Part 38

After two months had passed they came to fight them with two warships. They then shot at them from both sides. At that time they called to him: “Qała′x, are you still alive?” “Yes; I am not afraid of the cannon you use against me.” The cannon sounded then still more.

After some time had passed they went to get him. They then fought again with the Russians. They also destroyed those. At that time they took guns, coats, hats, and swords. After some time had passed, they (the Russians) brought property over to the winners. “Qała′x, are you yet alive?” “Yes; I am still alive. I won. Now it is all right for you to kill me.” When he said this, they raised the flags. They then gave him clothing, food, rum, and ammunition. They let him win. Many of the Russians were killed.

My informant heard this story from an old Tlingit from the Stikine. It is of peculiar interest as containing a native account of the struggle between Baranof and the Indians at Sitka. It differs from the Russian account, however, in so many particulars that it is evident that few real facts are preserved.

FIGHTS BETWEEN THE TOWN-OF-TCꜝĀ′AŁ-GÎTÎ′NS AND THE MIDDLE-GÎTÎ′NS

[Told by Richard of the Middle-gîtî′ns]

When I was still young I knew how to handle a gun. They went then to Dadag̣ē′ni. [783] The Town-of-Tcꜝā′ał people [784] fought together there. They fought while they were drinking whisky. [785] At that time G̣ᴀla′-i’s nose was bitten off. Then they began to fight. They shot at each other all night, and they killed a great many there.

Some time after that another fight broke out. The grandfather of Nᴀñ-gut-tcî′ng̣a [786] then owned two slaves. He went thither with them and a gun. Although we tried to stop them, they then went thither. They then fought there with them. They took the ramrod from one of the slaves who then held Nᴀñ-gut-tcî′ng̣a’s gun. They went then to ask for it. He held it for payment he said. At that time they did not make a disturbance about it.

Some time afterward a vessel of the Iron people [787] came there. Nᴀñ-gut-tcî′ng̣a then went out to it. While he was away Sitting-chieftainess went to Brave-in-his-belly [788] to get the ramrod. And they who were there pushed her down. Then Nᴀñ-gut-tcî′ng̣a came ashore. The Iron people had given him all kinds of food. He brought a lot away. There was a great quantity of all sorts of things.

They did not say a word to Nᴀñ-gut-tcî′ng̣a. After they got through eating I told him. But he laughed. He called Gax̣ī′łdia-i (one of his slaves) and told him to go out and make an announcement. Then Brave-in-his-belly also sent out to make an announcement. And after that they killed four slaves belonging to him. [789] And Brave-in-his-belly owned one slave. He killed him.

On the following day they gave him (Nᴀñ-gut-tcî′ng̣a) a great amount of property—ten slaves, three hundred blankets, five big canoes, a great quantity of property. At that time he summoned the people. Slaves and property were given to the Middle-town people, [790] Earth-eaters, [791] Dogfish-house people, [792] People-of-the-house-where-they-always-have-plenty-to-eat,[792] Raven-house people,[792] People-of-the-house-that-went-away-discouraged.[792] They gave one [slave] to Unable-to-do-anything. [793] They gave one to Qołgî′t.[793] They gave one to Far-away,[793] to Qōta′n,[793] to Nasta′o,[793] to Tcꜝix̣ī′.[793] After that they gave to all the house chiefs.

On the day after that they sent for Nᴀñ-gut-tcî′ng̣a, and on that day they twice called us in. After several families had called us in the Earth-eaters invited us. They had been giving us food for a while, when a noise arose in the direction of a canoe that they had given us. As soon as some one said that the Town-of-Tcꜝā′ał people had broken it up the Earth-eaters went thither. They told us then that we had better not go out. We all had guns. They told us not to go out. But still we stood together among them.

Then the Town-of-Tcꜝā′ał people stood in lines around the edges of the canoe, holding their guns ready. After they had quarreled for a while Nᴀñ-gut-tcî′ng̣a came out, and a boy of the Town-of-Tcꜝā′ał people shot at him. I, too, at once shot one. They then shot into the Town-of-Tcꜝā′ał people. The dead bodies lay far apart on the ground. Some sat up. Some tried to squirm up from their buttocks [having been shot in the legs]. Four dead bodies belonged to the Earth-eaters. Two others they wounded.

They at once began again to shoot each other. Many more of the Town-of-Tcꜝā′ał people were killed. After they had given us food for a while they took us over to Nᴀñ-gut-tcî′ng̣a’s house. When they got us in the sound of fighting ceased.

After that they also shot into our house. The house had three stockades. Not a single bullet reached the house. They shot at us from around the house while we ate. Early in the next day Nᴀñ-gut-tcî′ng̣a called four families. And while they ate in the house the Town-of-Tcꜝā′ał people again began to shoot at the house. And after they had done this for a while we went down with our guns into a trench extending toward the beach. And, while the Town-of-Tcꜝā′ał people were shooting into the house from near by, we in turn shot at them. We killed two. And afterward we ran in through the doorway, one after another. We told of those we had killed. Then the Town-of-Tcꜝā′ał people went away.

And when they were done eating, he gave them all coats and good clothing. Early in the next day he called the Earth-eaters. Then they again shot at the house. They did not reach the inside. These also went away.

After that they began to shoot at our house. After they had shot at our house for four nights Nᴀñ-gut-tcî′ng̣a told us to get up very early. And, after we were done eating, he had us wash our faces. He gave us tallow, and, when we had put it on our faces, [794] we painted them. He then emptied out a big box of clothing. And as soon as we had fitted ourselves we put it on. After that he emptied out black handkerchiefs. We tied them around our heads. He was a great chief.

After that we sang a song. After we had sung four times we went out to fight. We then began shooting at the four houses of the Town-of-Tcꜝā′ał people while the Town-of-Tcꜝā′ał people drew up around us from the woods. And, after we had shot at each other for a while, my gun became hot, and I put it into the water.

Nᴀñ-gut-tcî′ng̣a stood on the top of his house all of this time. He held a large horn in his hand through which he talked to us. We then waved something white that he could see. He knew by that that not one of us had been killed.

After we had fought for a while, and when the sun was almost set, the Middle-town people and the Earth-eaters came to fight. They broke through the many Town-of-Tcꜝā′ał people who were around us. They told us then to go home, and we went home. But they fought in our places.

When I came in they said that my breeches were bloody. I then felt there. The back part of my thigh was torn. I at once became faint.

Early in the next day they shot at us again. And, after they had shot at us for five nights, Nᴀñ-gut-tcî′ng̣a told us to begin fighting again. When we first fought many of the Town-of-Tcꜝā′ał people were killed. There were also many wounded. And, after we had fought for a while, and evening was come, the Middle-town people and the Earth-eaters came and helped us. They let us go home. But they had a pitched battle in our places. Some time after dark they stopped shooting.

They shot intermittently at our house for more than a month afterward. They began shooting at our house just before daylight. One day we did not hear a gun go off. Then someone knocked at the door. “Open the door for me.” That was Djig̣ē′g̣as. “The Town-of-Tcꜝā′ał people are gone.” They went away very early.

On the day following Nᴀñ-gut-tcî′ng̣a gave property to the Earth-eaters. He gave them eight slaves, as blood payment for the four persons that had been killed, and three hundred and twenty blankets. Because Qołgî′t was very sorry on account of his canoe he gave him a young slave. He was very glad to have him. And he also had his canoe repaired. The day after he called them [to a feast].

After that they again came to fight with us. Then the Town-of-Tcꜝā′ał people shot at us for two nights. After they had acted toward us in this way for three months a ship of the Iron people came. Nᴀñ-gut-tcî′ng̣a then told the Iron people about himself. Then they left us all kinds of ammunition.

After fifteen nights were passed they came after Nᴀñ-gut-tcî′ng̣a. And then, too, the Town-of-Tcꜝā′ał people came to fight with us. After they had shot at us for two nights they went away again. They (the Iron people) then took Nᴀñ-gut-tcî′ng̣a with them. His heart was not strong enough to go without me. So they took me as well.

We then started off. Some time afterward we came to Nass inlet. Two vessels lay there. Then they started to settle there. They put a stockade around the house, and the Nass people brought in cedar bark. They paid a blanket for the bark of two cedars to be used as roofing. [795] When the house was completed they finished the warehouse.

They began at once to buy furs. All sorts of people brought furs there to sell to them. During the whole time what was dropped upon the ground from the tobacco that they sold I put up into a sack. When my father came from Masset I gave it to him. And Nᴀñ-gut-tcî′ng̣a gave him many blankets from the trading house. My father gave him a canoe. In it they went to the head of Nass inlet with property to trade. At the end of ten nights the 10-fathom canoe was full of furs.

At that time Nᴀñ-gut-tcî′ng̣a threw chips into the water and shot at them. One youth then wanted the gun very much. And he asked how much it cost. They told him then that they would let him have it if he piled up furs to the muzzle as it stood on end. They then stood the gun on end, and they piled up beaver skins alongside it. And, when they reached the muzzle of the gun, they pressed them down. And when [the pile] got lower they piled on more. By and by, when it got even with the end, they stopped. And he also bought a longer one. And he gave six land-otter skins for the ammunition. He also gave six land-otter skins for a bag of bullets.

They then went away. After five nights were passed they returned. After they had lived there three years it was found to be too cold, and they removed to Port Simpson. There also I lived with them seven years. Nᴀñ-gut-tcî′ng̣a lived at the house of the Iron people. After that he lived there all the time.

Here is all of this.

This story gives us an idea of what intestine conflicts were like among people on this part of the Northwest coast. Strife having arisen between the Tcꜝā′ał-lā′nas and Ya′ku-qe′ig̣awa-i, or Ya′ku-gitina′-i, to which latter family my informant himself belonged. The Raven families among the Kaigani joined the weaker, and apparently the aggrieved, party. The feud was not ended, however, until the chief of the Ya′ku-qe′ig̣awa-i went away to live with the white people.

FIGHTS BETWEEN THE TSIMSHIAN AND HAIDA AND AMONG THE NORTHERN HAIDA

[Told by Richard of the Middle-gîtî′ns.]

The Skidegate people went once to trade at Port Simpson [796] in sixty canoes. The Pebble-town people [797] also went there. And they traded with dry halibut. They lived outside. There a Tsimshian, who was with a white man, came to them. Sticks were given around to them (the Haida). And afterward he took the sticks back again. They planned to destroy them during the winter. That was why they counted them.

A woman of the Gîtî′ns’-servants [798] named Bufflehead [799] sold dry halibut to the wife of Lgiäx. [800] She said it was too small and she wanted to exchange it for more. Bufflehead then refused to give her more in exchange. And they threw the dry halibut at Bufflehead. She then threw the dry halibut in the face of Lgiäx’s daughter, and she went home crying.

Some one shouted, and I went out. They were throwing stones at each other. They gave each other a thorough stoning. By and by they stopped. And some time afterward a gun went off. Some one shouted: “They killed so-and-so.” Some time after that another gun went off. Another was shot. Then it stopped for a while. When evening came they began to shoot at us. All through the night they shot at the Skidegate people. During all that time they shouted out [the name of the person shot]. I was then without a gun, and I borrowed one. I held it and two cartridge boxes. They shot at the sail houses on the beach in which we lived. There was nothing behind which we could shelter ourselves. Then I dug a hole for myself in the sand and lay in it.

I then shot at some one who lay behind a log and was shooting, back from the sea. I shot off his hat. When I shot at him again I shot his gun away from him. He then ran away.

A hill lay behind us, from which they were shooting at us. I also began to shoot at those. They also ran away. After they had shot at us for five nights they stopped for a while.

Then the Tsimshian came to dance. They wanted to make peace because we had killed Lgiäx’s nephew. We also enslaved two women who were walking seaward from the town. By and by they started to dance. We then gave them some property. After this had gone on for a while they made the following arrangements. They said that we might go with them to Laqꜝalā′m. And we said that we would give them more property. We thought then that it was all right, and we went to our canoes. While a part of the provisions lay on shore the Tsimshian took the provisions. We then got into our canoes. I pushed my canoe off with the many which were there. When the canoes got away two remained. I then ran toward the fort at Port Simpson. [801] There was yet a crowd of Skidegate people there. And, while I stood there, two canoes with the dancers [802] in them were still there. Then the Tsimshian pursued. They shot into the canoes, pulled themselves close alongside, and in a short time they drifted along empty. Then, when the two that were there started off, I ran down from in front of Port Simpson house. I jumped into the stern. Then the two dancers[802] [in their canoes] paddled backward. I took a gun and shot them both. At that time I scared them. Those who first went off took their property. A south wind was blowing. Canoes drifted off empty.

They then shot much at us from Laqꜝalā′m. There was no gun in my canoe. After that they again shot at us. We then fled. During all that time the Tsimshian pursued us. That was a great disaster, though the story of it sounds well enough. They pursued us far out to sea. I was in my wife’s canoe.

When they got far out at sea they returned. They enslaved very many of the Skidegate people.

Then they (the Skidegate people) landed at ʟꜝg̣a′odana-i. [803] At that time a heavy rain set in. They called it “The-rain-upon-the-skins-of-dead-bodies.” And, when daylight came, I built a big fire. Then the wounded sat around the fire. On the following day, when we started off, a man of Those-born-at-House-point [804] was angry, because, he said, we went off first. Then he and I were going to shoot each other. They held us apart. And they went away.

And on the next day they stood crying in front of ʟꜝg̣a′odana-i. The Pebble-town people did not cry, however, because all of them escaped. Fifty canoe loads were destroyed. The weather was bad. And, while they lay there, the one who had quarreled with me came to me and pulled up his canoe alongside of ours. He then made peace with me. He gave me whisky. And, after we had sent food through the fire to those who had been unable to escape, we spent the night in our canoes. We remained awake. We were afraid. We thought that they might pursue us again.

And when day broke we went away. About noon they sailed over to Skidegate. They laid the blame on Bufflehead, who had escaped. They then asked her for property. Her husband was named Lū′g̣ot. [805] Then they began to give away property. He was about to make a potlatch. His house pole lay there for good. He gave the town all of his property.

Some time afterward Gudiqā′yiñao’s father came back. They had been unable to get away from Port Simpson house, whence they came. Before he could ask for blood money the Gîtî′ns’-servants came there, with paddles on their shoulders. They said that they had come to go to war for him.

Some time afterward a great many Masset people went to trade. They came to the Gyînxᴀngī′g [806] family. They say that there were sixty canoes. After they had been there for a while they started off. And, after they had traded, a Tsimshian shot at the canoes. The bullet then struck the canoe of a man of the Point-town family [807] named X̣ᴀ′na.

His son then seized a gun and shot into a crowd standing on shore. And he shot one down. They at once shot after them. They immediately started off. The Tsimshian chased them. They made them upset by shooting. They also destroyed them. They took them also for slaves. They also enslaved many of the Rotten-house people. [808]

At that time they destroyed a canoe at Laxanē′st [809] out of which two men and a woman escaped. Many nights afterward, when some persons came there for wood, they got away in their canoes. And in them they came across. They were saved.

Those in Port Simpson house who could not escape were afterward presented with a canoe by the Iron people, [810] who let them escape. Those also got home. Then, too, it was not a good time.

Gîtqōna′-i’s father went to Masset, and five families [811] banded together and began to drink sea water. During the whole time they practiced how they would fight. A cartridge box then caught fire, and a man was burned.

After they had drunk sea water for six nights they set out to war in ten canoes. And, when they reached the mainland, some stopped at Qꜝadō′. [812] After they had looked for enemies on the opposite side as well, [they saw] two canoes go out from Siwā′łins [813] after salmon.

They then quickly pulled toward them. They shot the man in the stern, so that he fell over into the water, after which they closed with the canoes. When they ran into them to fight they upset them. They then even struck them in the sea. Gî′tg̣ax̣ī′lîña killed three people at that time. The Tsimshian had killed his wife, of whom he was very fond. Four persons were in the canoe. They also destroyed two canoe loads which were farther off.

After they had watched for a while longer [they saw] three more canoes sailing along. They killed all the people in those. They took the heads of them all. After they had watched for some time longer two canoes came with sockeyes. They went out also to those people and killed them. On that day they destroyed seven canoes. On that day they killed twenty-eight people. They enslaved one brave man of the Tsimshian.

The Masset people were then happy. They went off singing songs of victory. And they came to Masset singing songs of victory, for they had made accounts even. But the Skidegate people did not come out even.

But Gî′tg̣ax̣ī′lîña’s canoe was unfinished. When he had finished it he brought over to his brothers-in-law at Gᴀsa′n [814] the news that their sister had been killed. His brothers-in-law belonged to the Sand-town people. [815] When he came they, too, raised their canoes. He also went with them. The Sand-town people went in four canoes.

They then began to watch Tcꜝidᴀlqꜝeda′-i. [816] After they had watched for a while four Tsimshian canoes came there. They then shot at them. They made them upset, and they enslaved six women. They killed many men. There Gî′tg̣ax̣ī′lîña got some slaves. He gave them to his brothers-in-law. Afterward they went home happy. They sang songs of victory as they came to Gᴀsa′n.

Three days later news came to Gᴀsa′n that one of the Yä′dᴀs [817] had been killed at Howkan. [818] The Yä′dᴀs then went to Howkan to fight, and killed six people there. And afterward the Town-of-Tcꜝā′ał people also went to fight at Gᴀsa′n. There they also killed many of the Yä′dᴀs. They then began to war upon each other. In all that time many were killed on both sides.

Some time afterward some of the Town-of-Tcꜝā′ał [819] people went to visit one of their friends who had married in Masset. After they had stayed there for a while and were on the way home many of them upset. A chief named Voice-at-evening was drowned. In the winter his nephews went for his grave post. When it was almost finished the Yä′dᴀs came there to fight and killed five of the Town-of-Tcꜝā′ał people. The grave post lay there for good.

They at once began fighting again. Wherever they met they killed one another. They killed each other during many years. They did not make peace with one another. Some are still bad to one another.

Some time afterward news came that one of the Sqoā′ładas [820] had killed one of the Cod-people [821] at Kꜝiū′stᴀ. [822] He was a great chief. He had a house hole at Tꜝī′g̣ᴀn. [823] His nephews then killed a shaman, Tcꜝā′nūt, belonging to the Sa′gua-lā′nas. [824] They shot ten bullets into him. He was town chief. He owned the town of Qᴀñ. After they had shot him and had walked around him for a while one of his bunches of matted hair, which was lying on the ground, rose up and lay over his head. It went on in that way until all came to lie over his head.

When the Sqoā′ładas on the west coast heard that they had killed Gîtkū′ [825] they also went to war. They killed many of the Cod-people. They also enslaved one of them.

After that one of the Sg̣adjī′gua-ał-lā′nas [826] in Masset, named Kiłtcꜝāñ, invited the people. And he had a dance. He pulled out ten slaves that he owned in a string [holding each other’s hands]. After they had taken home food one of the Middle-gîtî′ns [827] named Łnē′kꜝî, shot one of the Cod-people in the arm from between the houses. Upon this his two younger brothers acted as if they were drunk. They killed there a chief, Gā′la. He belonged to the Ya′gun-gîtîna′-i. [828] He did not die at once. He died afterward. His entire family shot at once at the house of the Cod-people. They killed two persons.

For ten days and nights they fought in the town. No one had a fire. No one had water. When the chiefs’ wives, thinking that they would not touch them, went for water the Ya′gun-gîtîna′-i smashed their buckets with stones, and they returned. At the end of ten days the Ya′gun-gîtîna′-i suggested making peace. They then stopped shooting at the house.

By and by an old man, their uncle, came behind the town singing catastrophe songs. He belonged to the Cod-people. After he had sung for a while he made a good speech: “Chiefs, my brothers-in-law, the war trail and the feather trail came out together at Na-i î′n­djawa in the middle of the town. I went up by the war trail. I came out upon the feather trail. ‘What town is this? What town is this?’ ‘Chief, my son, this is the town of Gā′la, your father. You started up on the war trail which comes out in the middle of your father’s town. Your fathers were troubled [829] about you. You came out upon the feather trail.’” He also spake so: “Is it my father’s town? Is it indeed my father’s town? [I thought it was] some other.” [830]

They then started to dance. After they had been for two days in the woods, they were called toward the house. They came then and stood in a line in front of the house. They had their guns ready. Presently the Ya′gun-gîtîna′-i stood in lines opposite. They struck each other with their guns. They struck each other with their knives.

By and by the Cod-people picked up two chiefs [of the Ya′gun-gîtîna′-i]. [831] There was a great crowd of people. They picked them up and laid them upon a bed of feathers in the rear part of the house. Then two slaves were tendered as blood money to Those-born-at-Ya′gun. [832] And they refused them. They afterward tendered them two more. Those they refused also.