51. Tsauda and Halus[3]

There are many different tales belonging to the time after the great Deluge, when the people were scattered all over the earth, and when they had villages at Metlakahtla.

There was a great chief who had a wife, and they had’ an only daughter who was very beautiful. In olden times people would love their children very much. So it was with this chief and his wife. They loved their only beautiful daughter. They did not let her go out often in the daytime, and all the princes in the village of Metlakahtla wanted to marry her; but her parents would not let her marry, because they loved her dearly. She was quite young, and her father chose the daughters of his principal men to be her friends. Ten of these were chosen. Once a month throughout the year she would take a walk with the maids on the street of her father’s village, and all the young princes followed her when they saw her walking on the street.

Now, the princess came to be a woman, and she wished in her heart to marry soon, before she should be old; and she lay in bed sleepless every night, thinking about this matter. Her bed was over her parents’ bed, and the beds of her maids were under hers.

One midnight she thought that she saw a vision. She saw a shining light come down through the smoke hole. It went to her, and she saw a young man in the midst of the shining light. He said

to her, “Shall I marry you, my dear princess’ She said that she would tell her father. and the prince promised to come back again some other night. So he went. His prince came from heaven. His name was Tsauda, and his slave’s name was Halus. His prince had a wonderful garment of shining light.

The following night he sent down his slave to talk to the young princess to ask her to marry him. So his slave Halus went down to her. He went to her bedroom, going down through the smoke hole. He stood by her side, and the young princess smiled when she saw him coming back, as he had promised a few days before, and the slave Halus staid with her. The princess told the slave that her father had consented to their marriage. The princess thought that this slave was the prince with the garment of shining light who had come to her a few days before, so she loved him very much; and Halus told her that he had a good slave, and that he wanted her father to give him a wife. The young woman said, “I have a little sister, but she is lame, and I want to take her along when you take me to your father’s house.”

While they were still talking, a shining light came through the smoke hole, as before. Now the young woman was afraid, and Prince Shining Light said to his slave Halus, “What have you been doing here?” but Halus remained silent. Tsauda said, “Everything that you do in the future will turn out badly, and you will be disappointed with your wife!” and Tsauda said. “I shall marry your lame sister, and she will have good fortune.”

Then he went away. Halus, however, loved his beautiful wife. On the following day Tsauda came and put on his shining-light garment. He came to the chief’s house, and the great chief was very kind to him. Soon after the chief had given him to eat, Tsauda said, “I” wish your second daughter to be my wife.” The great chief replied, “My second daughter—she is lame!” but the prince urged his suit, so at last the chief consented: and Halus’s wife was laughing at Tsauda because his wife was lame. Tsauda, however, took no notice of what she said.

After many days had passed Tsauda said to his lame wife, “I shall take you up to my father’s house, and I shall wash you in my washtub.” So on the following morning very early they went. Tsauda took his lame wife under his shining wing and flew upward. Now they arrived at Tsauda’s father’s house, and the supernatural chief was very glad to see his daughter-in-law. The supernatural chief took her and washed her four times in his own bathtub, and the lame girl shone almost as brightly as her husband Tsauda. And Tsauda’s father gave to his son a magic sling and four sling-stones like pebbles out of a brook. Then Tsauda left his supernatural father’s house: and when he arrived at his father-in-law’s house, the latter was very much pleased to see them come home again. His father-in-law was glad to see his lame daughter transformed into a beautiful woman as fair as her husband. He loved Tsauda more than his elder daughter’s husband.

One day his father-in-law said, ‘Tomorrow, when my son-in-law Halus comes home, let him bring some firewood. I intend to invite my people. [ I want to tell them that I am going to invite all the chiefs from every village to the marriage feast.” Halus awoke early in the morning and went for wood. He came to a sandy beach and gathered the driftwood there, filled his canoe quickly, and came back early in the forenoon. The great chief sent down his young people, and they carried the wood to the chief’s house.

Tsauda just blew some water from his mouth, and said, “The driftwood that Halus brought will just smoke in the house.’ When the young men piled up the driftwood on the fireplace. it began to smoke very much.

Halus’s mother-in-law loved him. while the chief loved Tsauda better. Now the mother-in-law’s eyes were full of smoke. Therefore she threw the driftwood away from the fire, and said, Oh, that common man Halus brought this smoking driftwood!” and Halus’s beautiful wife began to cry, because she was very much ashamed.

Early the next morning Tsauda went out to get wood: and when he reached a rocky place, he went up into the woods and brought down dry pitch wood. Soon be had filled his large eanoe. His wife was with him. They came home during the forenoon, and many young men came down and carried up the good firewood to the chief’s house. They piled it up on the fireplace, and the pitch wood burned like fat. Then the chief loved Tsauda still more, and the chief gave a great festival to all the fellow-chiefs from all the tribes because his two daughters were married.

Early in spring all the Tsimshian were ready to move to Nass River for fishing; but the north wind was still blowing hard, and when they arrived outside of Port Simpson, they could not round the long point there. All the canoes of the Tsimshian were on the south side of the long point. So Halus said, “Tsauda, let us throw our sling-stones through that rock, that our way may open!” and all the people shouted because Halus had a magic sling. Then Tsauda said.’ You throw first, and I shall throw afterward!” Then Halus stood up on top of a large box and put his stone in a sling. Tsauda blew water out of his mouth, and said. Let Halus’s sling-stone pass through his mother-in-law’s lip-hole.”

(What I mean by lip-hole is this. The old women in our country had a queer custom, that every woman should have a hole in her lip. When a girl was able to walk and had no hole in her lip, they would call her a slave. Therefore when a girl was able to walk, her parents made a little hole in her lip. They would call all men and women of their exogamic group, and the mother of the girl would give all she had to the husband’s relatives, the aunts of the child; and when the child was grown up, they enlarged the lip-hole; and when she was full-grown, the lip-hole was larger than her mouth. The highest chieftainess had a lip-hole larger than that of any other woman. His was a sign that she was of high rank. She was the wife of a great chief or the relative of a great. chief.)

Now Halus threw his sling-stone. Before he threw it, he swung his sling over his own head, and the stone slipped off from his sling and went through the lip-hole of his mother-in-law. Then all the people shouted and clapped their hands. Next Tsauda stood up and said, “Let me try to use my poor sling!’ So all the people were quiet. He took up his sling and a smooth pebble out of his bag. He threw it, and there was a large hole through the rock, and the way was opened for them to pass through. All the canoes went up through it.

Before they reached their fishing-camp, the chief said, “I need that copper yonder on the top of the high mountain.” Therefore all the canoes assembled at the foot of the high mountain.

(That large copper was hanging on top of that high mountain. For many years they had seen it, but they could not get it. Many daring men tried to take it, but they all perished, because no one was able to climb the slippery rock. Copper was then very expensive among the people. Therefore they tried over and over again, and they could not get it because the rocks were so slippery and the top of the mountain was very cold. Therefore all the brave men perished on that mountain.)

Now Halus was ready. He stood up in the canoe and took out his sling and a stone, ready to throw it. Then Tsauda blew out some water from his mouth, and said, “Let Halus’s sling-stone go through the bow of his father-in-law’s canoe!” and when Halus swung his sling, the stone slipped out and went through the bow of his father-in-law’s canoe. Then all the people clapped their hands and shouted as much as they could. Now Halus had twice disappointed them. They said, “Oh, oh, you clumsy one!” Halus felt very much ashamed, and his wife cried, and also his mother-in-law was much ashamed; and Talus was angry and threw away his magic sling. Tsauda put a stone in his sling, stood up on a box, and threw a stone. It hit the large copper on the top of the high mountain: “Dammnn” Then all the people shouted for joy, and the great copper came sliding down slowly. Then all the men and women stepped forward and blew water out of their mouths against the copper, and said, “Toward northwest!” and “Toward the rivers!” and when the men and women spoke these words, the large copper, which was sliding down slowly, divided in the middle: and one part flew away to the northwest (Alaska), and another part flew away to the head of Copper River (the head of the rivers). His is the reason why good copper was found in Alaska long before the white people came to this country, and that good copper was also found at one of the head waters of Skeena River. Our people call this copper “living copper.”

(They say that a spring salmon went up this river: and when they reached the deep water at the upper part of the river. the salmon became copper. Therefore the Indians know that there was live copper in this brook or river.).

After Tsauda had thrown the copper from the top of the high mountain, they went on until they arrived at their camping-place, and made ready for fishing; but somehow the fish were late in coming. When the time had come for the fish to arrive, the river was full, and everybody went out to fish. The men had their wives with them in the fishing-season.

(When the fish first go up the river. the Indians use wooden rakes. The man sits in the bow of the canoe, and the woman sits in the stern to keep the canoe straight, and to steer it quickly among the many canoes. They use large canoes, and in half a day they fill them with olachen. The men work day and night with the rakes. They went with the tide until eight days had passed. Then they changed their fishing-implements. They put away the rake—a wooden rake made out of dry red cedar, and pins made out of large rotten spruce branches. The inner part of the branch is very hard. They split it and sharpen it like the point of a pin. They are three fingers long. Then they change these rakes after eight days, and they use the bag net, because the olachen goes farther down in deeper water. Therefore they use the bag net. They put the bag net at the end of a pole five fathoms long, and everything thus. Two or three people are in each canoe. The man holds the net-pole, and his wife and the man’s sister or mother are with them.)

Now Halus was very proud because he had a beautiful wife, and he showed her among the people on the fishing-ground. He did not care much about the fishing. When the fishing-implements were changed, the chief said to his elder daughter, “ Let your husband fill one canoe for me tomorrow, and one for each of your three uncles. and Tsauda shall do the same.”

The following morning they both set out. Talus went very early with his wife and mother-in-law, and Tsauda went with his wife and one female slave. Tsauda went a little later. Halus went among the canoes which were full of fish. Then Tsauda blew water from his mouth, and said, “Let Halus’s bag net. be filled with mud of the river, chips, and whole leaves from the trees, but let him not get any fish!” Halus took his pole with the bag net on it and went to work; but every time he let down his bag net, it came up full of mud from the river. Tsauda, however, filled his large canoe with fishes, and they went home early. Many slaves carried up the fish to his father-in-law. As soon as they had emptied the large canoe, they went again the same day, and toward evening Tsauda came home again. Then his father-in-law’s slaves carried the fish to his father-in-law. He had two large canoes full of fish, which he gave to his father-in-law. Late in the evening the chief’s other son-in-law came home secretly. That was Halus. Before daylight Halus went again with his wife and his mother-in-law; but he caught nothing, only leaves and mud.

Tsauda went again with his wife and a female slave, and before noon he had filled his large canoe with fish.

Tsauda met Halus while he was going home, and ITfalus’s bag net was full of leaves, mud, chips, and all kinds of rubbish; and when Tsauda came alongside his canoe, Halus was ashamed to see Tsauda’s canoe full of fish. Now Tsauda gave his fish to his wife’s elder uncle; and soon after he had eaten in the house of his wife’s uncle, while the slaves were still carrying up his fish, Tsauda started again. Te passed the place where Talus was, and he made fun of him. “Have you filled your canoe now with fallen leaves?” Talus felt very much distressed on account of what his master said. He cried, and his wife also was sad, and so was his mother-in-law. Tsauda went in his canoe twice in one day and filled it with fish. He gave one canoe to his wife’s second uncle.

On the following morning Tsauda went early; and when he was fishing, his bag net was filled with fish. hist as before, his canoe was full again. Talus came toward him, and said, “Master, will you let me have some of your fish to take in my canoe/” Tsauda replied, “Wait until the season is over.” Therefore Halus was much ashamed. [festood up and jumped out of his canoe, and said, “I shall become your snag.” He was drowned. His wife also jumped out of the canoe, and said, “I shall be your codfish.”

Tsauda continued to work with the bag net. Halus went to Tsauda’s bag net and caught it. Tsauda’s net was caught. Tsauda knew that Halus had caught his bag net. Therefore he said, “Halus,” let go of that net! If you don’t let go of it, I will curse you.” But Halus did not want to let go. Then Tsauda cursed Halus, and he became a red cod. He told him that his head would always be downward and his tail upward, and that if he looked up, then his stomach would come out through his mouth and he would die and float on the water. That is why the red cod is this way now. As soon as it looks up, it comes up to the surface of the water, for its stomach comes out through its mouth.

Halus’s beautiful wife became a codfish, a blue-side cod, which is a beautiful fish. Tsauda caught her in his bag net, and he recognized his sister-in-law. As soon as he saw her among the olachen, he took her out and threw her into the water again. That is the reason why the blue-side cod is the prettiest of all the fishes, for it was a princess.

JValus’s mother-in-law was very sad because she had lost her beautiful daughter. She came home full of sorrow; but, for fear of her son-in-law Tsauda, she did not dare to look angry, lest he transform her into a fish.

Now Tsauda’s wife was with child, and gave birth to a beautiful daughter. Tsauda said, ‘His is my sister-in-law come back again through my wife;” and the girl had four holes in each ear and a hole in her lip and in the septum of the nose, as a sign of her high rank. Then they gave her a baby girl’s name, Another Dear Girl (Grik-ludā’°łk). Tsauda gave this child to his mother-in-law, and she took comfort because her daughter had come back to her again. She loved her more than her own daughter whom she had lost.

Soon the people had finished boiling their fish, and they moved down to their village. Tsauda’s father-in-law also moved; and when they arrived at home, Tsauda said to his father-in-law, “Soon I shall go away to my own home with my wife. When she has another child like herself, [ will come again and give it to you, so that you may have another girl like the one you had before. You shall call her Moon.”

On the following day Tsauda went away to his father’s home with his wife; and when he arrived there, his own father was much pleased to see his son and his wife: and after they had been there a while, Tsauda’s wife gave birth to another child, and Tsauda took the child and gave it to his mother-in-law, as he had promised before he left them.:

When Tsauda and his daughter flew toward his father-in-law’s home, the child was grown up to be a woman; and when Tsauda arrived there, he took her out from under his wings, and a young woman came out, whom he handed to his mother-in-law. They received the child joyfully, and named her Moon, as Tsauda had requested.

These two girls grew up to be very beautiful young women, like their lost aunts. Tsauda, however, went, and never came back again. His wife also never came back. His is a story of the Wolf family.

When the elder girl was married, she told her husband that her father, Tsauda, told her of a good copper in the Copper Creek at the head of Skeena River. Therefore the prince called his three young men to go with him to see the good copper at the head of that creek; and when they were going in their canoe up the river, they smelled sweet-smelling scents; and when they went farther up, they smelled still more fragrant odors; and they went on and on, and the odor was sweeter than ever. Before evening they camped, and the prince went into the woods; and as he went through the valley, he saw something standing in the middle of a nice plain, moving and waving. He went near it, and he saw that it was a live tree of odors. So he ran to it and embraced it, and all the branches of the tree also embraced him, and the living tree pressed him hard and squeezed him; and before he lost consciousness, he shouted, to call his men to come to his help. They ran quickly, and saw the prince and the living tree of odors embracing each other. The prince said to his men, “Dig away the earth from the roots quickly.’ The men dug away the earth quickly: and when all the roots were out of the ground and the branches were dead, the prince was released from the branches. All the branches let go of his body.

His is the tree of odors, or the live tree.

His prince was very successful, because he was married to the daughter of a supernatural being. He cut the tree into short pieces, and he also cut the branches and the roots, and he gave to each of his men one root; and his men filled their bags with the soil from the place where the tree of odors had been, and when they came back home, they sold them for a high price. Then all the chiefs from all the tribes came to buy one of the short pieces at a high price, and the princes and the princesses came and bought pieces of the tree of odors, and the prince became a great chief.

Then the younger daughter of Tsauda said to her husband, ** “My dear, my father has told me that there is a good copper at the head of a creek;” and the husband of the younger one called his young men to go with him up there. The following day they set out and went up that creek, and night after night they camped. That young prince went walking along the bank of the river, searching for smooth copper pebbles; but he could not find any, because the time had not come yet. They traveled on many days, until they reached a place way up the river, and toward evening they camped there. There was not much water in the river, and they could not travel on by canoe, because three small brooks Joined where they camped, and at this place the deep water ended. The young prince walked along the bank of the river. Then he saw many salmon. He hastened back to his men, and told them that many salmon were in the deep water there. Therefore he took his salmon-spear and went down again, while his men started to light a fire in the camp. He went down, and stood there ready. When he saw a large salmon come up, he struck it and took hold of it. He dragged it up to the shore and clubbed it. Then he took out his dart and threw the salmon backward. So the salmon struck the smooth stones of the river-bank. It sounded like copper. Then the young prince went to the place where he had thrown the salmon. He took it up again to see if anything was under it, and, behold! the salmon was transformed into copper. So he took it up to the camp of his men and showed it to them, and they were all very happy. In the night they got ready for the next morning. They spent the whole night making a new pole and new darts to be used the next day. Before daylight they all went to sleep, and the prince took his copper and put it under his head as his pillow. Late on the following morning. when the sun was high in the sky, the steersman woke up and aroused his fellows: and when the breakfast was ready, they called the prince. Then they found that he was dead. They wept over him: but the wise man said to his fellows, ‘He died because the live copper killed him. Let us burn it! Thus said the steersman.

They threw the copper into the fire to be burned, took the bark of a dried spruce tree, and started a large fire, and the live copper was melting; and when the fire had gone out, the pure copper remained in the ashes like a pole. They saw that the copper was very good and soft. They took it and put it into a bark bag, took the prince’s body down to the canoe, wrapped him in a new cedar-bark mat, and carried him in their canoe down the river.

When they arrived at home, and the prince’s wife saw him dead and saw the melted copper, she felt very sad. She went into the woods weeping for her husband.

While she was sitting at the foot of a large white-pine tree, she heard a noise on the tree above, and saw a shining light. There was a man who came down from the top of the white-pine tree and smiled at her, and said, “My dear daughter, what ails you?” She said, “My beloved husband is dead.’ And Tsauda replied, ‘Don’t feel sorry for him! If you want him alive again, I will resuscitate him, my dear daughter!”

Now, Moon knew that her father had come down to visit her. Therefore she stopped crying, and said, “Bring him back to life for my sake!” Tsauda said, Call out all the people, and I will bring him back to life.” So she went into the house. She sent out all the people. Tsauda came in and took the cold water of life from the spring and sprinkled his face with the water. He slapped the dead man on both cheeks with the palms of his hands, and said, “Come back to life from death, son-in-law! and the prince sat up. and his wife came to him and embraced him.

Then Tsauda said, when the young man was alive again, and when all the people had come into the house, “Be careful of the living copper of that river! Let nobody go there, but my son-in-law and his descendants! I shall teach them how to kill the live copper and how to make costly coppers. Then he shall teach his children as I taught him.” Thus spoke Tsauda to the people; and when his speech was at an end, he called his son-in-law aside, and also his youngest daughter, and told them how to kill the live copper. He said, “As soon as you catch the salmon coppers or live coppers, make a large fire and throw the salmon coppers into it, as Many as you caught in one evening at your camp. You must throw them all into the fire, and the fumes will not hurt you, but it will make you richer than any chief in the whole world; but if you tell these high commands to some of your relatives or friends or to your tribe, you shall become poorer than ever, and those to whom you have told my secret shall become rich. Let nobody go with you to that river! only you two, you and my dear daughter. She shall go with you; and if she has some children, then you shall take them with you; and whoever goes there without your consent, he shall die by the fumes of the live coppers.”

After Tsauda had given this advice to them, he said to his favorite daughter, °° Now, my dear, go with me to the foot of that white-pine tree! and when they reached there, he told his daughter, “You shall eat the pitch that covers this white-pine bark as a medicine against the influence of your copper-work. You shall rub it over your hands and face before you take the live copper.” As soon as Tsauda had said this, he flew up to his supernatural home.

Then the prince and his wife went up there for coppers. He did all that his father-in-law had commanded him to do, and he was the first copper- worker among the natives. He became richer than any chief round about, and his fame spread all over the country. Chiefs from all the different tribes came to buy his costly coppers with many thousands of costly animal skins, and canoes, slaves, boxes of grease, costly abalone shells, and all kinds of things. So this prince was great among all the chiefs. He gave away many times costly coppers, male and female slaves, elk skins, and all kinds of goods. At his last great feast he invited the chiefs of all the tribes, and they proclaimed that he should take his great grandfather’s name, Around The Heavens, and all the chiefs said that he should be the head chief.