39. The Drifting Log

There was a great war at G·its!ᴇmgā‘lén between two clans—the G·ispawadwᴇ’da and the Eagle Clan. The Eagle people were defeated by the G·ispawadwᴇ’da. There was a great battle on that day. Many Eagle people were killed by their enemies. The last day they had a very hot battle, and nearly all the Eagle people were destroyed, and their chief fled with his young niece. The chief’s name was Nēs-wa-nā’°, and the girl’s name was Dauł. They crossed the high mountains between Skeena and Nass Rivers. Many days they walked along the trail; and when they arrived at a village on the upper Nass River, at their Eagle relatives on Nass River, they were received gladly, and Nēs-wa-nā’° became their chief.

In the spring, when the people were expected to come olachen fishing, they moved down to their fishing-ground and camped on Sandbar Camp. The olachen came up the river, and all the people were very busy. Then the children were always in the way of the fishermen, and some of the children were hurt and died. Some fell into the water and were drowned, and so on.

One day the new chief invited all his people to a council to talk about the children—how they could keep them safely in an empty house, and how some one should take good care of them. On the following day the children were gathered together in the new chief’s house, but the boys were always fighting with the girls. Therefore another day they separated them, the boys by themselves, and the girls by themselves.

A great number of girls went and found a hollow log lying above high-water mark. Their parents had chosen the princess Dauł to take care of them, and all the girls loved her very much. They went into the hollow log and played that it was their house. They started a fire in it and ate there, and their parents carried great quantities of provisions into the small log: and they had many garments of black and arctic fox, martens, raccoons, weasels, and all kinds of costly garments. They staid there a long time, while the people were working, and all the children loved the young princess as children love their mother.

One night the tide was higher than it had been for many years, and the high tide carried away the large hollow log from its place while the children were asleep in it. The log floated out to sea with many children in it. Early the next morning the princess awoke and went out and saw that the log had drifted away.

Before the log had drifted away, a young prince had given her a young eagle as a present. She loved the young eagle, and tamed it, and the young eagle learned to understand her words. Then she knew what had happened: and when the princess went nearer the young eagle, it’ was flying with its mistress. and the princess named it Young Eagle.

She cried; but when she went back into the hollow log, she stopped erying. She was afraid that if the children should know what had happened, they might faint. Therefore she tried everything to comfort them. The log was drifting way out on the great ocean.

When the parents of the children missed the hollow log from its place, they began to cry. They took their canoes, and went down the river to search for their children, but in vain. They did not find them. They went back home, full of sorrow on account of the loss of their children and of their young princess.

The young eagle was seated on a root of the hollow log in which the children were; and after a few days had passed, the young eagle flew back to Nass River. When all the people in the village were lamenting, the young eagle flew down from high up in the air, and alighted on the roof of the house of the princess’s grandfather, and screeched. Then all the people of the village knew that the children were still alive. After the eagle had screeched, it flew away down to the mouth of Nass River.

The log was still drifting about way out on the ocean, and the tide took it out between Queen Charlotte Islands and Prince of Wales Island, and took it along the south side of Prince of Wales Island.

The people of a Haida village were camped on the outer coast for halibut fishing; and when the sun set in the west and great waves rolled up on the sandy shore at the end of the camp of the Haida tribe, the log was carried ashore by the waves and grounded there; and when the tide receded, the princess said to all the children, “Now, children, come out!” Therefore all the children came out, and the princess said to them, “Now go up to the woods behind the village, and I will go in front.” It was evening now, and all the children went up into the woods. Then she walked in front of the houses of the camp, and stopped in front of the chief’s house. Many young people passed her without noticing her; and while she was standing there, some one came up from the beach. It was a young prince, who asked her where she came from and where she belonged; and she answered in her own language, which the prince did not understand, and the young princess did not understand what he said. The young man wanted to take her into his father’s house, The princess first refused, but finally she went with him. The prince stopped the young men who were playing at the door of his father’s house, and led her into the chiefs house, who ordered his young men to spread mats at one side of the house.

Then the great chief said, °° My son shall marry you because I am your relative. What is your name, my dear (” but she did not understand what he said. Therefore they called one of his female slaves who understood the Tsimshian language to be his interpreter; and the interpreter said, “The great chief asked for your name.” She replied through the interpreter, “My name is Dauł. I am the niece of the great chief G·it-xâ’n and Nēs-wa-nā’°. They were all killed by the enemy. He was the only one who made his escape from them. He took me across the mountains, and at a river on the other side of the mountain we found our relatives, who treated us well; and the whole village loved my uncle and myself. When the olachen came up the river, they moved down to their camping-ground; and they did not want my uncle to work himself, so they gave him all their children to take care of while the people went out fishing, and they gave me the girls to take care of. I took them into a large hollow tree which lay above high-water mark, and one night the high tide carried it away, and we drifted away from there to this place.’ After she had said this, she began to ery.

Then the great chief said, “My niece, my son shall marry you.” She replied, “I will do so if you will promise to take care of my girls.” Therefore the chief said, “We will take care of them as though they were our children.” Then she sent the young men to bring them down.

The young men went and shouted; but the girls were afraid, and ran away, for it was the first time they heard the Haida language. The young men came to the chief’s house and said that the children were afraid of them. Therefore the princess went down with her new husband to the hollow tree, and all the children were in there. She called them; and before they left the hollow tree, the princess asked them to put on their fur garments, and they all went into the great chief’s house. The chief ordered his men and slaves to give them food; and after the food was served, the great chief said to his new daughter-in-law, “I will take all these girls to be my own children; and if any one wants to marry any one of them when they are grown up, they shall come and talk to me; and if I agree, then they may have them.”

On the following day his son was married, and the great chief invited all the other chiefs to the marriage festival.

The young eagle still loved the princess, and she always fed the young eagle. Sometimes it went over to Nass River to visit) her grandfather. It would stay there a while and then come back again to the princess.

After a few months had passed, the young princess gave birth to a boy. a year passed, and another boy was born to her. Another year passed, and she gave birth to another boy. There were, in all. four boys and one girl, and then another girl. All her companions married, They also had children.

The princess’s children were skillful sea-otter hunters. One day a great number of children were playing on the beach, and the princess’s youngest child was among them. She hurt one of her playmates, and the child began to cry. Then the mother of the child which was crying asked, “Who hurt you and the child of the mother said that the younger daughter of the princess had hurt her. Then the child’s mother scolded the younger daughter of the princess, saying, ‘You have no reason to be proud, chad; your father just found your mother on the beach. He did not intend to marry her like a princess, taking her from her father’s house.” The princess heard what she said, and she began to cry. She did not tell her husband.

The princess’s boys did not speak her language; only her elder daughter could speak her language.

Now the four young men were grown up, and were strong men. They were playing outside, and began to quarrel with the son of one of their father’s relatives. They began to fight, but the princess stopped them with kindly words; but the mother of their cousin was angry, and she scolded the princess’s sons, saying, “We did not go to your mother’s father’s house to let my brother marry your mother, and now you pretend to be very proud, you slave! They found your mother on the beach.”

When the princess came into her father-in-law’s house, she cried bitterly. After she had cried, her husband came in and questioned her, but she did not tell him. She only said to him, “Make a good-sized canoe. I will send all my children to my own country.” Therefore her husband bought a large canoe: and one day in the summer-time they loaded the canoe with many things—costly coppers, and slaves for all the boys and for one of the daughters. The father kept only the younger daughter. Her mother called her elder daughter, and said, “The young eagle will guide you to our native home.” The princess asked her husband to make a crosspiece of wood and fasten it on the bow of the canoe to let the young eagle sit on it. He made it, and they started. The young eagle was sitting on the bow of the canoe, and they paddled away along the south side of Prince of Wales Island, and the young eagle flew ahead of them.

Before they started, their mother had said to her daughter, ‘You shall always ask the young eagle which way to go: ‘Young Eagle, where is your mother’s native land? and it will guide you on your way home.”

Now they started; and the young eagle flew ahead in front of the canoe, It would sit on a tree; and when the canoe came to the place where it was sitting, it flew ahead again and sat down again farther on. Thus they continued all the way until they arrived at) Root-Basket Camp. They camped there. In the evening they went around the small island and killed many seals. After they had dressed the seals, they went on until they passed Grizzly-Bear Point. Behold! there was a great sea in front of them. Then the girl asked the young eagle, “Where is your mother’s native land. Young Eagle?” and the eagle led them to a camping-place. There they waited until the following morning. Early the following morning the eagle screeched to wake them up. They arose and went on. The young eagle flew across the great sea high up in the air, and the princes paddled on as hard as they could; and when the sun rose high up in the sky, they saw a small blue mountain far ahead. They followed the eagle, which was flying way up in the air, and before evening they saw the island ahead. They paddled very hard, and late in the evening they arrived at Slave Island. They camped there and took a rest; and after they had eaten, they slept. Only a girl watched over them while they were asleep. They camped there for two days. The following day they went on again and crossed Beaver-Tail Island.

The girl asked the eagle again, “Where is your mother’s native land, Young Eagle?” and it always flew ahead; and when they arrived on the mainland, they camped on Hole Island. On the following day they went on to Nass River, and in the evening they camped on Gravel Bar Camp (??). The young eagle left them there; and they did not know which way they should go, because it was at the mouth of three rivers where they were camping—the rear river, middle river, and Nass River.

The eagle had been away for two days, and the princess was still encamped there. The eagle had gone up to her (?) mother’s uncle, and was sitting on top of his house, screeching. After two days the eagle came back; and the princess started once more, going up Nass River, the eagle flying ahead. Now they understood that they were near home, and they were very glad. Before they arrived at the village, they put on their good clothes; and their sister looked shining, like a supernatural being, when she put on her dress of white sea-otter skin. The four brothers wore their garments of black sea-otter skin, and they had red paint on their faces and eagle down on their heads. They paddled along, and the young eagle was sitting on the bow of the canoe.

Before the sun set in the west, the canoe came up to a village; and the young people were shouting outside on the street, when they saw the canoe coming up to them. The canoe arrived on the beach in front of the village, and the people saw the young eagle sitting in the bow. Some one asked them, “Where do you come from? What people are you?” Then the girl said, “We are the children of your Princess Dauł, who was among the children that were carried away by the high tide in the hollow tree.” Then all the people cried, and some shouted for joy. They took them up into their grandfather’s house.

The chief was very old, and was blind on account of his old age. Then all the people of the village came in to see them. They were seated on one side of the large fire. They were like supernatural beings to look at. Then the old chief asked, “Where is your mother?” The girl replied, “She is at home with father.’”,—“Who are your father’s people?”—He is the only son of a great chief named G·it-xâ’n.”—“How many are you?” asked the old chief. She replied, ‘These four boys here and we two girls. My grandfather kept my younger sister to stay with him.’ Then the old man smiled, and said, “Come up to me, each of you, from the eldest to the last!” Then the eldest boy went to him. “What is his name?” and the girl replied, “His name is “His.”” Then the second one came. He felt of him also, and asked, “What. is his name?”—“His name is Nēs-awatk.” Then the third one came. “What is his name?”— “His name is “Xagigun.”” Then the last one came. ‘What is his name?”—“His name is Xbī-yē’lk.” And he called her to come. “My dear,” he said, “I will feel of you.” She went to him, and he asked her, “What is your name, my dear?”—“Mv name is Wī-n!ē’°x;” and the old chief continued, “Who gave you your names, children 2” She replied, “My grandfather gave them to us.”—“Yes, yes! he is my relative. Is it very far?” She replied, “It is not so very far.”— “Who brought you here?” She said that a young eagle had brought them. “And where are all your mother’s companions?”—‘They all married there. Not one of them was lost. and some of them have children.” Then all the people were glad.

The chief said to the eldest one, ‘You shall have my place, and try to go back to our own village at G·its!ᴇmgā’lôn and destroy those who killed your grandfathers.”

As soon as the old chief ended his speech, he fell back and died. ’ Then his whole tribe mourned over him. The eldest son of Princess Dauł succeeded to his place, and his people loved him very much. One day his people wanted to go and visit their chief’s children. Many of them went in many canoes, and one of the sons of Dauł went with them to guide them on their way; and they reached the village of the Haida, who received them peacefully, and they became very friendly. There was no war between them, and the Nass River people took back some of their grandchildren.

As soon as they arrived on Nass River, the new chief wanted to go and fight with the people of G·its!ᴇmgā‘lén, those who had murdered his relatives on the battle-field years ago. Therefore he made ready, with his whole tribe. They crossed the mountains, and arrived at the great lake of G·its!ᴇmgā’lôn. They saw smoke up there, and followed it, and soon they arrived at a great camping-place near the lake. The people were beaver hunting. They went there secretly by night. The people who were in camp there were the relatives of the murderers of the relatives of the young chief. The chief and his people staid behind the house, waiting until their enemies were asleep. They were very merry in the evening, laughing and shouting for joy, and making fun of the relatives whom their grandfather had destroyed on the battle-field years ago. The young chief heard all they said, and heard them laughing. At midnight the warriors came in one by one; and when they were all in the house, the chief ordered his men to stand each by one of the sleepers; and when they were ready, the chief shouted, “Now slay the murderers!” Then his men killed all of them, and not one of them escaped. Only one slave-woman with her little daughter was saved. She was a relative of the young chief, and she was living in a little hut behind her master’s house, where she was weeping. She made her escape early in the morning.

“Early in the morning the four princes sang their war-song, and the slave-woman knew her relatives’ war-song. After they had sung twice, the slave-woman came out with her little daughter, and said, “You are my relatives, my dears. I know your war-song.” The young chief asked her, “What is your name?” and the woman replied, ‘My name was Wī-n!ē’°x. [am the younger sister of Princess Dauł, whom my uncle Nēs-wa-nā’° took away from here to some other place; and these people took me captive, and I have been their slave for many years. They intended to kill me when they put up a totempole in winter.” Then the four princes raised their voices and wept; and after they had wept, the young chief said to her, ‘My mother’s name is Dauł. She is still alive. She is married to a great chief’s son in a Haida village. She is your sister. She had six children—four boys and two girls—and we are her children.” Then the poor slave-woman embraced each of them.

The young chief asked her whether any of the men remained in the village; and she said, “Only one old chief remains, the one who destroyed all your grandfathers in battle.” She asked, furthermore, “Is my uncle alive?” They replied, “As soon as we came home to his house he died, after having spoken to us, and I succeeded to his place; and he charged me to take revenge on these murderers who destroyed bis brother and his people. Therefore I have come across these mountains. All my companions are my people.”

After this they had a long conversation, and the young chief said to his men, “Now cut off the heads of those whom you have killed!” They did as their young chief had told them. And he said also, “Take their scalps!” and they cut down the bodies on each side of the chest down to the belly and pulled down the skin between their legs as a sign that the relatives of those slain should not take revenge in the future. When they had done so, they put each of the bodies on a pole and placed them upright along the camping-ground. Then they went down to the village of G·its!ᴇmgā’lôn. They arrived at the village in the evening, and went into their enemy’s house, where the old chief was all alone. They saw him sitting in the rear of his house; and when they all had entered, the young chief said, “Now kill the old chief to avenge the death of my grandfather’s relatives whom he destroyed.” Then all his men clubbed him with their war-clubs, and the young chief destroyed all his property, pulled out his eyes, and hung the body on the grave of his uncles who were slain in battle long ago, head downward, feet upward. Then he sent back all his warriors to Nass River, to their own home, together with his third brother. The daughter of his captive aunt and two of his own brothers staid with him. He wanted his own sister to come and live with them, and he continued to live in his own native home. When his sister came across the mountains, he married a princess, one of his neighbors’ daughters; and many chiefs desired to marry his sister, for she was very beautiful; and one of the G·its!alā’sᴇr came and wanted to marry her. The chief agreed to it, and they were married; and they multiplied among all the tribes of the Tsimshian; and so did her younger sister, whom her grandfather kept among the Haida, and also the daughter of the captive aunt, whom he sent. over to Nass River. These three girls were the ancestors of the Eagle family all over the coast, among the Tsimshian.