The west shore., August 01, 1884, Page 254, Image 28

254
THE WEST SHORE.
Kaga's heiul may be seen the keetkie, or young crow, in a
medallion-shaped carving. Under this and Beated be
twoon fho enri of the bnr is the kootkonnee, or owl.
Thon comes the large figure of the hoorts, or grizzly bear,
holding between hid hind paws the stlakumma, or but
terfly. Thin surmounts the lower figure, which is another
grizzly bear, having in his mouth a frog and between his
hind legs the mamatonthlona, or dragon fly, the devil's
darning needle. I could make out all the figures but
the butterfly, which I thought at first was on elephant with
iU trunk coiled up, but on inquiry of old Edinso, the
chief who was conveying me in his canoe from Massett to
Skidngato, ho told mo it was a butterfly, and pointed
one out which had just lit near by on a flower. I was
curious to know tlio legend, which ho related as follows:
Ages ago the hooyoh, or raven, visited the north end of
Graham's Island to hxk for good land, as the southern
jortion is mountainous and rocky. The butterfly, on
immense creature, hovered ovor the raven's head and
when ho saw any gxxl land he pointed to it with his long
proboscis. " In fact," said Edinso, " the butterfly showed
the raven round the country just as Johnny is Bhowing
you." Tho idea of being compared to a butterfly bo
amused Johnny that ho told mo if I would sketch the
column ho would carve one like it in Btonewhon we would
arrive at Skidegato, where the soft argillaceous slate
stono is found which tho Haidas carve with such consum
, moto skilL This ho subsequently did, and presented me
with a sUmo model of the butterfly column to commem
orate tho event This I have in my oflice in Port
Townsend, and mention tho incident as an evidence of
Indian humor, and to show that the man talks and laughs
like the rcsU of tho human family.
Figure 12 is a column in front of a house atSkidogate
village. Tho owning at the bottom is tho door or en
trance to the houHO. A boy was standing in tho door at
tho time I made tho sketch, and I drew him to show the
comparative height Tho lower figure of this column is
tho hoorts, or grizzly lxar, with a hunter in his mouth
whom he has just killed. On each ear of the bear may
be Boon tho owl, and Ix'twcon the ears is the mouse. The
figuro alxno tho mouse, which lx)ks like the sun with
branching rays, is tho kelp bulb and tho rays are kolp
leaves. Alxvo and including tho kelp is the tchimose,
a mythological animal, holding the dragon fly. The
U-himoso has on iU head tho totem of tho chief, sup
ports! by two friends. Tho tdiimose is a demon who
floats iu tho salt water like a drift log, one end sub
merged and the other projecting aWe the surface.
When the Indian approaches this supposed log it ud
donly throw out its long nrms, seizes the canoe, drowns
tho occupant and devour them leisurely in ita homo in
a dark cava at tho kit torn of the Ben, Tho origin of this
fablo was a common natural occurrence of a tree torn
from mmio river bank by a freshet and borne by the
torrent to tho deep water or some sound or inlet, where
it would drift alxmt with it broken top olxwe tho water
and its rooU, heavy with earth or stones, submerged. A
tm of thit description i very common, and may often
be seen drifting about, and when carried by the tide to
some swift current or tide rips, the submerged part
striking ngninst the bottom would cause it to revolve and
bring down its long branches with great energy upon the
surface, and a canoe that might be in the way would
surely get smashed, and the superstitious Indians, never
at a loss to clothe every unusual occurrence with myste
rious phenomena, would be sure to attribute the accident
to supernatural agency. The mouse shown in the draw
ing is the judge by which the Haidas detect the persons
who work bad magic and cause sickness or death. When
a person is taken sick, or a sick person dies, three men are
selected who prepare themselves by pulverizing a dried
frog and mixing it with salt water, which is drank. This
decoction produces vomiting and purging, and when their
systems are thoroughly cleansed, their minds are sup
posed to be clear and better able to judge of the merits
of the case about to be submitted to their decision.
They next catch a wood mouse and put it in a little cage,
which is set on a raised platform in front of the judges.
The little mouse, sadly frightened, retires to one corner
of his cage and eyes the judges with fear and trembling.
They then commence naming over suspected persons,
and presently the little mouse nods its head, and the
name it nods to is that of the guilty person, who has to
pay money or blankets to get clear. I saw an instance of
this kind of trial ot Massett, where an old blind man was
charged with having worked bad spells to kill a chief in
whose house the blind man lived, and but for the inter
losition of Mr. McKenzie, J. P., residing at Massett, the
Indians would have handled the blind man pretty
roughly. Subsequently my interpreter, Johnny, told me
that all the Haidas believe in the trial by a mouse.
The dragon fly, or mamatonthlona, was sent by the
hooyeh to kill the mosquitoes, which grew so big in
ancient times that they would light on an Indian and
suck out all his blood. The dragon fly got after the big
mosquitoes and killed them all, and their successors, the
present kind, are so reduced in size that they can only
aunoy the Indians by their songs and stings, but they
cannot suck out enough blood to do any harm.
The hunter in the bear's mouth illustrates a legend
which, in some of the carvings I have seen, is sometimes
depicted by a bear erect with a hunter in his arms and
tearing open the hunter's bosom with his powerful claws.
The story is that the hunter, Toivats, on' one occasion
visited the house of the king of the bears, who was
absent, but his wife being at home, Toivats made love to
her. When the bear returned he found his home in con
fusion, and charged his wife with infidelity, which she
denied. The bear pretended to be satisfied, but kept a
secret watch on his wife, and soon observed that she went
out regularly every day at a certain hour to get wood and
water. One day he fastened a magic thread to hor dress,
and after she hail gone out he followed up the clue and
found her in the hunter's arms. This so enraged him.
that he seized the destroyer of his happiness and tore
opeu his breast with his sharp claws. r
There seems to be a great variety of stories which art