make the start from Chicken-hawk town, they prepared at ʟłasū′g̣a-i. When the tide was high they started off.
Then some Skedans[4] people met them. And they gave them the following news. Bufflehead had thrown a dry halibut at Î′ngîlîn,[5] on account of which there was a fight.[6] They heard that a woman of the Town-of-Djī′gua people[7] had been killed. Then, instead [of keeping on], they went toward the Tsimshian.[8]
They went on and took all the dry salmon a slave was getting in Skidegate creek[9] away from him. They took a large number of bundles of salmon out of the canoe of one who was coming back from war. After they had left that place they took away all the property of some people who were living at Da′x̣ua.[10]
They then went seaward and came to the mouth of the Skeena. And they went toward Metlakahtla[11] and pulled their canoe up into the woods. Close behind them were very many people in a temporary camp. After some time had elapsed they began to make a noise. They then went to fight.
When they came out of the woods a Tsimshian shot a Haida. “A,” he was glad to have shot him. Then some Tsimshian got into a medium-sized canoe and paddled off in fright. And the Kloo people also got into one. The Tsimshian had one paddle, and the fighters also had one.
And after they had chased them for a while, they chased them ashore and seized them at the edge of the water. Only one escaped to the woods. When they seized his wife she cried out, and he turned around quickly with a knife. Then Djix̣ia′al ran toward him. When he got near he shouted at him. He (the Tsimshian) shook, and he seized him.
They then got into the two canoes and went over to the place where they had come out. They went over to the war canoes that were there. On an island on which stood one tree, near the place where they came out, sat Nî′swas.[12] And the people of his town also sat there. The Kloo people were unaware of it.
And, when they started off, one [Tsimshian] who was a good hunter started after something [from the camp of Nî′swas]. He shot at them. Then they started back. [[430]]
They came across then, and the warriors came to Raven-creek.[13] Two canoes landed at a house that stood on the farther side of High-point.[14] After they had remained for a while in that house a Skidegate man who used to be on good terms with a Kloo man ran in through the doorway. Instead of sitting idle, Qena′-i’s father[15] picked up his weapons. One of them held ready before the door an ax which he had in his hands. He brought news over in advance that people were coming over from High-point town[14] to fight them.
Then they (the assailants) went back. And they also went away. When the sun had passed behind the hills, they arrived at Chicken-hawk town. At that time they sang a high song. They had brought in ten slaves.
Then one whose canoe was empty went into Kitamat for a short raid. After he had been gone for a while they heard the sound of his guns. While they were living at Kloo he brought in two slaves. They took them for Kog̣ogwa′ñ. By trading these he built a house. It was named “Î′ngîlîn-house.”[16]
Some time after this they went to war on the Tsimshian in two canoes. Gîtku′n[17] and Gitagᴀ′ñgiasʟas went. After they got into the Tsimshian country they landed their canoes near Metlakahtla. After they had sat there for a while five persons came in a canoe after devilfish. There were three women and two men, and the warriors ran toward them in the woods.
The chief did not get off. But the others walked about on shore. They took then the wife of Nîsʟā′ganūs, and they also took the wife of his nephew. And they seized the other woman in the woods. She was very pretty, and they lay with her there and let her go.
They pushed them along then to the place where the canoes were. And, when they started off, Nîsʟā′ganūs’s nephew walked about on the opposite shore. He shot at them many times, but the gunpowder only flashed. By and by they pulled out of range. And they went seaward to Sqä′g̣ał. And, when they started across, they sang a high song at Kloo.[18] And they owned her (the chief’s wife) there. The winter was not long for him (Gîtku′n).[19]
The Tsimshian then came to fight for her in a crowd. And, when they camped at Qal,[20] Häl[21] sent a canoe to talk with them. He had them tell the people that he was going to come for her. When harvest time[22] came, after he had said he would come back in many canoes, a great many Kîtkatla people came by canoe to Skedans. It was a veritable crowd.
They stayed at the town of Skedans. The Kloo people also crossed thither. The great Häl got Kꜝuia′ns’s[23] sister and another woman who had been taken south to the Bellabella.[24] He brought both over.
On the night when the Kloo people came he began to dance. After he had done this for a while he sent the two Ninstints people [to the [[431]]Kloo people] by striking them on the back. They struck Gîtku′n with a slave,[25] and Gidᴀ′ñgiasʟas also went away with one. The chiefs were in Mother-house.[26]
After he had ceased dancing, Gîtku′n also started to dance. After he had done so for a while, and had stopped, they had the wife of Nîsʟā′ganūs stand up, and the other with her. And, when they struck her on the back to send her to the other side, she almost touched the ground with her lips. They did the same thing to the other one. In this way they exchanged.
After they got back to Kloo Kꜝuia′ns and Kꜝadja′-i paid for their sisters. Kꜝuia′ns paid two slaves for his sister, along with sea otters. Kꜝadja′-i also paid a slave for his sister, besides much property and many guns.
After this winter came. When spring came Gîtku′n joined the secret society. At the end of two days he disappeared into the woods. On the next day all the Kloo people went to Skedans. When they set out they launched his canoe, which was called “Reef-canoe.”[27]
After they had loaded for a while, some came down in a crowd out of Cave-house with a sail pulled tightly around them. Inside of it many horns sounded. They got into the canoe and started across. It went along in the midst of the other canoes, and something whistled inside of the sail. All thought that Gîtku′n was in it.
When they got near Skedans Reef-canoe changed still more. They let the one who had fallen [that is, joined the secret society] at Kloo be inspired at Skedans. When they stood in front of Skedans, he (the spirit) suddenly made a noise behind Skedans, and Skedans was in commotion. Hu hu, hu hu hu, Wā′nᴀg̣ᴀn[28] also acted ū′lala in a different place. At this time they were so much taken up with it that they did not know what they did. When they got Wā′nᴀg̣ᴀn into Mother-house, the companions also attended to Gîtku′n. They got him into Rotten-house.[29] They then came ashore.
The day after this, about noon, Wā′nᴀg̣ᴀn went out and bit the arms of the sons of Skedans chiefs belonging to good families.[30] After a time he bit the arm of Gā-iñᴀ′ldᴀña-i-yū′ᴀns, when he too joined the secret society. He was inspired. On the day after that Gā-iñᴀ′ldᴀña-i-yū′ᴀns went out and [feigned to] eat a Bellabella woman that his mother owned.[31] As he sat and moved around her she pushed him from her and made a sound as if she feared him. By and by he seized her and began to eat her. When he began to bite her neck she died. The companions took care of him. He ate to the middle of her.
One day, when the secret society was at its height, it was foggy. At that time the two brothers of Nîsʟā′gañūs’ wife came to fight. They were Nīstadâ′ and Nîsūłna′tc.
During three days and nights it was foggy at sea. After that, when [[432]]they made land very early in the morning, they saw it (land) all at once. They then pulled up their canoe on Gwa′-idjats.[32]
Just at daybreak the sound of the bad secret society came to their ears. When day broke they discovered that they were coming out to them in a canoe. In the bow of the canoe persons were acting under the influence of the spirits of the bad[33] secret society. They made noises, and they said to each other that they smelt them. They fled then. They forgot the board which holds the foot of the mast. Then some who had gone after sea eggs shouted as they came back [at seeing] their white sail pass out to sea from Skedans. Then they split in two some boxes of grease that they had and made a hole in the bottom with an adze. Then one of them, lying on his back, held it there with his feet. When they were some distance away they passed round in a crooked course. Then they made a board to hold the foot of the mast at Skidegate creek. After this time the people of the two islands had the board to hold the foot of the mast nailed down inside the bow.
The next fine day after this they went home. They found their minds were different, and they found their own country.
And, when the secret society was all over, they (the people) returned to Kloo. When the middle of the following summer arrived they came to get something for having had their sister enslaved. They were allowed to land without disturbance. Before any food was given to them they started to dance.[34]
“Hō⁺ hō⁺ hī hō⁺ hī⁺ hō⁺ hī⁺ hō⁺ hī⁺ hō⁺ hī hō⁺ hōga haaa hoga hog̣a ha ha gudixē′” [they sang].
They put a dance hat on Nīstᴀdâ′. They also struck Nîsūłna′tc with a copper plate (that is, they gave it to him). And he danced, holding it by means of his neck [and chin]. Hu hu hu hu, it was a great dance. The town people also struck him with some property.
This is the end. They had peace with each other. [[434]]
[1] See “[Wars between the Peoples of Skidegate and Kloo],” note [26]. [↑]
[2] A place where the Kloo people were in the habit of camping before starting on a war expedition. [↑]
[3] See [preceding story], note [25]. [↑]
[4] See the story of “[Sacred-one-standing-and-moving, Stone-ribs, and Upward],” note [8]. [↑]
[5] Port Simpson; see “[A raid on the Tlingit],” note [13]. [↑]
[6] Given in the story of “[Fights between the Tsimshian and Haida and among Northern Haida].” [↑]
[7] See [notes] to the story of [Cloud-watcher]. [↑]
[8] The word used here, Tcîmᴀskî′n, is less common than Kî′lgat. [↑]
[9] See [notes] to “[Story of the Food-giving-town people].” [↑]
[10] See [notes] to “[Fight at the town of Da′x̣ua].” [↑]
[11] See “[The one abandoned for eating the flipper of a hair seal],” note [1]. [↑]
[12] One of the great Tsimshian chiefs. [↑]
[13] See “[Story of the House-point families]” and note [15] under it. [↑]
[14] Cape Ball. High-point town stood just north of Cape Ball. ↑ [a] [b]
[15] Mature particularly old men were generally known by the names of their children, as in “[Story of the shaman, G̣ᴀ′ndox’s-father].” [↑]
[16] Or “Port Simpson house,” the inside house posts being carved to resemble white people. [↑]
[18] Given in previous stories. It was thought so much of that it was only used upon very special occasions, of which my informant remembered five. [↑]
[19] He was so happy over his success. [↑]
[22] So my interpreter translated the word. It was probably the season when berries were gathered and roots and potatoes dug. [↑]
[23] This was the name of the chief of the Sand-town people, a Raven family at Ninstints. It means “dressed-up.” [↑]
[24] See the story of “[Raven traveling],” note [10]. [↑]
[25] Cant word, meaning “to give.” [↑]
[26] A house belonging to the Qā′gials qe′ig̣awa-i. The name probably means “mother of houses,” referring to its size. [↑]
[27] See “[Wars between the peoples of Skidegate and Kloo],” note [14]. [↑]
[28] Chief or nephew of the chief at Skedans. [↑]
[29] The word for house here, dā, is properly applied to the retaining timbers used to hold back the earth in houses having an excavation beneath them. [↑]
[30] This biting only produced a very slight wound. In later times, a chief’s son having died of blood poisoning, it was made still milder. [↑]
[31] This eating was a pretense. [↑]
[32] One of the islands outside Skedans. [↑]
[33] Because the novices, or the beings inspiring them, were violent, and the people feared them. [↑]
[34] Payment of kꜝa′da, remuneration for having enslaved a person, was accompanied by dancing; payment of wał, remuneration for having killed or wounded a person, was not. [↑]