6
THE
CHEMAWA
AM ERICAN
falls. Another moment and she would be dashed to pieces below. Bid
ding farewell to the world, and with a prayer upon her lips to the all-
powerful spirit, she awaited her awful doom as the little boat plunged
over the edge of the thundering Niagara.
As she was about to be swallowed by the waters the thunder god Heno
saw her and caught her in his arms. Then he brought her safely into a
cave behind the falls, where he guarded and cared for her till she mar
ried one of his own sons.
From that time on, with the help of Heno, she became the protectress
and guardian over her people, warning them of approaching dangers
and giving them council and advice. Once when pestilence and famine
were threatening her people she bade them leave their homes and de
part tor other lands. As soon as they were gone a great serpent ap
peared, which came to poison the waters and to devour the people. The
god Heno saw the monster and slew him with a thunderbolt. As the
huge serpent floated down the stream its body folded, and this fold of
its body caused the waters to be deflected into the horseshoe fall to be
seen to this day on the Niagara.
The god Heno now took all his children up to heaven, and whenever
he thunders in the clouds above the echo is heard in the waters of the
Niagara Falls below.
DUNCAN OF METLAKATLA
IIE H A S P R O V E N M O ST F A IT H F U L
HE reign of the last benevolent autoc at cn this con
tinent is drawing rapidly to a close. William Dun
can of Metlakatla, the ruler of the little island in the
Alaskan sea, and of all its Indian inhabitants, is over
. eighty yea's old, his bodily strength is at last abated,
his eyes grow dim, and he seeks to return into the
hands of the government of the United States the
burden of responsibility which he has carried for so many years.
He has been a more than faithful steward since he brought his In
dians from the British Columbia coast to the island under the Ameri
can flag in southeastern Alaskan waters to which he gave the melodious
name which it still bears.
Like all real autocrats William Duncan has known how to impose
his will upon his people. He saw how, in contact with the white man,
the Indian was too prone to adopt his vices with his language and with
the customs of civilized life. So he decreed that his Indians should