And we started off from there at night. Then we made a camp fire on the inlet above Tcꜝā′ał.[18] From there we started very early to Qa-itg̣a′og̣ao. At that time we sang a war song.
We then went into Qa-itg̣a′og̣ao, singing songs of victory. Hu hu hu hu. When we were going up to the houses we landed the slaves. Some of them carried children. After having fought we sang songs of victory for many nights.
Here is all of this story.
This and the following eight stories and that on page 104 practically constitute one long account of the Haida wars, or rather raids, which have taken place within recent times, except only those related by Abraham of Kloo, which succeed. The story-teller was an interesting old man who, as will be seen by the texts, had himself taken part in many of these expeditions and had lived a life full of adventure. He belonged [[370]]to the Middle-gîtî′ns (Ya′ku-gitina′-i), a branch of the Pebble-town Gîtî′ns of the west coast, but, while still a young man, had gone to live with members of his family in Alaska. After that he and his uncle were in the employ of the Hudson Bay Company for a long time, until he finally came back to Skidegate to live. He was acquainted with some myths, but war stories were his “specialty.” [[371]]
[1] The Haida name means literally “Strait-country.” [↑]
[2] See “[Story of the House-point families],” note [15]. [↑]
[4] The Haida sentence conveys the idea that they caused themselves to grow up for no other purpose than to make this war upon the Tlingit. [↑]
[5] A camping place about halfway between Tcꜝā′ał and Kaisun. [↑]