“‘Good spirits always good; him we no fear. Please the devil and him no harm you. All well—happy; good ta-mahn-a-wis, bad ta-mahn-a-wis, see?’”
It was plain—the old philosophy of the sinking sailor who prayed ‘good lord! good devil!’ The tradition was—it came out of the long past—that the devil must be appeased.
QUINIAULT TRIBESMAN
CHAPTER XXXVII
THE T’KLINKITS AND ALEUTS
The T’Klinkit is the name applied to all the Indians on the upper coast who reside between the north end of Prince of Wales island and Yakutat bay, near the base of Mt. St. Elias.
These T’Klinkits are divided into so-called tribes; virtually families, the chieftainship descending through the female line. The T’Klinkits were generally known to the Siwash of Puget Sound under the general name of Stickeens.
Among the principal families of T’Klinkits are the Stickeens, located on the Stikeen river, which is near Fort Wrangle; the Takous and Aukos, whose headquarters are in Takou inlet and on the present site of Juneau; the Chilkats and Chilkoots, at the present head of navigation near Pyramid harbor; the Hoonyas, near Glacier bay, and the Hootzenoos, near the present town of Killisnoo, and the Sitkas, on Baranoff island. The Sitkas are really composed of two families—the Kaksutis and the Kokwautans.