28. The Town of Chief Peace[1]

In a village at Metlakahtla lived a great chief. His chieftainess was a great noblewoman; and although the chief had many wives. he loved her most, for she was a princess, the daughter of the chief of another village. Therefore her husband loved her and honored her.

Many years had passed since they were married, and still she had no children; but when she was getting old, she conceived and bore him a son. They loved him very much. Soon he grew up and when he was a young man, everybody loved him.

The father wished his son to marry, and therefore the young man was married to a princess. His father gave away much property to the relatives of the princess; and the princess’s relatives—her uncle and also her father—gave him four costly coppers, elk skins, boxes of crabapples, boxes of cranberries mixed with grease, and all kinds of food. The young man loved his wife, and all his people loved her.

The princess, however, was downcast because her husband was a great gambler. Every day he would go to the gambling-house, and he would join the gamblers. Sometimes he lost much. At other times he won. His wife would stay at home. Soon the princess gave birth to a child.

One day the prince went, as he was used to doing, to the gambling-house, and he gambled and lost all his property, and he lost all his father’s property—his costly coppers, his large canoes, and his slaves—and he lost also his father and his mother and his wife and his little boy. Late in the evening he came home. He was very sorry on account of what he had done to his good family.

As soon as his wife saw him enter, she arose and took a dried salmon; but the young man was silent. He stared into the fire like one dumb. His wife roasted the salmon, cut it, and put it in a large dish and placed it before her husband; but the prince did not take any notice of it, for he felt distressed because he had lost all his property and his family. Therefore he kept silent. The dish remained untouched in front of him. When it was late in the evening, the woman scolded because her husband did not eat the salmon which she had prepared for him. Therefore she took the dish away, and said, “You ought to eat the salmon of the daughter of Chief Peace.” She was angry, and threw the dish with the salmon into the fire.

Then the young man’s heart was full of sorrow. He arose and went to bed and lay down there. He thought that he would not be

able to endure the shame of staying at home. Therefore he decided to leave the house while the people were asleep. He arose from his bed, took mountain-goat. fat and some tobacco to chew, and some small coppers. Then, before going out, he went to one of his father’s slaves, and said to him that he was leaving his father’s house because he was angry. Then he went away quickly, without waiting for an answer.

As soon as he had gone, the great slave shouted, “Master, master, your son has gone away!” The chief said, “Where did he go?” The slave replied, “He left just now. He told me that he was going to leave you and your people.’ Therefore the chief said, ‘Go out and call my tribe. Tell them that my beloved son has left my house, being angry.”

So the slave went out and shouted, ‘My master’s son has left full of anger.” Therefore the whole tribe arose; the people took their torches of pitch wood and of olachen, and searched in the woods and on the beach and in the water.

The young prince, however, had gone straight behind his father’s house, and he came down at the beach on the other side. He walked around the sandy shore of the bay until he came to a point of land. There he sat down at the foot of a spruce tree; and while he was there he heard a canoe rounding the point. Then he heard the crew saying, “His is the place!” He remained sitting there. Then he heard them come ashore toward him. Behold! two men stood in front of him, who said, “Prince, come down to our canoe and go with us! We have come to take you home.” So the prince went down to their canoe to accompany them, and the two men asked him to lie down and to sleep.

He obeyed, and the two men paddled very hard and soon reached their master’s village. There they woke the prince, who had been asleep all the way. When the young man awoke, behold! he saw a a great town and many people. He went ashore, and some people guided him to the chief’s house. There he sat down on one side of the fire, and many people came in. As soon as he was sitting there, some one touched his side, and said, “My dear, throw your ear-ornaments into the fire!” He did so. His was the Mouse Woman, who asked him, “Do you know who has brought you here?” He replied, “No.’” Then she said, “His is the town of Chief Peace. He has a beautiful daughter.” The Mouse Woman continued asking him, “Have you a little fat, tobacco, or a small piece of copper?” The prince said, “Yes, I have fat, and tobacco, and copper.” Then the Mouse Woman said, “Ask the chief’s attendants to spread a mat in front of the chief and the chieftainess and the three uncles of his daughter; and then throw the fat on the mat, and also the tobacco. Then the small amount of fat will enlarge on the mats, and afterward take the small coppers and break them to pieces. Throw these down also in front of the great chief and his wife and the girl’s uncles.” Thus spoke the Mouse Woman, and she went away.

Presently the prince said to the chief’s attendants, “Spread two mats in front of the chief, two mats in front of the chief tainess, and two before each of the three uncles of the girl.” The attendants did as they were told; and the prince first threw a little fat on the mat in front of the chief, and it became a great pile. He also threw tobacco on the other mat, and the tobacco became a great pile. He did the same in front of the chieftainess and of the three uncles of the girl. After he had thrown down the fat and the tobacco, he threw a piece of copper in front of the chief, and it became a large costly copper. He threw down four pieces. Then he threw two pieces of copper down in front of the chieftainess, and two each in front of the three uncles of the daughter of Chief Peace.

When he had done so, Chief Peace said to his attendants, ‘“Bring” down my only daughter, and let her sit by the side of the prince! She shall become his wife.” And the chief invited all his people, and the prince was married to the chief’s daughter. The girl loved him very much, and his father-in-law loved both of them.

Sometimes the young man would go to get wood; but his father-in-law would not allow him to get firewood, for he had many slaves to do so. The chief gave to his daughter the two great slaves who had brought the prince to his house to be the slaves of the young couple.

One day the prince went around the island crying, for he felt homesick for his parents. Late in the evening he came back home to his father-in-law’s house, and he went. right up to his bed and lay down to weep. Then his beautiful wife came to him and asked him why he was weeping, whether there was anything wrong between them or between him and her father. The man replied, “No, not so. I am well satisfied with your father’s kindness to me.” Then he told her that he felt homesick for his father and mother at home. The princess did all she could to comfort him.

On the following morning his father-in-law said, “Start the fire, slaves!” They lighted the fire. Then he asked his daughter, “What makes my son-in-law so sad this morning?” The young woman replied, “He longs for his parents.” Then the chief said, “Oh, it is not a very long way off. I shall send you back soon. Early tomorrow morning I shall send my whole tribe out to hunt; and if they are successful, I shall let you go day after tomorrow, and you will reach home on the following day.”

So on the following morning, quite early, all the people of the tribe went out hunting; and when the sun rose in the east, they came home one by one. Some brought whales; others, sea lions, seals, halibut, and all kinds of fishes. When they were all at home, they gave the animals and the fishes to their chief; and the chief invited all his people, to tell them that his son-in-law was to leave the following morning for his own native land; and he also said to his daughter, “When you have no food in winter, tell your husband to ask his wood-carvers to make a good long cane six fathoms long of ash. You will need six digging-sticks.[1] Also let them make a large board four fathoms long and two fathoms wide.”

When the feast was over, the people all went home, and on the following morning they took down two large canoes. Both ends of these canoes were carved in the form of the mouth of an animal, and all the large flat-beamed canoes were carved with figures of otters. Then the people took down to the canoes the whale blubber that they had brought the day before; and when the two canoes were full of whale blubber, the chief took hold of them by the stern and shook them, and the whale blubber decreased in bulk. Then they loaded the canoes with blubber of sea lions; and when they were full, the chief took hold of them by the stern and shook them, and the sea-lion blubber decreased in bulk. Next they loaded them with seal blubber; and when the canoes were full, the chief took hold of them by the stern and shook them, and the seal blubber became less. Then they loaded them with all kinds of fish, and so the canoes were filled with many kinds of fishes. Then the people took down a large board, put it across the two canoes, and spread garments of sea otters over the boards. The two young people were made to sit on these; and the chief said to his daughter, “My dear, when you hear the thwarts, the stern, or the bow of the canoes creak, or if they stop going, then you must know that they are hungry, and you must feed them with seal blubber. Feed the bow and the stern half a seal each. And when they have eaten your seals, whistle.’ After he had given this advice to her, he shook the two large canoes, and he whistled. Then the canoes moved and went on rapidly toward sunrise.

They went a long way, then they stopped; and all the thwarts, the bow, and the stern made a great noise. The princess said to her husband, “Feed them!’ The prince did so; and soon after he had fed them, he whistled, and they went on. Four times the two canoes rested on their way across the sea.

Early on the following morning it was calm and foggy. Then they arrived in front of the village of Metlakahtla; and when the fog vanished, the people of the village came forth, and, behold! the large canoes anchored in front of the village.

The village people asked those in the canoes, “What kind of people are you?” Soon the young man arose, and said, “Did not a prince

go away from home years ago, being angry?” Then all the people in the village were full of joy. Some cried, some shouted, and some were amazed. They all went down to the beach to call the canoes ashore; and when they came there, they took the blanket on which the princess was seated and put it down at the edge of low water. Then she stood near the stern of the two canoes, and all the people carried up the fishes from the canoes; and when the fishes were all out, the princess shook the canoes, and they were full of seals, and they carried these up to the chief’s house. When the seals were all out, she shook them again, and they were full of sea-lion blubber, and the people carried this up to another house; and after they were empty of the sea-lion blubber, she shook them again, and they were full of whale blubber, and the people of the village filled another house with the whale blubber. Four houses were filled with provisions which they had brought home.

After this the young people of the tribe took up the plank; but before the young men took up the plank, the princess shook the stern of the large canoes and whistled, and the canoes went back rapidly to their home out in the ocean.

The young men took up the plank with the prince and the princess seated on it, lifting it above their heads, and put it down by the side of the chief’s great fire.

The princess Peace Woman wore a large plume behind her ear, and she was always carrying her pretty little root basket from which she drank water. She would not allow any young man to fetch water for her except her husband. As soon as her husband came in from drawing water, ‘she took off the plume and dipped it into the water which her husband had just brought in, and the water dropped down in clear drops. Then she drank it.

Now, the former wife of the young man tried in every way to talk to him, but he refused to do so; and his former wife tried to meet him, but the young man would take his son along. Peace Woman loved her husband’s son.

Not many days had passed when the people of different tribes gathered to buy food from the prince who had just come back. They brought skins of elk, marten, and sea otter, canoes, raccoon skins, and all kinds of goods to buy provisions, and the young man became rich. Therefore he invited all the tribes and gave a great feast to all the chiefs, and gave away property and food; and he gave a great. feast to his own tribe. Then all his goods were gone, and his provisions were exhausted.

hist before full moon he told his father’s wood-carvers to make six digging-sticks, each six fathoms long. Therefore his six woodworkers went, and each of them made one stick. Late in the evening, When they had finished them, they came home. The princess examined the sticks that the woodworkers brought. Each had done his very best to make the best stick, and each brought a nicely carved digging-stick into the chief’s house, The princess refused them, but she took the one made of ash.

On the following morning some more woodworkers went, five in all. They made five digging-sticks of ash, and carved them as well as they could. They took them to the princess, who examined them. Now she had what she needed. The first time each of the woodworkers had made his digging-stick out of other wood—one of spruce, another of hemlock, another of fir, another of maple, another of yellow cedar. Therefore the princess refused them. They were not strong enough. The six digging-sticks of ash were red and strong and would not break.

Early the following morning they arose, and her husband said to his father’s attendants, “Take my wife down to the low-water line.” Therefore the young men took her down on the same plank on which she had come. She took one of the long digging-sticks and put it down into the sand very deep. She took another one and put it down in the same way as the first one, and she did so with the rest of the six sticks. Then she leaned on the first stick. Behold! there was a large whale pierced through the back by the stick. She went to another one, leaned against it, and it had speared a great sea lion, She went to the next one, leaned on it, and there was a seal; another one, and there was a large halibut; another one, and there was a large red cod; and when she leaned on the last stick, there was a great bullhead. After she had finished, the young men took her up to the house. The people of the whole village carved the great whale and cut off slices of blubber: and they carved the sea lion, seal, halibut. red cod, and bullhead. They carried them into the chief’s house, and three houses were well filled.

Then all the tribes of the Tsimshian heard of it, and they all came together to buy food; and the prince sold the whale blubber and the sea-lion blubber and all the large fishes and seals: and when he had finished, his father’s house was full of elk skins and all kinds of goods.

On the following morning the young men carried her down again to the low-water line. She was seated on the plank, and other young men took down her digging-sticks. She put the first one very deep into the ground, and then the other ones to the last one. Then Peace Woman went to the first stick, leaned on it, and there was a great whale. She went to the second one, there was another whale, and there was a whale at each of the six digging-sticks. She put down the six digging-sticks again, and another six whales came up. Then she stopped. Now she stood on her board, and pointed out one large whale. which she gave to her father-in-law. and one whale to each of the four brothers of her mother-in-law (that is. to her hushand’s uncles), and another one she gave to her mother-in-law, und two whales she gave to her father-in-law’s tribe, and two more to her husband’s tribe, and two whales she gave to her own husband.

Now all the people of the two tribes were busy with their own food. Then the people came along to buy provisions. The prince cut one whale and sold it. Another one he cut to be given away to the chiefs of all the Tsimshian tribes. Therefore when the appointed day came, he made a great feast for the chiefs of all the tribes. He gave away much property, and one large whale which was cut into slices of blubber.

Now, one day before evening the princess said to her husband, “Bring me some water!’ So the prince took her root basket and went. His former wife was sitting by the side of the water, watching him secretly, and as soon as she saw bun coming, she hid in the bushes; and when the young man took the water, she rushed to him from the bushes where she had been hiding, took hold of him, and put both of her hands around his body, saying, “What has made your heart hard against me, my dear? Take pity on me! hist say a word to me, and I shall be satisfied.” The prince tried to escape from her, but she would not let him go. She held him, and finally the young man took pity on her and spoke to her.! Then the prince washed his water basket and went away quickly.

As soon as he came in, his wife took the plume from behind her ear, as she was accustomed to do. She put it down into the water, lifted it up, and, behold! it was full of all kinds of slime. Therefore she struck her husband in the face, and said, * Although you still love your former wife, yet you come to get me.” She poured out the bad water, arose, and went out. Her husband followed her. She went down to the beach, and her husband went there also. She walked out on the water, and her husband also walked along on the water. The princess was walking on the “belt” of the water.[2]

Together they walked on that line: and when they passed the islands, the princess said to him, ‘Go back to your former wife, lestIT look back and you perish! However, the young man followed her, running as fast as he could, and crying piteously as he was running. Often he would try to put his hands around her; but he could not do it, because she had become like unto a cloud. Again and again she said, “Go back, lest [ I look back and you perish!”

Now, the young man saw the island of Chief Peace’s village far ahead. Again the woman said, “Go back!” but the man said, “No, no, I will not go back, unless you come back with me.”

Then the princess looked back at him, and at once he sank down to the bottom of the ocean and died there. Then Peace Woman

went on weeping until she arrived at her father’s house on the island; and when she came in, she was weeping bitterly.

Her father asked her, * Why are you weeping, my dear daughter?” but she did not reply. Again the chief asked her, “Where is your husband, my dear daughter?” Then she told him that he had died in the sea when she looked back at him. Chief Peace was full of sorrow, because he loved his son-in-law; and after he had cried, he rebuked her for having killed her husband. Therefore he ordered his slaves to take down his long pole with the bag net at one end. They did so. Then he said to his slaves, “Open the privy-hole between the door-and the fireplace.” They opened it, and the chief took his net-pole, put it down into the hole, and after a while he hauled up the net. He had caught the backbone of his son-in-law. He let down the net a little longer, and the head came up with the bag net. He put them together in their proper places, and then let the net down again, and he caught both arms. He let it down again, and he caught the hands. Again he let it down, and caught the legs. He let it down once more, and he caught the feet. Thus the chief brought up all the members of the body. He put them in their proper places; and when he had put them in order on the wide plank, he leaped over the body of his son-in-law: and after he had done so four times, the prince arose, and the chief gave him again to his daughter.

So the young princess was comforted, and she gave a great feast to her people; and she told them how well pleased she was with her husband’s relatives, how her father-in-law loved her as long as she had been with him, and that also her mother-in-law loved her verv* much, and that the whole family had loved her. Therefore her father, Chief Peace, was glad, and so were all his people. The prince said also, I will not return to my own home, but I will live here with my wife and with my father-in-law and my mother-in-law.”